Yucca plant dying, help?

Question

We have been given a Yucca plant under our care for three weeks. The owner said it's a really easy plant to take care of, it'll survive everything, it just needs a lot of sunlight. It's not even necessary to water it, we just have to spray it every 3 days with some special liquid he gave us. 
After a couple of days, we took the weekend off and I made the mistake to switch off the heater in our apartment: it's freezing out where we live and temperatures in the apartment might have been just above the freezing point I suspect :/
When returning, I probably made the second mistake: I saw the plant and I thought "oh no, she's been here in the cold al along" and I put her on the heater, putting the heater on maximum. Later on I read that plants in general don't tend to like temperature changes…

Now it's one week later and we've sprayed her always on time, keeping her by the window and on the heater (it's a tropical plant so I figured she'd be more comfortable when warm). But the leaves are turning yellow and hard one by one… Now the majority already look dead.

There's another thing I'm worried about: the low temperatures outside make the humidity very low, and since tropical areas are to my knowledge always very humid, I wonder whether the plant also suffers from the low humidity… Should we spray it more then?

I also read that it's most common for plants to die b/c the owners tend to give them too much water. As the owner told us not to water it, we didn't. But the soil of the Yucca looks quite dry so it's quite tempting to water it once in a while? Can we do that or will we cause more harm?

Is there any way we can save this plant and make it look as best as it can when the owner picks it up again? The owner is a really nice guy and we feel really bad for not being able to take care of his plant :/

I appreciate all answers and have a happy new-year all of you Y!Answerers ;-)

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Yuccas aren't tropical plants, they like it dry, hot , sunny and with perfect drainage. They don't like humidity.

You may have frozen it and it may be dying and there's not much you can do about that.

Spraying it with water could be giving it crown rot and the leaves will die.  Old leaves on yuccas fall off.  Don't worry about removing.

Keep the temperature at a normal level.  Don't fertilize, they generally don't need it and the stress will kill it.

Put the whole pot in a bucket of water or a laundry tub (whichever fits) full of water.  Leave it to soak for a few hours.  This will fully rehydrate the soil.  They are like all plants water comes from the soil.  Pull it out of the water and leave the drain.

Now don't do anything more to it.  The freeze may have killed it, but I don't think it would have cared about the heat they grow in desert areas.

Don't water again till it starts to dry out, and keep the watering on the dry side.  If it is going to live it will grow new leaves or will start a side shoot and grow a whole new plant from the roots and the old plant will just die away.  You will just have to water carefully and not let is get too cold again and wait and see what happens.  Careful watering and patience is about all you can do.

Anonymous · Answer

Yucca Plant Care

Anonymous · Answer

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You answered your question. It's not getting the light it needs. No plant can live in the dark. If you want it to live, you'll need a plant light for it. If you get the light and the plant survives, you shouldn't water until it's quite dry, then water deeply until water comes out the bottom hole.

Anonymous · Answer

I live in zone 4 and my yuccas bloom wonderfully every 2 years. They should not die after flowering. As they are evergreen, they don't die back in the winter either.

hcy · Answer

You may not have any hope if the plant froze....& no, putting it by the heater wouldn't have helped in my opinion. Your best bet would be to leave it alone & continue spraying it everyday. If it seems REALLY dry....maybe a little water wouldn't hurt....I'd try it & then just see how it does.

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Yucca plant dying, help?

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