Yucca rostrata LIVES!

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:55 pm

After planting a Yucca rostrata two years ago, the top growth slowly faded and was pronounced dead without any chance of survival by "people in the know". I'd written it off and was waiting for spring to uproot it and toss it in the compost pile. Well yesterday was my window of opportunity and after pulling up the "dead stump", I discovered this ... new growth from below soil level.

Yucca rostrata LIVES! ...... Cheers, Barrie.

Post by **Jay-Admin** » Mon Feb 25, 2008 11:34 pm

Good stuff Barrie. Alot of yuccas are root hardy and come back to life from the roots after the top dies off. I had this happen to my yucca torreyi two winters ago. It came back last summer but will have to see if it makes it through this winter.

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 10:24 am

I was rather shocked since I was assured by very reputable exotics gardeners, Y. rostrata won't regrow after the top dies. This time it has and I'll see how it develops as the season progresses.

Cheers, Barrie.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 11:25 am

Must admit that I've never seen a rostrata do that before... However, I have had Yucca elata, torreyi, glorisa, glauca etc... have the top growth fail only to come back (usually from more then 1 location) in the spring.
Hopefully the new growth will be tougher then the original Barrie!

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Tue Feb 26, 2008 3:30 pm

Paul ... if memory serves me, these where brought in from Texas by a local enthusiast / nurseryman. I aquired several and put one in my garden. It's my understanding they where not rooted cuttings when they crossed the border. I recall the roots being very brittle as I eased it out of the pot to plant. I broke far more than I was ever expecting and wondered if that set it back. By the following spring the top rotted and pulled rather easily. I hope my recent handling of this hasn't set it back again. I certainly wasn't expecting to see any growth, and it was slated for the compost pile.

Cheers, Barrie.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Mar 07, 2008 8:41 pm

Excellent Barrie, glad it's saved.
That should be a lesson to us all to not toss out stuff too early.

I've been looking for a trunked yucca and/or spanish bayonet (like macario's), and found this website from Oklahoma
that might interest folks.
He's got a yucca rostrata with a foot of clear trunk.

Interesting pics all the way through his catalogue.
Sells palm seeds too.

http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=h ... %26hl%3Den

Barb

Kansas · Post by **Kansas** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:47 am

Can I get an update pic Barrie? PLEASE

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:21 am

I thought I'd better check on this Yucca after your request for a pic. I noticed it leaning and some excavating around the base by a critter of some kind, rat, rabbit, who knows. I removed it from that location and will pot it up and leave it in the greenhouse to avoid further problems.
I'm still baffled as to why this is alive because there isn't any real visible healthy roots. Anyway, here's a pic of the whole thing at 17" overall length and a closer view of the new growth.

Cheers, Barrie.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:02 am

Barry, maybe 3/4 of the bulbous lower trunk is a water storing root.
You've got more roots on yours than these:

Barb

Post by **Jay-Admin** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 10:53 am

That would be cool if it does grow back for you.

Keep us posted.

Regards,
Jay

Wes North Van · Post by **Wes North Van** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 4:50 pm

Barrie,
Why did it die off? I thought this species of yucca was hardy here?
I almost bought a 15 gallon one from Maple Leaf for $250.00 but decised it was too expensive so I didn't. I would hate to spend that kind of money and have it die on me.

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 5:10 pm

Why did it die off?...

They are hardy here but with mine there where a number of contributing factors. Initailly this was nothing more than what you see above but with a full crown. Roots had formed and where very brittle and many broke while it was transpanted. I was never convinced it was a solid specimen since no new growth appeared in the first year. I'm wondering how any of the other Y.rostrata people picked up from me have done?

Cheers, Barrie.

Wes North Van · Post by **Wes North Van** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 7:42 pm

Do you have any more for sale? If so how large are they and what price do you want for them?
Do you have any other varieties?

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 8:27 pm

No more Yucca rostrata . The others I have are seedlings mostly in one gallon pots ... Y. elata, Y. treculeana, Y. bacata, Y. aloifolia, (perhaps a few others) for future potential. So nothing at this point worthy of concideration really IMO.

Cheers, Barrie.

Wes North Van · Post by **Wes North Van** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 11:37 pm

OK thanks Barrie.
Please let me know if you get some good sized ones in.

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:41 pm

I was going to update the photos on this one but Photobucket did that for me in my first (original) post. I guess I deleted a few pics on file and the subsequent upload posted the update.

Cheers, Barrie.

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