Yucca Decipiens and Filifera

andym · Post by **andym** » Fri Nov 15, 2013 5:00 pm

I'd love to own a trunked Filifera but with a hardiness of only -8C I'm loath to buy one even though they are as common as muck over here. Yucca decipiens on the other hand is considerably hardier and looks similar in appearance. So i'm somewhat bemused by the fact that they are as rare as hens teeth. No European Nursery sells them

I wonder why they are not so popular?

TimMAz6 · Post by **TimMAz6** » Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:35 am

Hi Andy,

Y. decipiens is very rare over here in the States too. I still have never gotten one.

I killed a couple trunked Y. filiferas back in 2002-2003. When kept dry in winter they can take some cold. My dry one took -14C (6F) under the protection and grew nicely the next season. The filifera kept outside without protection was dead in December with a low of -9C (15F).

Here's the filifera I kept dry, photo November 2002.
<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... nov30r.jpg>

Same Y. filifera in Feb. 2003 under cover.
<img src=http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... feb7_r.jpg>

I'm growing out some Y. filifera seedlings which were collected at 2,000 meters (6,500 ft) in Mexico. Here's one in my office.
<a href="http://s30.photobucket.com/user/timmaz6 ... 8.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c309/ ... 7oh3h8.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 60E294A7-2541-46C3-9377-57582349AF60_zps8s7oh3h8.jpg"/></a>

Yucca filifera is 'suppose' to be the same as Yucca australis.......I purchased Y. australis seed from Mesa garden and tested them against Y. filifera '2000m' seed and the Y. australis seedlings died from cold well before the Y. filifera seedlings.......just a note since the Yuccas in your area may be Y. australis.........perhaps you should try to get a 'real' Yucca filifera.......they 'should' be as hardy as Y. decipiens in my opinion.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Fri Oct 02, 2015 6:10 pm

Tim,
I grew some Y. austrailis, but when the seedling got bigger, I got them mixed up with my faxons. That faxon I had that died, my have been a Y. austrailis.

Nice Y. filifera.

andym · Post by **andym** » Sun Oct 04, 2015 2:58 pm

Hi Aaron... Since my original thread I have bought two Yucca Filifera and a Yucca Decipiens. One perished before last Winter (Crown rot) and the other is still in a pot. The decipiens survived last Winter but with a lot of basal leaf rot. Sadly will have to be covered this Winter.
Some pics of my new Filifera which has a blue hue in the leaves and the Decipiens with leaf damage
Yucca Filifera

Yucca Decipiens

They are both beautiful Yuccas but struggle in my cooler wetter climate

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Oct 04, 2015 6:43 pm

Both of them are awesome, hoping they will be with you for years to come. Maybe with time they can get air movement around the crowns. I need to get a few and try them down in AZ, if I ever get down there again.