Yucca is a flowering plant that grows in the desert and is native to the American Southwest and Mexico. The yucca plant works as a biostimulant and natural surfactant when applied to lawns. Not only can yucca extract support a healthy lawn, it can promote soil health too. Agricultural experts report that yucca is beneficial for turf as well as crops, fruit, vegetables, and ornamentals too. Learn more about using yucca extract in your landscape and why you should.
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What Is Yucca?
The yucca plant grows in the American Southwest as well as Baja California and other parts of Mexico. It’s been used in folk medicine for centuries and contains a myriad of nutrients like choline, folate, vitamin A, and calcium. Yucca plants are masters when it comes to water conservation, which is why they’re able to thrive in some of the harshest, most drought-prone conditions.
Yucca extract is a great source of steroidal saponins, which are natural surfactants / wetting agents. Rich in antioxidants, yucca also boasts stress-alleviating compounds that can help other plants (i.e. your lawn) manage natural environmental stressors like heat and drought. Today, yucca compounds are found in some modern medicines prescribed to treat conditions such as diabetes, osteoarthritis, and high cholesterol. Just as it can improve some health conditions, it can improve conditions for your soil and lawn health too.
Benefits of Applying Yucca Extract to Your Lawn
You can expect your various benefits when you apply yucca extract to your lawn.
Improve Absorption of Water and Nutrients
Yucca extract contains saponins, making it a natural wetting agent or effective natural surfactant. Saponins improve the distribution of water and nutrients as well as your lawn’s absorption of them. Yucca is an ideal organic solution to improve water penetration.
Improve Cell Wall Permeability
Similarly, the saponins in yucca extract improve dispersal of liquids and the permeability of your grass plants’ cell walls.
Reduce Stress
Grass types are vulnerable to various types of plant stress, including disease, pests, salinity, heat, and drought. The nutrients in yucca extract promotes improved distress tolerance when these common stressors are present.
Protection from Disease Pathogens
Yucca nutrients promote more robust health for your grass, helping them fight off disease pathogens.
Stimulate Plant Growth and Development
Yucca extract has biostimulant capability. Its saponins promote the growth and development of plants like grass, row crops, trees, and other plants.
Reduce Soil Compaction
Yucca can even help you break up compacted soil. Soil compaction is bad for plant roots, preventing them from easily accessing water and nutrients or developing a strong root system. Soils that are heavily compacted will benefit from yucca foliar applications for improved root drench and plant feeding.
Liquid Yucca Extract for Lawns
You can use liquid yucca extract for all lawns. It can revive a waning lawn during dry spells in summer. It may even alleviate certain conditions such as dry patch or fairy ring. You can use liquid yucca as a natural wetting agent to relieve dry soil conditions as it maximizes your soil’s water retention. We favor this yucca extract product:
Liquid yucca extract:
Dry Powdered Water Soluble Yucca Extract for Lawns
Yucca is also available in a dry powder, water soluble form for use on your lawn. You can make your own foliar spray. Mix the dry yucca with water as directed on the product’s label. Typically, you would mix one or two teaspoons of dry powdered yucca with a gallon of water. This type of product is great for alleviating soil compaction as well as providing the other benefits yucca is so well known for.
Other yucca products we recommend include:
Water soluble yucca extract:
Best product for lawns:
If you’re looking for a great yucca product at a reasonable price, try these. Price points differ for yucca products depending on where you purchase them. We like Kelp4less. Their products, like yucca, sea kelp, and humic acid are great value for the money.
How Much and How Often Should You Apply Yucca Extract to Your Lawn?
Lawn Phix typically uses a ½ ounce of dry powder yucca per one gallon of water per 1,000 square feet when initiating spring lawn care routines. If the soil compaction is severe, we will apply yucca extract more frequently, typically every two to four weeks, depending on the soil’s condition. It’s also helpful to add 1-2 teaspoons per gallon when you apply fungicides or other lawn care products that require a surfactant.
Yucca Extract for Lawns FAQs
What are the benefits of yucca spray for a lawn?
Yucca extract helps plants absorb nutrients, provide biostimulation properties, reduce plant stress, alleviate soil compaction, improve soil water retention, improve water penetration, alleviate dry spots on lawns, and more. Yucca can also boost your lawn’s ability to fend off plant disease pathogens.
What does yucca extract do?
Yucca extract, whether used in foliar sprays or liquid extract, alleviates stress conditions for plants such as drought. It improves water penetration to the soil and plant, breaks surface tension of liquids, allows water and nutrients to penetrate deep into the root zone of grass plants.
How do you use yucca extract?
You can apply yucca extract during the growing season. Various products are available in the marketplace. You can buy liquid yucca extract or dry powder, water-soluble yucca extract that you mix with water to make a foliar spray.
How do you use yucca as a wetting agent?
If your plants are stressed because of drought conditions or heat, you can apply yucca as a wetting agent to literally make the water you apply ‘wetter.’ The saponins in the yucca break the water molecule up to expand moisture, improving water retention and water absorption for your lawn.
