On 5 Sep, 09:44, Compo wrote:
I have what I believe to be a Yucca aloifolia. I bought it as a sad
looking shoot in a supermarket about 17yrs ago and it has now grown to
about seven feet tall. It has outgrown its small conservatory and I
am wondering if it is possible to prune the top section so that it
fits the space once again.
I tried placing it outside for the summer but here in the north of
Scotland we have had such a dismally wet, cold and windy summer that
it has suffered badly. Many of the upper leaves have browned and
become tattered. A pruning would help tidy it up as well as helping
size-wise.

I have done just that for over 20 years - putting my yukkas outside
in the summer and giving them a good downpour of rain (or a helping
hand with the hose) and cutting their 'head' off when I find them
curling too much to the point that I've got more support and twine
than branches and leaves. I have a 100% success with cuttings if I
place the cuttings in a plastic pots, or rubber. They keep moist long
enough to root - then I can neglect them, as usual. Also too much
water is not good as you've found out. I'll chop it's head off with no
worry - try to stay flat in your cut and now is a good time. Sometimes
I get 2 or 3 shoots coming out of the cut. It's entirely up to you to
keep that many - remember that you'll eventually have to support those
branches.

Aside, and interstingly, I've taken a cutting last november which I
have placed in a rubber pot where I had cucumber previously growing in
all summer. I let the cucumber plant dry drown and kept the soil.
Since last november, the yukka cutting put in over 15 leaves,
something like 20cm, the fastest ever. I'm wondering if the cucurbit
soil has 'fertilised' the yukka cutting.