Palm lily ∗ The 10 best care tips and cut correctly

Care tips

One of the likeable character traits of a yucca is its frugal unpretentiousness, because professional care is limited to these factors:

Pour moderately with soft water
Remove excess water from the planter
Fertilize every 14 days from April to September

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How to care for your palm lily
Is the palm lily an agave plant?
Is the palm lily suitable as a houseplant?

Place the palm lily in a sunny to partially shaded spot. The tolerable temperature level of non-winter-hardy species and varieties ranges from 12 to 27 degrees Celsius. Special precautions to increase the humidity are not required.

Cut palm lily correctly

If the palm lily grows over your head or loses its harmonious silhouette in old age, a courageous pruning solves the problem. Cut a yucca in early spring with a sharp, disinfected knife or saw. The plant willingly sprouts from its sleeping eyes again.

Propagate palm lily

A well-established palm lily provides the material for further specimens without our intervention. These are Kindels that thrive on the base of the tribe. You already have the appearance of a finished yucca. So that these daughter plants develop their own root system, proceed as follows:

If there are at least 5 leaves on the child, cut them off with a knife
Plant in peat sand or pricking soil and pour rainwater at room temperature
In the half-shaded, warm window seat, the rooting progresses quickly

Another method of propagation is to use 20-30 centimeter long pieces of trunk that are available after pruning. Planted out of poor substrate, the cuttings root out of the sleeping eyes. It is important to note that the segments are used in the previous direction of growth.

How do I transplant properly?

To transplant a palm lily in the bed, choose a dry, overcast day in spring or summer. You proceed professionally in these steps:

Cut off the roots all around with the spade
The diameter corresponds to the height
Lift out the root ball with the digging fork or spade
Plant in the prepared, new location exactly as deep as the yucca was previously
Solidify the soil and water it generously

If you are transplanting a yucca in a pot, you do not need to separate the roots. It is important to note that there is drainage above the water drain in the new bucket to prevent waterlogging. A loose, loamy-sandy substrate with a portion of compost and a little perlite (€ 32.90 at Amazon *) creates ideal growing conditions.

Is palm lily poisonous?

A palm lily does not pose a health risk to humans. For pets, on the other hand, the consumption of plant parts proves to be poisonous because it causes vomiting, diarrhea and cramps.

Palm lily does not bloom

If a palm lily does not bloom in the garden, it is usually just too young. Quite a few species take up to 10 years before they present their flowers for the first time. If an older specimen refuses to flower, the location and culture conditions should be put to the test. Pests or disease also prevent flowering. We cannot generally expect a flower from a room yucca.

Is the palm lily an agave plant?

Although its common name suggests something else, a palm lily is not a palm. In fact, you are looking at an agave plant from the asparagus family.

The palm lily as a houseplant

The prime example of a palm lily as a houseplant is the Yucca aloifolia. The gem scores with a trunk up to 100 centimeters high and a crown made of dark green sword leaves. Some varieties impress with green or red-edged leaves that underline the decorative value. How to properly care for yucca as a houseplant:

Sunny to partially shaded location
Water moderately without causing waterlogging
Fertilize every 2 weeks from April to September
From mid-November to early March, overwinter in light at 12-14 degrees
Water less and do not fertilize

If the previous planter is no longer sufficient, repot the palm lily at the end of the winter rest. A structurally stable potted plant soil with lava granulate (€ 10.95 at Amazon *) or perlite is suitable as a substrate. A drainage made of grit (€ 12.80 at Amazon *) or pottery shards from the bottom of the pot is essential.

The flower of the palm lily

Its blossom takes our breath away when it appears. Until then, it will take up to 10 years. As a houseplant, it usually does not elicit an inflorescence from a yucca. In the bed, on the other hand, tight upright panicles with large bell flowers in white or cream develop from June to September / October. These care measures have a beneficial effect on the willingness to flower:

Sunny, warm location, ideally protected by a wall or hedge
Humous, well-drained substrate without risk of waterlogging
Balanced water and nutrient balance

Increase the palm lily by dividing it

Since the trunk of a yucca has numerous vegetation points, you can divide it and grow new palm lilies from the segments. The sections are at least 20 centimeters long. When cutting from the mother plant, pay attention to the polarity, because the trunk pieces are to be planted in the previous direction of growth so that they root.

Is the palm lily hardy?

Within the multifaceted genus with more than 50 species, there is an abundance of hardy palm lilies to discover. Classics for the garden are:

Candle palm lily (Yucca gloriosa): hardy to -20 degrees
Filamentous palm lily (Yucca filamentosa): hardy to - 15 degrees
Blue palm lily (Yucca rostrata): hardy to - 21 degrees

The palm lilies develop this frost resistance only in the security of the ground. Cultivated in a large bucket, winter protection is essential so that the root ball does not freeze through.

The most beautiful varieties

Candle palm lily: trunk-forming, branched yucca with magnificent blossoms in old age, hardy to -25 degrees
Marginata: the gray palm lily forms a trunk with a crown of dark green leaves with yellow edges; hardy
Quadricolor: colorful variety with green, stiff leaves, white, yellow and reddish stripes; conditionally hardy
Filamentous palm lily: a stemless yucca with beautiful bell blossoms in June and July; hardy to -25 degrees
Dwarf palm lily: stemless leaf rosettes with 25 cm diameter and 100 cm high inflorescence; hardy to -20 degrees
Giant palm lily: mighty yucca with heights of up to 10 meters and huge inflorescence in summer; only partially hardy
Big Bend: beautiful blue yucca with a round crown, cream-colored blossom and robust winter hardiness