Help: Indoor Yucca rapidly yellowing

Question

I’m wondering if someone can help. We have two beautiful indoor yucca plants. We bought them separately last year and they suffered a little from the change of environment and transport but then settled. Now both are yellowing rapidly, one more so. We have had to remove almost 30 leaves from one of them in the last few weeks. The only things we can think are:

1. We have an open fire – could this affect them?
2. It’s getting cold and they are getting less light, could this affect them so quickly?

We have watered them and so this doesn’t seem to be the problem. At this rate they are going to die in the next few weeks. We can’t let this happen. If anyone has any advice it would be HUGELY appreciated. Thanks. Sian

Answer 1

If you’ve watered them, so you know their problem is not underwatering, the next most likely problem is over watering. Plants that are watered just a little bit too much over and over may take months to show any problem, so you never know what’s happening unless you test the soil before every watering. Soil that remains too wet can host fungal infections that affect first the roots, and then can move into the tissues of the plant. If the cane (trunks) still feel nice and firm, the infection has probably not spread to them, so you’ve got a good chance to save the plant. Check the soil for moisture – yucca should become almost dry all the way to the bottom of the pot between waterings. You may want to repot; move the plants to spots with more light, or set up supplemental lighting, or at the very least set up a fan to blow gently over the soil. Here are a couple of articles with more information: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/testing-moisture-in-plants.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/plant-problems/environmental/overwatering-container-plants.htm
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/hpgen/fluorescent-lighting-for-indoor-gardening.htm