Yucca Rostrata Plant Care

Are you looking for a plant that will become the focal point in your garden or home? Then you have found it the Beaked Yucca. It makes an ideal container plant and looks great in a bed or border.

Furthermore, it also has a low water requirement, so it works well in dry areas and is drought tolerant. The best part is it is low maintenance, and today, we share with your some care tips on how to keep your Yucca rostrata thriving.

What is Beaked Yucca?

Yucca Rostrata

One thing about Yucca plants is that they are deer and rabbit resistant and drought tolerant. In addition, you can grow the plant in wildlife gardens to attract hummingbirds. The evergreen plant can reach up to 16 feet tall and grows best in the sun.

Out of all the ornamental or landscape plants in the Yucca species, this is the nicest looking one of them all. It is also a slow-growing evergreen with a single thick trunk. The pompom look is gorgeous, and the head contains thin sword-like leaves. The foliage is stiff and flexible as it sways in the wind.

The leaves have a greyish blue-green color with yellow margins, and the tips are waxy and tapered. Nonetheless, when you look at the Saphire Skies cultivar, it is a powder blue tint. The Yucca rostrata blooms in spring with whitish flowers on long panicles.

It also has yelloworange flowering stalks reaching up to 40-inches high. Still, do not get confused with the Yucca rigida as the appearance is similar but not so stiff. The Beaked Yucca is native to western Texas and northern Mexico.

Yucca Plants Care

Yucca Rostrata

Yucca rostrata care is not complicated when you provide them with the right growing conditions. The plant also has other common names like Big Bend Yucca, Blue Beaked Yucca, Beaked Yucca, and Silver Yucca. You will find us using these terms throughout the article.

Ideal Soil Mix for Big Bend Yucca

Growing Yucca rostrata is relatively easy, and most importantly, it needs well-drained soil with small stones and sand. The trunk forming Yuccas thrive in alkaline soil but flourish in the acidic ground.

If you decide to grow your Beaked Yucca in a pot, it will need repotting every four years. The plant is an excellent choice for Mediterranean gardens and rocky slopes. You can even grow them in gravel gardens.

The Ideal Spot for Beaked Yucca

Yucca rostrata lighting condition

One thing that this tree-like Yucca loves is growing in full sun. So, choose a well-lit spot indoors or in the yard for your plant. It is one of the hardiest trunk-forming Yuccas that can tolerate drought and cold winter.

Still, when treating your yucca as an indoor plant, avoid placing it directly beside a south-facing window. Instead, you can put them a bit further away.

Watering Requirement to Prevent Root Rot

While it is slow-growing, it does need regular watering at least once a week. During the growing season, you may find the soil dries fast in spring and summer. Still, do not drown your plant leaving moisture as it can lead to root rot.

During winter, you can cut down on the watering. But the rule of thumb remains to check the soil moisture before wetting your plant.

Temperature and Humidity Needs

The best temperature to grow your slow-growing plant is between 65°F – 74°F. Your plant can handle temperature drops up to 10°F. Still, we recommend protecting your plant from cold when it is freezing. Your tree-like Yucca can also tolerate low to high humidity levels.

When you live in the USDA hardiness zone 5 to 10, you can grow it as an outdoor plant.

Fertilizing Yucca Rostrata

fertilizing yucca plant

While feeding is not a must for your Beaked Yucca, you can boost the growth with a slow-release fertilizer. You can do this in spring but always remember to water well afterward. You can also give it a prune to remove some old leaves or damaged foliage in the growing season.

Propagating Yucca Rostrata Plants

When you want to propagate your plant, there are different methods you can use. The species produce offsets (pups), or you can also use stem cuttings.

Taking Stem Cuttings

The method is one of the easiest ways to ensure that you propagate your Big Bend Yucca using multiple stems. The cuttings used can vary between two to six feet in length.

Preparing it for propagation helps to remove the leaves from the bottom on a 12-inch cutting. It can take up to six months for new growth to take place. The recommended time is in spring to help your plant establish itself by fall.

Keep the cuttings moist until you notice roots forming.

Propagating from Pups

The small offsets grow as shoots from the mature plants with roots forming at the base. You sever the pup from the plant base and can root it in a potting mix or your garden.

Rhizome Reproduction

You can also use the rhizomes that are fleshy and found underground. In late winter, you can dig it up to divide it into three-inch sections. You can do this by digging them up at the base without damaging your plant.

You can then replant the rhizomes in well-drained soil in containers to produce new roots in four weeks.

Growing from Seed

The process of seed growing can take longer but is very successful. After the clusters of white flowers fade, it produces massive seedpods that will dry out on the plant. You can collect these seeds from the pod to plant.

We recommend soaking them for a day to help with germination. The seeds will germinate in about four weeks. Still, if you cannot plant them immediately, you can store them for five years.

Yucca Rostrata Varieties

The Yucca rostrata is a striking focal point in the garden, but other varieties also make for a gorgeous display.

Adam’s Yucca

Adam's yucca

The Yucca filamentosa is another easy-growing plant tolerant to drought, rabbit, and deer and grows well in rocky soils. It grows broad leaves with tipped spines. You will see curly fibrous filaments growing off the leaf margins. It can grow up to eight feet tall with clusters of white flowers.

Yucca rigida

Yucca rigida

The plant is usually confused with the Beaked Yucca, which only has a single trunk. The plant has powder-blue leaves that are wider and less twisted with a tall flower spike with white bellflower color. The plant is native to northern Mexico.

Spanish Bayonet

Spanish Bayonet yucca

The Spanish Bayonet many people planted as a living fence in warmer regions. The trunk is topped with thin leaves and sharp tips. It also produces a tall panicle with clusters of white flowers.

Yucca Rostrata Diseases & Pests

The Beak Yucca is tolerant to most things, from drought and full sun to partial shade. The plant is susceptible to mealybugs, aphids, scale, red spiders to spider mites. While relatively disease-free, it can get root rot from overwatering.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Beaked Yucca is a slow-growing plant and needs repotting every four years.

The Yucca rostrata is a hardy plant that grows in mild winter to scorching warm temperatures. It is also deer resistant making it ideal for growing in gardens where rabbits and deer are present.

The Beaked Yucca can grow up to 16 feet tall.

The good news is that you can find the Yucca rostrata plants at your local garden center, or you can get one right here at Plantly.

Whether you want to buy, sell or simply reach out to other plant enthusiasts, Plantly is the right place to be!

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