West and East Window Gardens

[Lady Meera]

Omg about your dog! I'm glad he/she is okay. Ive gotten a decent puncture from it but nothing that required treatment. I saw my cat get poked once but that was the only time I saw either cat go near it.

[estación seca]

Agaves grow to fit the pot, then they stop growing. This is one way to keep them in check. They can stay the same size, not growing, for decades. If put into a larger pot, or into the ground, they resume rapid growth. So, anybody can grow even ones that get huge, but keeping them in a small pot.

When I was about 7 we moved from California to Milwaukee. We brought with us an inflorescence bulbil from a neighbor's Furcrea. These are close Agave relatives with softer leaves, no teeth on the leaf margins and somewhat different flowers. Instead of seeds, most Furcreas (and many Agaves) produce 3 small plantlets, called bulbils, from each flower. I planted the bulbil in a Melamine tea cup. It lived the entire 5 years we were in Milwaukee, but hardly grew at all. On return to California I planted it out in the garden, and it took off like crazy.

Your Agave is a magnificent plant for Pennsylvania, but it's a lot of work. You might consider keeping the next pup and donating the plant to a botanical garden.

[Lady Meera]

The previous owners moved this agave from Florida when it was small. I think they took it on the plane. So they get all the credit for growing it this large. There is a great local botanical garden I can donate it to, but my husband is quite fond of it. When you say it is a lot of work, what do you mean? So far I've just been watering and fertilizing it. And once I get a shade cloth I will start the acclimation process. Is there more I should be doing that I'm not? If I am in danger of damaging it I will consider donating when it produces another pup.

[estación seca]

I mean moving it in and out, and reaching past it all the time carefully without getting slashed to ribbons, is a lot of work. If your husband is OK doing the moving, then keep it. They're not hard to care for. Fertilizer makes them grow. If you stop fertilizing it won't grow as fast. The main risk to the plant is sunburn each spring when you're moving it outside.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Your set up and plants look very nice. Love all the talk about the Agave as I know nothing, about them. Cool plant though. I have a friend that had a plant some what like it but it was variegated and it was huge. I was going to take a baby as it had many but he had scale on it so I passed.

He said it was the plant they made tequila out of.

[estación seca]

Next time take the pup. The variegated A. angustifolia ssp. tequilana is really pretty. Bare-root soak it in soapy water overnight. That will kill all the scale.

[No-Pro-mwa]

Originally Posted by estación seca

Next time take the pup. The variegated A. angustifolia ssp. tequilana is really pretty. Bare-root soak it in soapy water overnight. That will kill all the scale.

I know I should have taken it. I have never dealt with scale so I wasn't sure how difficult it would be to treat and I didn't want it getting on the orchids I was taking home. He said he saved me one but I am not so sure. I just talked to him this morning but forgot to ask. He had to move and I am not sure what he did with his plant. Do you have one? It really was a cool looking plant.

[estación seca]

I have big ones of the normal blue form in my yard and a little one of the variegated form in a pot. I may remove the blue ones because they get a lot of leaf damage when we have a cold winter.

[snowflake311]

I took have a plant that is potted and sits in a glass bowl it is just a good way to give a little more humidity.

Nice set up I think you have room for more.

[Lady Meera]

Originally Posted by snowflake311

I took have a plant that is potted and sits in a glass bowl it is just a good way to give a little more humidity.

Nice set up I think you have room for more.

There is always room for more