Hi Tyler. Two years ago my husband was hauling my variegated Yucca indoors. The largest crown from hit the doorway and broke. I didn't want to discard. I first showered the crown. Next I prepared a shallow pot using well-draining soil. Before inserting crown in soil, I cut a little of the stem that was torn off, to even out.
Honestly, I can't tell you how long it took to root, but because foliage hadn't died or discolored, I figured something was happening. I left the crown in the shallow pot throughout fall, winter, and part of spring, giving infrequent watering. It was placed about 5' from a south window, (which equals medium/low light here in IL.) The following spring, I removed plant from the shallow container then potted in the same 17" container w/mom. I hope you're following me. :)

The stuff you're talking about could be wax..wax is used to transport D. fragrans canes so they don't dry out when shipped to US. The wax might be used for Yuccas too, but I'm not sure. It's usually red in color.

Yuccas are slow-growing, some much slower than others. Be patient..lol. Before you know it, you'll have a huge plant..after it gets 'x' tall, hits the ceiling, you'll want to know what to do next...lol.

What size is its pot? You can repot, toss most of old soil and add fresh soil, or simply top new soil on old, water and give a dose of fertilizer.

Your south window sounds perfect. Yuccas are sun-lovers. 31 floors up, in an unobstructed window, that IS a sunny spot.
If you decide to root your yucca crowns, you'll need two pots. Shallow containers are best to root, but it's up to you. Good luck, Toni

Hi Tyler,

Succulent yumbo, that's a pack of questions.

The black stuff sounds like pruning tar. At this time of the year, yes, you can cut them now (I'd suggest at an angle).

Heat and light, along with a repotting and fresh, porous soil, would be best. Yuccas want to grow this time of the year, so just about anything you're thinking of doing with them should be done now.

I imagine within a month of doing these things you should see some growth. Heat, light and water, fresh soil, a little diluted fertilizer in a couple of weeks after repotting (make sure you don't water the first few days after repotting, though). Give it room to grow and those other conditions and I should think that by Aug. 1st you'd see new shoots, if not before then. With the heat you have there it should do well in the next few months.

I have done all sorts of nasty things to my Yucca. I cut the side shoots off and got new growth from the stems. I got other growths coming out from the roots. VERY slow, don't give up. Cuttings root fairly easily. Then it got a bad case of scale. I cut it off at ground level, trashed the tops, put it outside (it loves outside) and waited. by fall I had a forest of yuccas and no scale. After two years I have potted up three sets of three plants each. If you like the leaves coming off the sides, just slice off the top and dribble wax into the cut end. You will get side shoots. Nothing seems to faze my plant.

As Georgette says, nothing fazes the plant (well, almost - I daresay a barrel of Agent Orange wouldn't do it any good). I remember hauling away hundreds of pounds of trimmings from plants in San Diego - their trunkprint was square feet, verging into hectares. What a wonderful landscape plant it is there - you just have to take a bow saw to them every few months and dispose of a lot of succulent waste.

Thanks for all the great information. I know it was a lot of questions.

cactusmcharris - curious why do you suggest cutting them at an angle. The trunks are currently flat topped.

I guess my major concern is that I'm going to cut the tops off and only have one or two side shoots come out of each trunk. There were four or five on each trunk when I first bought the plant, and after a couple years I had to prune them back to three on each.

Tyler

Angled cut = no puddle of water in the trunk's cut area that might promote rot.

Feel free to use this advice on all cuts, not just those on Yucca.

Another thought...

Would the plant see any difference between me cutting the entire top off each trunk or cutting off each individual side shoot at the trunk?

Tyler

I'd say it's aesthetics at that point, but I never grew them until I got up here.