We had a large yukka plant in the garden which my husband dug up 2 years ago. It keeps regrowing. We have applied killer including stump killer but it continues to re-emerge. Any advice on.how to finally destroy this plant
nothing survives if you keep removing the leaves but you need to do it as soon as more leaf appears, not let them grow for a few months then chop them off.
I dug one out because it had never flowered. It was not happy where it was. The leaves looked awful every winter. It sent up new shoots from the rootstock. I dug those up and potted on. I planted it in a sunny well drained spot and two years later it flowered. I have it at the back of the border though. I don't go near it without eye protection and gauntlets. It is magnificent in flower.
When trying to get rid of these monsters, my best advice advice would be turn to religion. Cut off the top part of the trunk as close to the ground as you can they make a "sign of the cross" hack in it with an axe. Add stump killer to be on the safe side. Good luck.
Anybody ferreting around at the back of the border, between the yucca and a hawthorn hedge with a few brambles in, without my permission, is going to get what's coming to them.
Having recently dug a 20 year old one (which I grew from seed) out of a raised bed, I will echo the posts above. The roots are huge and thick but easily snap (they are really water storage organs) so pulling them up is not possible, they have to be dug out. They look great in a very large garden where they can stay for half a century or more and won't poke anyone's eyes out. If you have a relatively small garden which you might want to completely revamp within your lifetime, don't plant one!
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Thanks everyone. I think you are right Bob this is definitely not a plant for the garden. this one was planted before we bought our house 10 years ago. It is on the edge of the border abounding the public footpath. it had become lethal with its dangerous spiked leaves being just the right height to take a child's eye out. Hence our decision to remove it. My husband dug down and down and we thought we had it all. As it is planted on the edge of our boundary I am thinking there must be some root stock in the soil of our neighbours garden. Seems like we may be fighting this thing forever.
Posts
nothing survives if you keep removing the leaves but you need to do it as soon as more leaf appears, not let them grow for a few months then chop them off.
In the sticks near Peterborough
Dig it up and pot it to give it to a friend. I can guarantee it will die.
I dug one out because it had never flowered. It was not happy where it was. The leaves looked awful every winter. It sent up new shoots from the rootstock. I dug those up and potted on. I planted it in a sunny well drained spot and two years later it flowered. I have it at the back of the border though. I don't go near it without eye protection and gauntlets. It is magnificent in flower.
When trying to get rid of these monsters, my best advice advice would be turn to religion. Cut off the top part of the trunk as close to the ground as you can they make a "sign of the cross" hack in it with an axe. Add stump killer to be on the safe side. Good luck.
Last edited: 16 October 2016 22:54:47
Anybody ferreting around at the back of the border, between the yucca and a hawthorn hedge with a few brambles in, without my permission, is going to get what's coming to them.
Having recently dug a 20 year old one (which I grew from seed) out of a raised bed, I will echo the posts above. The roots are huge and thick but easily snap (they are really water storage organs) so pulling them up is not possible, they have to be dug out. They look great in a very large garden where they can stay for half a century or more and won't poke anyone's eyes out. If you have a relatively small garden which you might want to completely revamp within your lifetime, don't plant one!
Thanks everyone. I think you are right Bob this is definitely not a plant for the garden. this one was planted before we bought our house 10 years ago. It is on the edge of the border abounding the public footpath. it had become lethal with its dangerous spiked leaves being just the right height to take a child's eye out. Hence our decision to remove it. My husband dug down and down and we thought we had it all. As it is planted on the edge of our boundary I am thinking there must be some root stock in the soil of our neighbours garden. Seems like we may be fighting this thing forever.