Yucca treculeana “spear pull”

[bananaman]

Hi y’all,

Im in Austin, TX and after our wild winter weather in February, my huge Yucca treculeana lost its newly emerging spear. I got it out of there and poured copper fungicide in the hole left behind. Is there a chance it’ll grow back some heads from axillary buds, or will I have to wait for the surviving pups around the base to grow back a big trunk? As you may imagine, I’m pretty disappointed that this happened to a native yucca that’s so pretty. It’s been in the ground about 10 years and was planted as (I think?) a 5g.

I did have to do some major pruning to safely make it up to the top to apply the fungicide.

 

[Silas_Sancona]

4 minutes ago, bananaman said:

Hi y’all,

Im in Austin, TX and after our wild winter weather in February, my huge Yucca treculeana lost its newly emerging spear. I got it out of there and poured copper fungicide in the hole left behind. Is there a chance it’ll grow back some heads from axillary buds, or will I have to wait for the surviving pups around the base to grow back a big trunk? As you may imagine, I’m pretty disappointed that this happened to a native yucca that’s so pretty. It’s been in the ground about 10 years and was planted as (I think?) a 5g.

I did have to do some major pruning to safely make it up to the top to apply the fungicide.

 

Bummer   Tough to say but going by the 2nd picture, look like the top-most part ( at least ) is done.  Hopefully applying copper will stop any fungus-related rot that might continue to work its way down the trunk.  If the lower half remains solid, i'd imagine you'll see new shoots appear from any Axil. buds.   At worst, you may only see new growth from the base/roots.  Definitely monitor the firmness of the trunk to be sure any decay has stopped/ doesn't continue creeping down toward the base. If decay continues, cut until you get to clean/ un-effected tissue.

On one hand, kind of surprised myself to see native Yucca suffering such damage, but, considering how  cold it got there, ....for X number of days,  on top of snow/freezing rain that fell before/during the freeze event, such damage isn't a complete surprise either.  Hope it recovers and do post some updates later.

[Meangreen94z]

The cold was hard on even native plants. I’ve had a few Yucca that the trunks were damaged

[bananaman]

On this guy, the trunk seems mostly fine and the rot was only in the immediate bud area. Most of the tissue around it is firm. Fingers crossed it stays good.

Travis County is near the northern and easternmost edge of the native range for this plant — it’s uncommon here and only grows wild in the western parts of the county. It’s extremely common in cultivation, though. Given this plant is of horticultural origin, it’s probably descended from South Texas plants. I’ve noticed varying damage to them — some look mostly fine, but others look completely dead (100% burn on all leaves and the bud fell out). I think there must be a pretty wide range in hardiness. To it’s credit, Yucca treculeana is incredibly tough. This one is planted in far from an ideal spot — it’s in that awful, sticky “red death” that contractors bring in as fill and it gets watered with the mesic plants in the same bed like fig trees and bicolor iris. I’d’ve thought it would’ve died years and years ago, but it just kept growing like a champ.

Lots of natives did take the cold hard. There’s some undisputably wild, ancient Texas mountain laurel in my neighborhood (they’re canopy trees with trunks as big as 8-9” in dimeter) that were nearly 100% burned by the cold. Given how old and slow growing they are, they’ve certainly seen this level of cold before, but they still got hurt pretty bad. I’ve noticed a lot of damage to brasil (Condalia hookeri), as well, among other natives. I haven’t seen how anacua (Ehretia anacua) took it. My Anacacho orchid trees (admittedly not native this far north) look like they lost all their smaller stems, but ones over an inch or so in diameter seem fine.

Edited March 21, 2021 by bananaman

[Silas_Sancona]

38 minutes ago, bananaman said:

On this guy, the trunk seems mostly fine and the rot was only in the immediate bud area. Most of the tissue around it is firm. Fingers crossed it stays good.

Travis County is near the northern and easternmost edge of the native range for this plant — it’s uncommon here and only grows wild in the western parts of the county. It’s extremely common in cultivation, though. Given this plant is of horticultural origin, it’s probably descended from South Texas plants. I’ve noticed varying damage to them — some look mostly fine, but others look completely dead (100% burn on all leaves and the bud fell out). I think there must be a pretty wide range in hardiness. To it’s credit, Yucca treculeana is incredibly tough. This one is planted in far from an ideal spot — it’s in that awful, sticky “red death” that contractors bring in as fill and it gets watered with the mesic plants in the same bed like fig trees and bicolor iris. I’d’ve thought it would’ve died years and years ago, but it just kept growing like a champ.

