No chemicals have been proven effective for preventing or curing weevil damage.From Alaska to California, from France's Basque Country to Mexico's Pacific Coast, Teo Spengler has dug the soil, planted seeds and helped trees, flowers and veggies thrive. Prune broken canes or blades several inches below the break. Many yucca plants are recognizable by their tropical canes or sword-like leaves, but it's hard to give a general description.

To verify that a branch is dead, cut a small slice from the outer bark and look carefully at the wood beneath.

Use garden clippers or a pruning saw. She currently divides her life between San Francisco and southwestern France. Repeat annually.Water the Joshua tree once a month during hot, dry summers. Prune it as close to the base as possible; this trim is more to make the yard look tidy than to aid the plant. Cut them off as close to the original plant as possible.From Alaska to California, from France's Basque Country to Mexico's Pacific Coast, Teo Spengler has dug the soil, planted seeds and helped trees, flowers and veggies thrive. Santa Cruz, a law degree from Berkeley's Boalt Hall, and an MA and MFA from San Francisco State.

Trim back all vegetation that blocks sun from the Joshua tree to provide the plant with full sun.

Wise gardeners limit yucca pruning to the essentials.Remove any dead branches, canes or blades. World traveler, professional writer and consummate gardener, Spengler earned a BA from U.C. She currently divides her life between San Francisco and southwestern France. Remove and destroy infected agaves immediately. Look for rotting leaves, holey trunks, shriveling leaves or a putrid odor, signs that this small black beetle and its larvae have poked holes in the plant that allow bacteria to enter.

Some plants, like some people, dance to the beat of a different drummer, and the Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia), with its stark silhouette, both grotesque and magnificent, is among them.

Excessive removal of leaves can unbalance the symmetry of the plant and present an unsightly appearance.

Yuccas require little trimming.

Act as soon as the yucca finishes blooming in late summer.Remove any pups growing near the base of the yucca unless you want multiple specimens. Many species and cultivars thrive in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 4 though 11.

Prune broken canes or blades several inches below the break.Trim off the yucca's bloom stalk, if your yucca is one of the species with bloom stalks. Prune a soaptree yucca tree with caution. 2 Trim off the yucca's bloom stalk, if your yucca is one of the species with bloom stalks. Keep in mind that the yucca's thick trunk only extends 1 foot into the soil, and holds itself erect by roots and rhizomes that extend for 30 or more feet on all sides.Trim back the flowering stem of the Joshua tree after it has wilted.

A symbol of the Mojave Desert, where a National Park bears its name, the Joshua tree requires climatic extremes to support its dramatic life expression. Use garden clippers or a pruning saw. Brown wood means deadwood; green wood indicates a living branch. Excessive pruning encourages the plant to produce yucca "pups" that in time can take over your backyard. World traveler, professional writer and consummate gardener, Spengler earned a BA from U.C. Avoid pruning out the dead leaves that insulate the plant and absorb moisture.Inspect other agaves in your backyard looking for infestation by agave snout weevils (Scyphophorus acupunctatus), the sole insect pest endangering the life of the Joshua tree.

Repeat annually. An established tree, however, needs little from its caretakers other than admiration.Trim back all vegetation that blocks sun from the Joshua tree to provide the plant with full sun. This yucca presents like a tree out of a dream, with a thick trunk, randomly placed arms up to 20 feet long flung about as if in a crazed, static dance.

Yuccas come in all shapes and sizes, from a porcupine-size ball of spike to the towering canes of a Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) topping out at 40 feet tall. Santa Cruz, a law degree from Berkeley's Boalt Hall, and an MA and MFA from San Francisco State.