Sunday, September 28, 2008

Yuck!

This is a yucca plant, and it has become my evil Nemesis. This one is not ours. I found it online. The one we had in our front yard was ugly, overgrown, brownish, ugly, big, uncontrollable, and ugly. Therefore, I decided to tear it out last year. Therein lies the problem. Apparently, you can not get rid of a yucca plant. Ever. After the world is destroyed, the only things that will survive will be cockroaches and yucca plants. It's true. Take my word for it.
This is the pretty dirt patch in our front yard that once housed our yucca. The area is about six feet by four feet, with the plant taking up the entire left side. After it was taken out, I dug, and dug, and dug huge roots out. I even had Edward help me. We thought there wasn't any way it would come back with the amount of roots we removed. They filled two wheel-barrow's full. Pretty much the second we turned our backs, the rotten little sprigs began popping up.
Here is a closer view. Apparently, the offshoots just start growing up where ever you cut the roots off. All of these offshoots have come up from a root we've cut. Nice.

I've gotten online to figure out what other people have done to get rid of theirs. Pretty much I haven't read of one success story. Nothing has worked for anyone. I thought of covering the area with a big tarp or something, but someone said they tried that and the offshoots just meander around to the edges of the tarp or plastic. Some one else said they laid their new, small yucca plant in a wheelbarrow and left it there untouched for two months. When they went back to check on it, it was still thriving. Impossible!

So far, here's what we've found out DOES NOT work: destroying the root system with a shovel and axe, root killer, straight bleach, lighter fluid and fire, and finally willing it's painful and immediate death.

Yucca plant, I hate your stupid guts.

Anyone have any suggestions?