Lots of natives did take the cold hard. There’s some undisputably wild, ancient Texas mountain laurel in my neighborhood (they’re canopy trees with trunks as big as 8-9” in dimeter) that were nearly 100% burned by the cold. Given how old and slow growing they are, they’ve certainly seen this level of cold before, but they still got hurt pretty bad. I’ve noticed a lot of damage to brasil (Condalia hookeri), as well, among other natives. I haven’t seen how anacua (Ehretia anacua) took it. My Anacacho orchid trees (admittedly not native this far north) look like they lost all their smaller stems, but ones over an inch or so in diameter seem fine.

That's a good point about the Yucca, among some of the other less locally common natives, esp. in the central/ northern parts of the state.... On one hand, -to some extant at least-, it would surprise me if the hardiness between different populations of the same species were quite dramatic, especially in a place where big swings in temperature can happen relatively often, over a wide area ..  Still, considering the depth/severity of this event's cold/duration, would make sense that even more subtle differences that might exist, which might not be as obvious in a more typical freeze event, might be more pronounced this time around.. 

Aside from the species you mentioned, have been very curious to hear how things like Arroyo Sweetwood, ( Myrospermum sousanum ) planted around San Antonio/ Austin did, or any Texas Kidneywood/ Persimmon, Montezuma Cypress planted there/ further north..  and how northern/ eastern populations of various cacti more common further south/west ( Mammillaria, Coryphantha, Echinocereus, Thelocactus ) fared. Most are already tough, ..but does that  decent level of cold hardiness  include this type of event?

 

[bananaman]

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Aside from the species you mentioned, have been very curious to hear how things like Arroyo Sweetwood, ( Myrospermum sousanum ) planted around San Antonio/ Austin did, or any Texas Kidneywood/ Persimmon, Montezuma Cypress planted there/ further north..  and how northern/ eastern populations of various cacti more common further south/west ( Mammillaria, Coryphantha, Echinocereus, Thelocactus ) fared. Most are already tough, ..but does that  decent level of cold hardiness  include this type of event?

Arroyo sweetwood seems fine. The one I pass by regularly has a couple inches of tip dieback, but is budding out well.

TX Persimmon defoliated badly but seems to be sprouting back well. Kidneywood I’ll check on later this week — it’s not super abundant in my neighborhood.

Montezuma cypress mostly seems to have defoliated but they seem to be sprouting back without much branch loss. I’ll need to check on the bigger ones.

 

3 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

On one hand, -to some extant at least-, it would surprise me if the hardiness between different populations of the same species were quite dramatic, especially in a place where big swings in temperature can happen relatively often, over a wide area.

It certainly depends on the plant. Somenplants have little variation while others have huge variation based providence. One of the most striking examples is pride of Barbados - Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Some wholesale growers grow a more vigorous, tropical form that has big, gnarly thorns and isn’t cold hardy at all — even a pretty mild winter here will kill them completely. Others grow a form from northern populations that has a reddish flush to the foliage, only fine hairs instead of thorns, and is much more cold hardy and will come back from well into the upper teens. The latter is the more common form around here, but you still see the tropical form, too.

There’s a great paper comparing bald cypress from Texas and Illinois with Montezuma cypress and American sycamore from the places with Mexican sycamore to compare how they all grow in Texas. The Texan plants ended up, unsurprisingly, intermediate between the Mexican and Illinois plants.

[Silas_Sancona]

29 minutes ago, bananaman said:

Arroyo sweetwood seems fine. The one I pass by regularly has a couple inches of tip dieback, but is budding out well.

TX Persimmon defoliated badly but seems to be sprouting back well. Kidneywood I’ll check on later this week — it’s not super abundant in my neighborhood.

Montezuma cypress mostly seems to have defoliated but they seem to be sprouting back without much branch loss. I’ll need to check on the bigger ones.

 

It certainly depends on the plant. Somenplants have little variation while others have huge variation based providence. One of the most striking examples is pride of Barbados - Caesalpinia pulcherrima. Some wholesale growers grow a more vigorous, tropical form that has big, gnarly thorns and isn’t cold hardy at all — even a pretty mild winter here will kill them completely. Others grow a form from northern populations that has a reddish flush to the foliage, only fine hairs instead of thorns, and is much more cold hardy and will come back from well into the upper teens. The latter is the more common form around here, but you still see the tropical form, too.

