Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:41 pm
Yucca palms can be propagated easily. We explain the different options available to you and the best way to go about it.
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Propagate yucca palm: Here is what you should pay attention to
Yucca palms are also called palm lilies and belong to the asparagus family. They are not only a low-maintenance plant genus, but are also easy to propagate.
The easiest way to propagate a yucca palm is through cuttings or offshoots.
Offshoots are small, independent “child” plants of a mother plant that you can grow into larger plants.
A cutting, on the other hand, is a solid plant stock that is not “naturally” intended for propagation. Nevertheless, you can easily grow a new plant from it.
New yuccas cannot be grown from seed as quickly, because a yucca plant does not form seeds until it is ten years old.
There are a few general tips you should follow when propagating yucca palms:
- Use only tools with sharp and clean blades to avoid carrying germs to the cuts.
- Yucca palms are best propagated from April to June.
- Yuccas, whether mother plant, offshoot or cutting, like a bright location without direct sunlight, as well as high humidity.
Propagating yucca palms via cuttings
If you want to propagate your yucca palm via cuttings, you can use different parts of the plant: Either the side shoots or parts of the trunk.
Propagation via side shoots
- Cut a side shoot directly from the trunk with a sharp knife or pruning shears.
- If it is a thick side shoot, you should seal the wound on the trunk with tree wax to prevent the plant from drying out.
- Fill a planter with a suitable substrate. A mixture of humus-rich growing soil and sand is best.
- Place the cutting a few centimeters deep in the container.
- Always keep the substrate well moist, but avoid waterlogging.
- To accelerate the growth, you can put a cut plastic bottle or another transparent foil cover over the cutting to increase the humidity.
- You can remove this cover after about three to four weeks. If the cutting has already grown well, you can transfer it to a larger pot if necessary.
Propagate yucca palm through stem parts.
This method is the most laborious to propagate yuccas. It severely affects the mother plant, however, it also produces many cuttings at once. In this method, you cut the stem of the mother plant into individual parts, which become cuttings. The remaining stump of the mother plant must then grow completely new leaves.
- Think about how many cuttings you want to produce. Each cutting should be five to ten centimeters long. Starting at the top of the stem of the yucca, cut off as many segments of the appropriate length as you would like to have cuttings.
- Seal the cut surface of the mother plant with tree wax to prevent it from drying out.
- Also seal the top cut surface of the cuttings with tree wax.
- Place the cuttings a few inches deep in containers with suitable substrate. A mixture of a nutrient-rich growing soil and sand is ideal. The mother plant can remain in its container.
- Always keep the soil around the cuttings well moist, but avoid waterlogging.
- Cover all cuttings and the mother plant with foil or put cut plastic bottles over them. This will create a greenhouse environment.
- After about three to four weeks, when shoots have formed, you can remove the covers and transfer the cuttings to larger containers if necessary.
Propagating yucca palms via cuttings
Some yucca palms diligently produce offshoots that you can use for propagation. Especially the popular garden yucca produces numerous offshoots, i.e. small plant parts in the root area of the mother plant. So you can use them for propagation:
Carefully expose the offshoot and feel where it is connected to the mother plant. Cut off the offshoot right there.
Fill the hole with soil.
Place the scion in a pot with growing soil and water it. Keep the soil well moist, but avoid waterlogging.
When the cuttings have grown, i.e. formed new roots, you can carefully place them in a larger pot.