I've been given a MASSIVE yukka tree

Ok, well not massive, its about 5ft tall. Its years and years old. My wife's granny gave us it because she can't be bothered with it any more.

She's never repotted it or fed it, just watered it. Consequently its looking a bit starved, and because it is so top heavy for its tiny pot, it keeps falling over.

I'm going to give it a much bigger pot. Can I just give it some soil from the garden, or does it have any special requirements?

 

A gritty compost, well drained.
I wouldn't use garden soil, for any pot plant.

If you pot it on, stand well back this summer.

 

Why? What will happen?

 

It will probably put on a spurt of growth, they move reasonably fast if they are happy, if they aint they dont die, they just put up with it.

 

I'll pot it on just big enough so it can stand up without toppling over then, and maybe not feed it, just let it find what it can from the fresh compost for a while. The pot its currently in is probably the one it was in when wife's granny first bought it, and she'd had it for all the years I've known them, so we're looking at 16 years or more.

 

Are you sure you want a Yukka with your little boy running around? Those spines at the end of the leaves are pretty lethal.

 

Yeah I've read that yukkas have nasty sharp leaves. This one doesn't though (they look sharp but aren't), so I'm wondering if it is a yukka, or if I've just assumed that.

Is there something else that looks just like them?

 

Many years ago I was given a small plant in a pot a "Yucca" I found out later was told to keep it inside, well after a bit it grew and grew thought fed up with this, planted out side my back door which faced north. forgot about, it well it liked where it was in the cold and damp and grew and grew like jack in the beanstalk, The resident Robin made his nest right in the centre of the vicious dagger like leaves, not daft those robins and reared 4 babies that hopped into my utility room and pinched the dog food and my Shih Tzus just watched them! but should a pidgeon hover near they were off down the garden like rockets almost running up the tree, funny that , anyway when years later it had grown to about 5 foot it produced the most fantasic spike of perfumed flowers so beautiful,until it rained and the weight of the spike keeled over ,but so glad I had taken photos of it.but those leaves are like swords, They kept the predators away from those babies.

 

I'm assuming its Y. elephantipes, the usual houseplant type, its spineless and becomes tree like in stature.
Most, but not all, of the garden types have spines.