There’s a great paper comparing bald cypress from Texas and Illinois with Montezuma cypress and American sycamore from the places with Mexican sycamore to compare how they all grow in Texas. The Texan plants ended up, unsurprisingly, intermediate between the Mexican and Illinois plants.

Right.. Have noticed the same thing w/ that Caesalpinia..   and agree that obtaining seed from the northern-most population of something would definitely provide some degree of cold hardiness advantage potential.

Good to know about the Sweetwood.. Wish it and Ehretia anacua were more common in the west.. A couple gardens around S. Cal. and in Tucson have specimens of Sweetwood / came across a row of tall Ehretia up at Boyce Thompson ( behind their palm grove ) but otherwise un-tested in gardens, parks, etc.

Has there been a final determination on which species the Mexican Sycamore in the trade there in TX. is?  Had heard a few, conflicting opinions... that it might not be the species once thought to be when first propagated..  That's another tree that should be seen more in CA, along w/ some of the Mexican Oaks.

[bananaman]

6 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Good to know about the Sweetwood.. Wish it and Ehretia anacua were more common in the west.. A couple gardens around S. Cal. and in Tucson have specimens of Sweetwood / came across a row of tall Ehretia up at Boyce Thompson ( behind their palm grove ) but otherwise un-tested in gardens, parks, etc.

They’re both such great trees! The first time I saw a big anacua in south Texas I was really surprised at how pretty it was. Even though anacua is a native here it’s not super common in the trade and the same can be said for arroyo sweetwood. They’re available, for sure, but not to the extent of things like Montezuma cypress, Mexican sycamore, or many other trees.

6 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Has there been a final determination on which species the Mexican Sycamore in the trade there in TX. is?

Not that I know of. I believe it’s certainly mixed — I think that some people have grown seed from Mexican sycamores planted ornamentally, so there’s probably some degree of hybridization. I have heard at least one anecdote of a particular group of sycamore grown from wild collected seed (I forget from where) ending up losing their labels and getting mixed in with the rest of the “Mexican sycamore”. Whatever it is, it grows stupidly fast and generally performs well provided it gets enough water to get established the first couple years. If I remember right, the state champion tree was only planted in the 80s!

[Silas_Sancona]

2 minutes ago, bananaman said:

They’re both such great trees! The first time I saw a big anacua in south Texas I was really surprised at how pretty it was. Even though anacua is a native here it’s not super common in the trade and the same can be said for arroyo sweetwood. They’re available, for sure, but not to the extent of things like Montezuma cypress, Mexican sycamore, or many other trees.

Not that I know of. I believe it’s certainly mixed — I think that some people have grown seed from Mexican sycamores planted ornamentally, so there’s probably some degree of hybridization. I have heard at least one anecdote of a particular group of sycamore grown from wild collected seed (I forget from where) ending up losing their labels and getting mixed in with the rest of the “Mexican sycamore”. Whatever it is, it grows stupidly fast and generally performs well provided it gets enough water to get established the first couple years. If I remember right, the state champion tree was only planted in the 80s!

Agree, Anacua looks like really nice tree, though the only ones i've laid eyes on were up at Boyce and were somewhat leafless and trucked in a spot where it didn't look like they would get full sun ( perhaps an advantage out here, even though it isn't as brutally hot up there at the Arboretum as the Valley is ) Came across both a good sized Condalia hookeri and Texas Kidneywood in another section of their garden. Usually only see our native Kidneywood, which is also a great, patio type tree ( but not planted nearly enough )

Had read about Arroyo Sweetwood before finding a specimen in a prominent garden in Pasadena. Had several seedlings i'd started from that tree but lost them to the heat here.  Hoping to get more seed.  The story about how it was discovered, Cinnamon fragrance of the flowers/ wood add  to an already nice tree option.

That's what i was thinking ( regarding the Sycamore ) Aside from what i'd heard about that it might not be the " targeted " species,  i'd read stated it could be a hybrid.. Still an interesting tree regardless. What seem to be bigger leaves ( from pictures i have seen ) definitely would add a tropical look to where ever it was planted. There's supposedly a specimen in a park near Mission Veijo ( just north of San Diego county ) i want to take a look at after i'm back in the area.