Hi everyone,

I've recently taken possession of this fairly large Yucca, and I'm wondering if it can be saved at this point as it was not previously cared for properly (if at all). The entire trunk is quite soft which, according to what I have read, means it has rotted? I don't think the plant has been watered for a very long time, but may have been over watered at some point in the past.

It is positioned in a fairly light area near a window, but not in direct sunlight. It does seem to have some small green leaves sprouting from the soil at the base, but I'm concerned that the plant is now past saving if the trunk is soft?

Would appreciate some advice. Thank you!

Hi & welcome! It looks like there are signs of life at the base?

purpleinopp said: Hi & welcome! It looks like there are signs of life at the base?

Yeah it does have a little bit of green sprouting out, hopefully this means it isn't past saving. I just found the soft trunk to be really concerning!

Would you recommend just trimming the brown leaves off and giving it a little bit of water?

That sounds promising. What do you think happened to it? Got too dry?
Or the opposite - was there a pool of water in the decorative pot? Got too cold?

If it just got too dry, I would moisten the soil well, put it in a sunny spot, and leave it alone otherwise for a few months (except to add water when dry.) Then you'll know for sure which parts are dead and you can trim those off.

If it's rotting from getting too wet, I would probably remove it from the pot as soon as practical, chop off the pancake of roots at the bottom of the root ball if one has formed, remove the rest of the soil. Then put it in a new, bigger pot with all new soil. When doing that, the soil level should be at the same point as it was before, don't bury more trunk. The day after doing this, I would water thoroughly, gently, so the force of gushing water doesn't compact the soil and/or wash it out of the pot.

purpleinopp said: That sounds promising. What do you think happened to it? Got too dry?
Or the opposite - was there a pool of water in the decorative pot? Got too cold?

If it just got too dry, I would moisten the soil well, put it in a sunny spot, and leave it alone otherwise for a few months (except to add water when dry.) Then you'll know for sure which parts are dead and you can trim those off.

If it's rotting from getting too wet, I would probably remove it from the pot as soon as practical, chop off the pancake of roots at the bottom of the root ball if one has formed, remove the rest of the soil. Then put it in a new, bigger pot with all new soil. When doing that, the soil level should be at the same point as it was before, don't bury more trunk. The day after doing this, I would water thoroughly, gently, so the force of gushing water doesn't compact the soil and/or wash it out of the pot.

I think the person who was "looking after it" initially over watered it, then got scared that they'd drowned it, so ended up not watering again for months and months! The soil felt bone dry to the touch and there was no pool of water in the pot.

I've just given it a small amount of water, enough to moisten the soil and left it alone for now. I'll keep an eye on it over the next few weeks or so and see if it improves at all. It's already in a well lit area, so it should be getting an adequate amount of light.

Thank you for the advice!

My pleasure! Sounds like a good plan. Try to prevent the soil from becoming literally completely dry again. Just don't keep it soggy, dump out water in the decorative pot if it doesn't soak into the soil within a few minutes. ; )

Any updates?

purpleinopp gives excellent advice. Follow it and there's a good bit of hope.

My red flag was, "The entire trunk is quite soft" but I guess soft is a subjective thing.

If it was mine I'd try to save the new growth too, but I've never had a rotten stem recover short of sending up new growth from the roots and would hack the top section and root/re-pot it.

A soggy trunk won't support new growth well long-term.
In my experience at least.

Roots can always surprise you though.