How to Care for a Yucca Baccata

Yucca baccata, commonly known as the banana yucca, is a desert beauty. Yucca baccata bears sharp, sword-shaped leaves and tall stalks of white flowers, pollinated by the yucca moth, that bloom in spring. The plant once served as a food source for Native American tribes in the desert Southwest. They also used the plant to make sandals, ropes and baskets. Yucca baccata is a self-reliant plant that requires little care from the gardener.

Things You'll Need

• Pruning shears
• Fertilizer

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Instructions

1. • 1

     Water the yucca baccata once a month in the summer. Provide enough water to moisten the top 10 inches of soil and don't water again.

   • 2

     Cut old flower stalks to the ground after the flower dies and the stalk turns brown.

   • 3

     Fertilize the yucca baccata in the spring if it is young or not growing as vigorously as it should. Use a 3-1-2 fertilizer at the rate suggested by the fertilizer manufacturer, and water both before and after applying.