Hello all, Our yucca, which we saved from the side of the road, has begun behaving strangely recently. When we first found it, the plant was covered with what looked like aphids in its green foliage (so only at the top), so I cut away all the green shoots and lightly sprayed the yucca trunk with hydrogen peroxide solution. After that, the yucca was growing 2-3 green shoots on the top, but never got very big (the biggest of the three green shoots only reached around 20 cm tall) and were always pale green in colour. Recently we realized that the green shoots had gotten soft/squishy to the touch, and furthermore, the top of the main trunk of the yucca was getting soft to the touch. It feels as though the softness began at the tip of the yucca and is slowly travelling down. We promptly removed the three green shoots. At the same time, the yucca has brought forth five new plants at the base of the plant, which is fantastic. Does anyone know what's happening to our yucca? Should we be worried about the developing softness? Do we need to saw the top half of the trunk off to stop the softness from spreading further? Or has the time come for the main yucca plant, hence it is giving out new shoots from the base?
Unless you have cats, rambunctious dogs, or unruly children, the yucca should not require the wooden supports you have at the base of the trunk. This suggests to me that the roots are not as well established, possibly due to rotting from overwatering. While the growth at the base looks fine, they may be just barely hanging on to remnants of the roots. I'm guessing your rare freezes are over with for the season? If you have a place out side with at least a few hours of sun daily, that may be the best medicine, for drying out root rot and encouraging new growth. You really want the soil to be dry to maybe an inch or 3 cm down before watering again.
