Yucca rostratas barely protected

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:41 am

Thermocube in the Washy protection FINALLY turned on the lights for the plastic-protected 3 y.rostratas.
The thermocube must have gotten squished/warmed by the leaf-filled bags moving in the Washy protection.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/southslope/8388923973/" title="004 by edible_plum, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8334/8388 ... 7187_c.jpg" width="800" height="600" alt="004"></a>

Snow weight caved in some of the plastic, which ends up touching yucca leaves.
Not good.
After every snowfall I prop up the plastic again.

With two mornings at -17C 1F, I'm hoping the rostratas will make it.

Not a good time to ask this, but which is hardier: W. robusta or y.rostrata?

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 10:35 am

Toasty

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 11:55 am

Washies hardier?
or rostrata?

Just so I know which one to have a funeral for come spring

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:04 pm

Yucca rostrata is hardier than Washingtonia robusta. My rostrtas need to have snow-load protestion in order to keep their emerging spear from rotting, also helps to keep dry in the winter. But my neighbour five doors down has a rostrata as well and it is gorgeous... and they do NOTHING to it! But it is west facing with good siting and mine is on the south wall. We are zone 7a. Washingtonia robusta will not survive here unprotected like the Yucca rostrata. I killed one three years ago that i heavily mulched, but that was it. It was sited EXACTLY where I ended up putting my Y. rostrata. I believe it kept green until January-ish when we dropped below -8c for four days and went down to -17c:

Jan 2009:
14† -11.0 -16.4 -13.7 31.7 0.0 0.0 M 0.6 5 31 37
15† -9.9 -15.9 -12.9 30.9 0.0 0.0 M 2.4 11 2 37
16† -12.3 -17.5 -14.9 32.9 0.0 M M 3.0 10 26 48
17† -8.2 -14.5 -11.4 29.4

It did alright with a few hours at -16c and a couple of days in dec at -10 and -11. A mature w. robusta palm may do even better. this one was five feet tall grown in Florida and was planted in Sept '08.
A mature well sited W. robusta may do okay unprotected perhaps in 8a.
Sorry I have NO pics.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 12:40 pm

Suspected Washies couldn't handle as much cold as rostrata.
Didn't know the spread was that big, though.

Too bad there's no pic of your Washy...I should put all my failed plant photos in a photo file called Obituary.

I know older Washies (OK, really old) can handle a lot of cold, but not of much duration.
So that's where the y.rostratas would excel if kept dry.

Despite mine being in plastic, there's a lot of airspace in the "tent", very little moisture beading up on the inside of plastic.
I think the "roaring" woodstove in the basement adjacent to the wall the rostratas are planted against might be keeping the outside of foundation wall a bit warmer.

Thanks Adam.
Barb

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:23 pm

Hi Barb,

what's hardier Washy or Y. rostrata? Kinda like what's hardier tomatoes or Abies.

my rostrata survived with little to no damage at -8F. The trunked Y. treculeana died in the same cold event.....they were planted right next to each other. I have not gotten cold enough to kill a rostrata. Washys will be dead in late November here.

There are some 'rostrata' forms with rigida genes in them.......these will be less hardy.

Photo in March 2005.....the Y. treculeana trunk is dead....the leaves died one month later.
<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 0001-2.jpg>

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:54 pm

what's hardier tomatoes or Abies

Turkey!

I should've added Washy doesn't see sun for 4 months protected.
As another factor in mortality?

The treculeana wasn't as pretty as the rostrata anyway.

Barb

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 5:12 pm

Tim is funny but right on, at least based on the experience of others.
Two years ago we had lows of about -30 C hereabouts.
There are NO washy in town now, but Yucca rostrata (even trunked ones) are fine.
(Well, I today did see three small Washy palms planted last spring that might be alive, but that doesn't count. And I doubt they're alive.)

My potted Yucca came inside per advice on another thread, but only because they are in pots. Yours will be just fine.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:28 pm

Barb, I bet your plants will be fine. Even your outside temps have been on the mild side. If you want to plan a furneral, do so for a few I might bury.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:32 pm

I hear ya with Washy's being out of sun light for 4 months.............mine seemed fine last spring when I uncovered it.....it didn't skip a beat. I have more difficulties protecting Sabal minor.

Y. rostratas surviving that super cold blast of -30F is fabulous.

Y. treculeana is a beauty when not dead

It looked OK in these photos prior to it dying.

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 130006.jpg>

<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 020003.jpg>

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:40 pm

TimMAz6 wrote: Y. rostratas surviving that super cold blast of -30F is fabulous.

Y. treculeana is a beauty when not dead

It looked OK in these photos prior to it dying.

Did your rostrata survive -30F? That's a keeper!

Y. treculeana, was stunning!

I have also seen when plants look fine after winter only to die later.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:46 pm

those rostratas which survived -30F were out in Oklahoma.......we don't get that cold here.

funny thing about the treculeana dying was that the trunk died first............we know the weakest link!

keep the trunks warm!

TerdalFarm · Post by **TerdalFarm** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 6:53 pm

Wasn't my Y rostrata, it was the personal one of the guy I bought my trunked one from. He showed me photos, and I believe'd him. His was also trunked and out by his mailbox on his rural street. We had snow first, so the roots would not have frozen.
And I meant -30 C, but still....

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:13 pm

TimMAz6 wrote: funny thing about the treculeana dying was that the trunk died first............we know the weakest link!

