Just a little advice needed. Having found lots of useful information here on lopping my Yuccas in the past, and successfully chopped and replanted several, I now need a little advice on this one. Pictured is my 12 year old Yucca after a recent 'hair cut' and a image from first planting out. The Yucca is now starting to look a bit spindley and I'm considering hacking it back leaving maybe 6-12" of the stems. Is this a sensible thing to do? Will it survive and can I do the whole lot together or should I do a bit at a time and let it recover in the mean time?

Thanks in anticipation.

I checked your overnight temps, it is quite cold, so better delay to mid Spring for now.

Thanks for the reply Tarev. You are correct, this is the coldest time of year, With the clear skys, the temperature dips to 6 or 7˚C. If you think that will adversely effect the plant I'll leave it until Easter. It can get very hot here mid summer (40˚C + not uncommon) so I try to avoid doing any major cropping then.

Do you think it will be ok to crop the whole plant back and what length of stem will give it the best result?

Yuccas in your case ,aloifolia can grow to big as a tree. Ive been to barcelona and have found it to grow there quite nicely.
The thing you have to bear in mind is that cutting each stem down means that it could branch more, or it could take on a new shape. Yuccas can respond quite variably to pruning
So, maybe, instead of pruning the whole foliage, it would be more sensible to remove some of the heads?
I would thin it out maybe, removing the side offshoots first(those that lean outwards from the plant), and then ease up the central rosettes(remove one or two in between).
Pretty much all yuccas can get a interesting shape if you prune properly. This a photo of the same species as yours, from mont juic .
Considering what other users have posted, if you want a thicker, more striking plant, probably for the best is to make it less branched/bushy and more columnar.

Thanks for the reply skopjecollection. They do grow at a rate of knots. I cut a pup from this on two years ago and it's already 4' tall! I realise that it will likely branch out more if I cut it, but as it gets taller, it starts to look spindly. I quite liked it when the foliage reached to the ground but I think you are correct. If I cut some of the outer stems, they will create some new low foliage but keep the height and form of the plant. I hadn't considered that.

Well, I was quite looking forward to having a go at the Yucca at Easter, but Corona virus came along and all my flights got cancelled! The garden has had to fend for itself for 6 months. Winter came and went, Spring came and went and now we're in the heat of summer with highs of 30-35˚C (topping out at 40+ in August sometimes). I'm actually amazed how everything has survived, with just a couple of casualties.

My question now is, is it now too hot to crop the Yucca? Should I wait until next year? I'm also thinking of doing the same with my ponytail palm but that's for another day!

Yes, just wait for next Spring. Yuccas are quite well enduring in the heat.

Thanks Tarev. I think that's my best option and hopefully the pups will have a better chance of making some nice new yuccas elsewhere in the garden! Something to look forward to next year while I catch up with the rest of the neglected garden. My lemon trees have gone barking mad so time to don the leather gauntlets and loppers!

Old thread, but thought I'd update to thank you for the advice. Having been forced to leave the garden to its own devices for a year and then only visiting in winter, the Yucca outgrew itself. It looked nice from the front, but the core of the plant was a big void. Starting two years ago, we cut the back branches (partly dictated by the need to rebuild the wall) to allow them to establish themselves unseen, cutting one or two each visit until the last ones at the front in March, the first picture was taken today. I cut the back ones taller than the front ones to, hopefully, fill the space better.

My efforts to do the same with a pigtail palm are much slower and the cut branches failed to grow new palms, but the last couple were replanted into watered pots and seem to be establishing themselves - I think I'll put them in the ground after the summer.