beautiful yucca rostrata almost no roots

bananieru · Post by **bananieru** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 6:59 am

First I was a little worried but I read that they store whatever they need to keep them alive in the trunk.

You can see it has some very small roots:

As I said, it's gorgeous, I'd hate to loose it:

It's facing a south wall. During the winter it will be protected with a hut with a window but no extra heat

It's been in the ground for more than a month now, and basically there is no change.

any advise?

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:52 am

May not want to hear it but I would pot it up until it gets a healthy root system.

The cold winter ground will not encourage this and it needs to be fully rooted
before planting or some stress or weakness may take it out.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:16 am

bananieru wrote: It's been in the ground for more than a month now, and basically there is no change.

any advise?

It took almost a year for the one I planted for the City to start to grow.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:42 am

Anybody else think it is/was planted too deep?

See the "waist" (the narrowing) above the roots before the trunk starts?
Isn't the "waist" the top of the soil line?

Sure is a beauty, Tavi.

Barb

seedscanada · Post by **seedscanada** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:59 am

Yeah, it is nice. It will have a very difficult winter if not protected. I speak as an Ontarian with experience down here in zone 7a. Nearly lost my rostrata two years ago. This year i will shelter from wind and make a teepee.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 7:08 pm

lucky1 wrote:Anybody else think it is/was planted too deep?

Barb

I thought the same thing. Maybe better shallow than to deep.

bananieru · Post by **bananieru** » Sat Oct 13, 2012 8:19 pm

can you please explain (why to deep is bad)

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:53 am

I hate to tell you this but I would lift it out and take all the soil out of there.

You need to make a deep pit of gravel course sand and very little actual soil.

I would also lose the mulch as this will keep the soil wet...you may want to
make more of a mound so the water runs off-I know it's a drag to hear this
but take it from someone who had to dig out their whole cactus bed
(digging around all the plants!

) I added a layer of gravel at the bottom and
then remove all the soil and replace with gravel sand and a little soil.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 9:38 am

bananieru wrote:can you please explain (why to deep is bad)

Most plants can't take being planted below where they were naturally growing. If the roots get to deep the plant can suffocate, and trunks are likely to rot if below the grade line. Plants are almost always better to be planted to shallow than to deep.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 10:05 am

Most plants can't take being planted below where they were naturally growing. If the roots get to deep the plant can suffocate, and trunks are likely to rot if below the grade line. Plants are almost always better to be planted to shallow than to deep.

Bang on, Aaron.
I learned that fact in a landscaping class years ago from a very knowledgeable instructor.

Better too high in the ground than an inch too deep.

As further proof, an old house was removed in an adjacent neighbourhood and the moronic guys on machines ended up pushing about 4 feet of excavated soil up aganst the trunk of a gorgeous Balsam Fir about 20 years old. Within 2 years I could see the tree was suffering but no new house had been built on the land so there was no-one to tell about it. Five years later the Fir was stone cold dead.

Barb

PS--agree 100% with Jim's remedy.

bananieru · Post by **bananieru** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:38 am

I will remove some of the soil from around the trunk and the mulch. This area is very close to the house almost under the roof. It's very dry. The hole I made was about 2ft deep till I hit an area with 100% sand. The mix I put in was around 50-50 soil and sand, very fast draining. I already build a hut around it, so no water for the next 5 months. The hut has a south facing window and it's attached to the house (actually has only 3 sides, one is the house).
It's been in there for more than a month, so it did have some heat, that's why I'm a little reluctant to remove it again, I hope that there were some roots growing already.
I will post a new picture soon.

bananieru · Post by **bananieru** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 11:59 am

you can see that the top of the soil is actually higher than the garden. This combined with the well that I dig under it gives it more chances.

DesertZone · Post by **DesertZone** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 2:02 pm

That is one nice yucca house, does it have back porch? j/k Very nice!

andym · Post by **andym** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 7:17 pm

The plant looks very nice with a good mophead. The root/stump however looks very wet as if rot had set in at some point. Keeping it dry will certainly help it but roots will not grow in cold soil.
I planted a Rostrata this year but it was in the spring time. It had roots but not much. it is now well rooted in a sandy free draining soil.

PalmsNorth.com

beautiful yucca rostrata almost no roots

beautiful yucca rostrata almost no roots

Re: beautiful yucca rostrata almost no roots

Who is online