Yucca brevifolia

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:38 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:Aaron, what kind of soil you have there? Is it heavy one? Any sand to mix with?

The soil in the above pic, is the native soil here. It is loam, but has a clay(heavy) feel too it. There is some sand in it and some gravel. However the native soil is not the best. I have found a sand/gravel/loam mix best. And mound it up 2' feet high.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:47 am

DesertZone wrote:I have found a sand/gravel/loam mix best. And mound it up 2' feet high.

Holy smoke! Sorry for that! Thanks for the such efforts making the cacti/yucca plants growing! Actually I will need doing the same once I'll find a nice spot for the succulents in my garden.

igor.glukhovtsev · Post by **igor.glukhovtsev** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 8:50 am

Are you growing Echinocereus triglochidiatus v. inermis from the seeds?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 9:07 am

igor.glukhovtsev wrote:Are you growing Echinocereus triglochidiatus v. inermis from the seeds?

No, I bought live plants. Here they are $3-5 per plant.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 6:01 pm

nice J-tree Aaron................it looks happy..............no sign of stress with all that cold you have. Keep us updated.

marceli · Post by **marceli** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 12:50 am

So low temps and looking so good! I'm impressed

Henoh_Croatia · Post by **Henoh_Croatia** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:26 am

Very nice Y. brevifolia. Does anyone else have this Yucca growing outside?

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 7:33 am

Not unprotected....or should I say,no trunking Yuccas unprotected.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 11:51 am

hardyjim wrote:Not unprotected....or should I say,no trunking Yuccas unprotected.

Yes, here you go! Some nights I have put a small blanket over the crown.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 2:39 pm

OMG, that's stunning, Aaron.
It sure is a prize!

put a small blanket over the crown.

Sending you a BIG blanket.
And some rope.

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:44 pm

Thanks Barb.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 4:45 pm

lucky1 wrote:
put a small blanket over the crown.
Sending you a BIG blanket.
And some rope.

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:30 pm

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:32 pm

and I don't see a blanket.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 5:43 pm

lucky1 wrote:

and I don't see a blanket.

And no blanket tonight! It's going to stay above 0-f!

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 6:47 pm

keep us updated on the J tree.............if that survives your winter I'd be impressed!!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Tue Jan 22, 2013 10:24 pm

Glad you've warmed up, Aaron.
That was a brutal stretch.

...and I was kidding.

Lovely photo, as always.
It'll be good to see your yuccas thaw out.
Barb

Henoh_Croatia · Post by **Henoh_Croatia** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 1:38 am

Usually when the frost catches on plant in this way is high air humidity. Your Y.brevifolia have good genes.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:23 am

Henoh_Croatia wrote:Usually when the frost catches on plant in this way is high air humidity. Your Y.brevifolia have good genes.

Yes...so true. The fog rolled in and the frosted on the plants.

It seems to have good genes, even though this variety comes from the warmer parts of thier range.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:27 am

TimMAz6 wrote:keep us updated on the J tree.............if that survives your winter I'd be impressed!!

From what I can tel, looks like it will be just fine.

Now some of the Y. rostrata's migtht have some heavy damage? Only time will tell.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 11:31 am

lucky1 wrote: ...and I was kidding.

Barb

I couldn't tell...

Thanks Barb for making the forum fun!

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:10 pm

yes your Y. rostratas are going through a good test............I hope they make it.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:20 pm

TimMAz6 wrote:yes your Y. rostratas are going through a good test............I hope they make it.

Thanks Tim.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:34 pm

That big brevi MUST make it.
It just has to!

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 5:29 pm

lucky1 wrote:That big brevi MUST make it.
It just has to!

Barb

I think it is going to be ok? Looks fine, I looked it over today at lunch. It's a keeper!

The little clone not far from the base I have forgot about. I was going to cover it this year, but forgotten about it untill now? It's under snow,and I have not had luck with yuccas from the south surviving under snow for long periods of time.

Mold can and will grow under the snow, and can give a plant crown rot.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Wed Jan 23, 2013 8:45 pm

Would you improve its chances removing the snow?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 8:59 am

lucky1 wrote:Would you improve its chances removing the snow?

Yes...I have only had bad luck with snow covered yuccas. Yuccas need to warm up a bit every now and then. When they are covered for long periods they are just stuck with that cold all around the plant and the tissue backs down and bac-t and mold problems accuer.
Of course I would rather have them in snow for a brief time than -20f. They are not like other cold hardy plants that can go dormant. A yucca will never completely stop growing in the winter.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 9:53 am

Good points, Aaron.

Gotcha...So when extreme cold is on the way, they benefit from snow burial.
And a quick removal when cold's gone.

oh...and somewhere in there, remember to go to work.

This hobby is all-consuming.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:32 am

lucky1 wrote:oh...and somewhere in there, remember to go to work.
This hobby is all-consuming.

That's so true.
Becuase today it was snowing I had to rush and cover all my yuccas right berfore I went to work.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:36 am

I had to rush and cover all my yuccas right berfore I went to work

Attaboy, Aaron, good to have priorities right

Mild weather with that SW system...good!

Today we FINALLY got rid of that low valley cloud that's been hanging around for 2 weeks.
Rah...rah....rah....sunshine

Think we've had sun on 2 days out of 20

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:44 am

Well I look at my big j-tree again and...
Looks good!

Pics from when the crown froze off!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 2:57 pm

Last winter's pics right?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:04 pm

lucky1 wrote:Last winter's pics right?

Was from damage done 2 winters ago. (the winter before last) 2010/2011 winter.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:20 pm

lucky1 wrote:Would you improve its chances removing the snow?

I think snow removal from the crown can sometimes hurt the plant. Cold plant tissue can damage easy if moved around in the winter. Thats why I used only my shop vac on my Y. faxon, for what good it did, if any.

I think it is best to keep it off the plant with a cover, towel or something like that before it snows. I just removed a bunch of snow from a couple of yuccas, but I only moved it from around the base.
Also I am less concerned with snow on the bigger yuccas. they have a much tighter crown and so less damage is done to the emerging leaves.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 5:29 pm

lucky1 wrote: Mild weather with that SW system...good!

Today we FINALLY got rid of that low valley cloud that's been hanging around for 2 weeks.
Rah...rah....rah....sunshine

Think we've had sun on 2 days out of 20

Barb

Oh yes! always nice to see the sun!

No sun here today, but It was warm, about 45F/7.2C

I now can see if there is damage or not,and the faxon is looking like crap.

it will come back from the roots, but I have more faxons to try in that spot.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:07 pm

Hi Aaron,

your faxoniana looks like toast? Too bad.............how's your rostrata look?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 6:29 pm

TimMAz6 wrote:Hi Aaron,

how's your rostrata look?

They are looking good! They look better now than they did in the cold weather.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:02 pm

They are looking good!

Oh thank goodness...whew.

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:51 am

TimMAz6 wrote:Hi Aaron,

your faxoniana looks like toast? Too bad.............how's your rostrata look?

Well...we have been above freezing for about 2-3 days straight, and belive it or not, the faxon might live if we have a warm Feb and it don't get a bac-t infection. All the leaves have heavy burn and will died, but the inner crown is still ok? Like I said if it dies it will come back from the roots. I left it uncovered before and it died to the ground but came back. I think this time if it comes back I will replace it with one of my other faxon's. That realestate is just to prime from a short term plant.

I was just outside and all my rostrata's look just fine! Maybe even 90% perfect.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 26, 2013 9:56 am

Oh...I almost forgot about my J-trees! Not a mark on them, look like winter never happened.

Every winter to me is the worst, I forget they have been through this before! Well...maybe not for this long of a cold spell.