Hi there
I just brought this Yukka plant from Homebase. The top of the trunk seems to be coated in wax. Does anyone know why? Do people do this to stop it from growing to big? (it's just over 21" tall at the moment). I'm really tempted to peal it off.........will this cause any problems?
Many thanks!
If it was a bonsai tree that had been 'chopped' as a way to begin building taper into the future specimen it would be called 'cut paste', and it may be exactly that. It was put there to keep the cambium from dying back proximal (toward the roots) to the cut site. IOW, your plant was much taller at one time & they simply chopped off the top and waited for the multiple stems you see to appear.
The plant you see below was treated in the same way. It's normal growth habit is to produce long stems with a single rosette at the very end of each. To alter that growth habit, I chopped the plant off inches above the soil line after it had grown to about 40 cm tall. I happened to cover this wound site with waterproof wood glue to prevent the cambium from dying back & producing an ugly stub.
There is actually a special tool called a knob cutter http://www.mybonsaibuddy.com/Bonsai-Knob-Cutter-E.jpg that is designed to get into tight spots & remove stubs like you have. Since there is a good vascular connection to the new shoots, you can remove the treatment material with no problem, and even pare the stub back to a level even with the top of the top shoots. Eventually the stub would callus over & become unnoticeable, but not if you leave it.
Al
This message was edited Oct 2, 2011 1:33 PM
The wax serves several purposes and once the plant has grown well in the container, you can either strip it off, or leave well alone and as the plant matures more, the trunk will widen this will eventually crack the wax and it will in time peal away without help.
The plant id dipped in the wax by the grower soon as it is taken as a cutting, this is to prevent the plant sending out new little shoots around the cut area the grower wants roots to grow and not side shoots, the grower also wants to prevent insects, disease etc entering the cut area and this wax coat does this too, the wax also helps prevent the plant weeping moisture from the cut, the trunks of tree's, shrubs and other plants act like a drinking straw, the tree takes water up from the roots and sends this all the way up to the tip of the tree, however as the top has been removed to make a cutting (new plant) the water intake would possibly run out at the cut area and less moisture would go to the foliage, I feel sure that the plant is well on it's way to be a proper self sufficient plant that you could remove the wax quite safely. hope this answers some of your questions, By the way other plants like roses, Apples etc that have side shoots grafted onto a main stem have this wax treatment too, years ago they used to use a raffia tape but found the wax to give a cleaner wound. best of luck, WeeNel.