Have you seen this in other trunkers?

When my j-tree died, the crowns died first, and on my big one that lived the crown rotted off.

I wonder if the infection came from the roots up on your plants, being from wetter country?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 7:18 pm

I have had some rot off from the roots/small trunk but was in low wet ground. I then learned stuff here only lived on higher ground. Of cource I see your yuccas are high up and in well graveled ground. But it did make me wonder about the high rain fall and wetter soil.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Thu Jan 17, 2013 9:17 pm

Great pics, Tim

RIP Treculeana.

Y. rostratas surviving that super cold blast of -30F is fabulous.

-30C or F...incredible, yet some folks say that couldn't have been rostrata.
But we'll find out with our "northern" tests soon enough.

Aaron, if I lived nearby, I'd come over and protect yours...and not step on the stuff under the snow.
Ergo, no funerals.

Barb

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:36 am

lucky1 wrote:.

Aaron, if I lived nearby, I'd come over and protect yours...and not step on the stuff under the snow.
Ergo, no funerals.

Barb

That's a very nice thought Barb, but I think we may be surpized in the spring. And then everyone will want seed, and I will share!

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 8:46 am

And then everyone will want seed, and I will share!

Good point, Aaron.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 5:53 pm

Aaron.........the treculeana trunk was all 'mushy' inside while the leaves were still greenish and not 'mushy'. It sure appeared to me the trunk died from cold and the leaves died slowly thereafter since the trunk was dead. It's only my assumption that other Yuccas will be less hardy in the trunk area. Rot is always a potential problem here.......we get about 4" of precipitation every month of the year and I always hate when it falls 1/2 rain and 1/2 snow..............that type of precipitation is pure death for the southwest plants since after the storm passes the temps typically drop off quickly into the teens the same night.

ps.....the trunk may be turgid with all our moisture?

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Jan 18, 2013 9:04 pm

TimMAz6 wrote:ps.....the trunk may be turgid with all our moisture?

That's what I think has happened to my yuccas here when the are not raised up enough on slopes/benches/mounds. Some do make it, depending on sp.
A good case study here is j-trees. I have had many look fine all winter only to find them rotted at the base. They would come back from the roots a few years later they would do the same. The only one that ever survived was the big one that I have now, and yes at the time it was the only one planted on a mound. I think my friend in Twin-Falls also mentioned planting them up high. Well to make a long story short I have lost a lot "less" yuccas up high.
What is also interesting to me is how they grow in the wild. J-trees like to grow on slopes, and Y. elata like areas where rain water will collect, like in the barrow pits/drainage on the side of roads.

Yucca elata's in the wild, sorry not the best examples.

The hill to the right of the above pic, you will see Dasylirions on the slopes.

And around Bisbee, Y. schottii growing on the slopes.

This could be why Y. elata does better where there is more moisture, the roots don't need as well drained soil.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:09 am

nice shots Aaron........that Y. elata bloom stalk has a massive diameter.......very cool. I would be real interesting to do a mass planting of Y. brevifolia to find the most moisture tolerant types.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 9:44 am

TimMAz6 wrote:nice shots Aaron........that Y. elata bloom stalk has a massive diameter.......very cool. I would be real interesting to do a mass planting of Y. brevifolia to find the most moisture tolerant types.

Tim, if mine survives this cold period we know it wont be cold related. So if not the cold It must be moisture in the crown or the roots. Last year we had a very heavy snow and then turned into 2/3 inches of rain over 2 days, and for us that was crazy (flooded our town/drains) but had no effect on my j-tree. They seem to be more picky about wet feet in the winter, probably because in the wild they only get the water in winter? Very rare for them to get precip in late spring/summer.
I'm thinking if you built a mound about 2 feet higher, it might live there?
When I go down there we will try and get a bunch of hardy j-tree seed. If I can get to the seed. I know where there is some very hardy j-trees.
Of cource, just ideas. I've never been back east.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:42 am

Aaron, thanks for those photos.
Blue skies and blue yuccas.

Great combination.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 11:20 am

lucky1 wrote:Aaron, thanks for those photos.
Blue skies and blue yuccas.

Great combination.

No problem.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 5:47 pm

Aaron.......if you see any J seed please collect some. I would protect the first few years for sure..............they can take our temps it's just the wetness............a mass planting would be fun

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Jan 19, 2013 8:12 pm

TimMAz6 wrote:Aaron.......if you see any J seed please collect some. I would protect the first few years for sure..............they can take our temps it's just the wetness............a mass planting would be fun

I will see what I can do. I think that would be great if you had the first long term j-tree in the east.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 5:13 pm

Clary's DNA study on Yucca concluded Y. brevifolia was closest related to Y. rostrata.............I wonder if anyone tried to hybridize Y. brevifolia and Y. rostrata...............I've read reports that Y. brevifolia does not hybridize with other Yuccas. In 20 years I can try!

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Jan 20, 2013 9:10 pm

TimMAz6 wrote:Clary's DNA study on Yucca concluded Y. brevifolia was closest related to Y. rostrata.............I wonder if anyone tried to hybridize Y. brevifolia and Y. rostrata...............I've read reports that Y. brevifolia does not hybridize with other Yuccas. In 20 years I can try!

If you did, that would be something to talk about! I bet it could be done, I think no one has tried.

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Mon Jan 21, 2013 5:41 pm

lets try!

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Yucca rostratas barely protected

Yucca rostratas barely protected

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