Agave flowering
When Agaves flower, they will sometimes create side shoots around the flower stem. These can be harvested to create new plants.
Another, smaller side shoot was next to the first one:
The second small side shoot may be too small to root.
When Agaves flower, they will sometimes create side shoots around the flower stem. These can be harvested to create new plants.
It's an effort. Some Agaves--not all--will produce plentiful plantlets on their flower stem. Those are easy to obtain. Some Agaves produce offsets from their base or their roots. Those are also fairly easy or even very easy to cut off or break off or snap off or dig out in order to get new plants. My 'Sun Glow', which flowered recently, had neither offsets nor plantlets.
Lovely, despite:
I decided to harvest the three side shoots it had developed, to try to root them for new plants. I've successfully harvested side shoots in the past with a pruning saw and considerable effort. Beloved recently bought me a battery-powered small saw, which made the process easier.
I first cut off the flower stalk and leaves, and then dug out what remained of the Agave. The battery-powered saw took off the leaves easily. What cost tedious effort with a pruning saw was a breeze with battery power.
Next, I made wedge cuts into the Agave deep enough to extract the side shoots. I was able to wiggle the wedge back and forth enough to snap off the side shoot. Arrows indicate where the side shoot was attached to the original Agave:
There's the first side shoot, after I pulled off enough of its leaves to expose its stem. The shoot will develop roots from the intersection of the stem and the bottom leaves:
Not a great photo, but this shows the stem tissue, which has a rougher texture than the smooth glossy leaf-bases:
Another, smaller side shoot was next to the first one:
The second small side shoot may be too small to root.
After pulling off the surrounding material, which came away easily from the shoot, there wasn't much left.
If you wait for the Agave to produce as many side shoots as possible, or for the side shoots to become as large as possible, you run the risk of the side shoots flowering, and thus dying, unable to create a new plant.
Extracting the shoots was gooey, sticky process. This Agave happened to have a lot of moisture left in it. Not all do. It might depend on how hard (dry) the Agave was grown, or how long after flowering it is. Regarding the sticky/gooey, some people can develop painful dermatitis from exposure to Agave juice, so be careful if you try this. My gloves became soaked with Agave juice, but it just happened not to bother my skin.
The last of the three side shoots was the largest and easiest. There it is on the right, attached to a remnant of the original plant. You can see leaf-stem seams on it, the dark red lines. That is where roots will emerge:
The base of the flowering stem of the original Agave. When you start seeing shorter, smaller leaves appearing at the center of an Agave, you will know it is preparing to flower:
The next photo shows the cleaned up side shoots. They may look a bit strange because of the curve to them. However, I've done this before, and the side shoots that rooted became as beautiful and symmetrical an Agave as the original plant was.
The last of the three side shoots was the largest and easiest. There it is on the right, attached to a remnant of the original plant. You can see leaf-stem seams on it, the dark red lines. That is where roots will emerge:
The base of the flowering stem of the original Agave. When you start seeing shorter, smaller leaves appearing at the center of an Agave, you will know it is preparing to flower:
The next photo shows the cleaned up side shoots. They may look a bit strange because of the curve to them. However, I've done this before, and the side shoots that rooted became as beautiful and symmetrical an Agave as the original plant was.
Agaves don't all die after blooming. Sometimes, often, what they are doing is renewing themselves:
'Sun Glow', a variant of 'Blue Glow', is not a super common variety, so that's why I went to the effort of trying to harvest the side shoots.
'Sun Glow', a variant of 'Blue Glow', is not a super common variety, so that's why I went to the effort of trying to harvest the side shoots.
'Sun Glow' in her prime:
Given the prices I've seen for 'Sun Glow' Agaves, your effort to remove the side shoots was well worth the effort! Your post is a great tutorial too. I hope all 3 grow up to mirror the beautiful mother plant. I let my bloomed out 'Blue Glow' live on with its side shoots and they've now got bloom stalks. As the original bloom stalk produced a handful of bulbils, I'm hoping for the same from the new stalks. I noticed that there are also now more side shoots on the parent plant but I'm not planning to leave the parent in place this time - its disfigurement will be too pronounced.
ReplyDeleteI thought about leaving 'Sun Glow' for a while to see if it would produce 'Sun Glow' bulbils, but it was in such a prominent place, thought to try the side shoots instead. 'Snow Glow', I would have tried for bulbils. I like 'Snow Glow' better than 'Sun Glow'.
DeleteThank you for this! When my 'Snow Glow' flowers, I'll be looking for those shoots too.
ReplyDeleteYou could also be more patient than I was and see if bulbils develop that have the "snowy" markings. One of my 'Snow Glow's flowered, but no bulbils. Grown too dry, maybe.
DeleteA gorgeous 'Sun Glow' definitely worth the efforts and dealing with that goo. Thanks for the description of the process, I've only dug out pups. This was good to see!
ReplyDeleteHappy your found it of interest. It's fun to experiment.
DeleteEven if 'Sun Glow' were easy to obtain, the opportunity to create 3 new plants is fun, very satisfying and of course, free! Your Beloved hit the jackpot with the battery-powered saw! He sure knows what you need!
ReplyDeleteChavli
Quite a few Agaves blooming lately--the saw has saved a lot of effort.
DeleteVery timely post for me Hoov..I'm in the process of 'deconstructing' Blue Grow. It bloomed last year and as you describe it is sending out offsets that want to bloom and only the very lower leaves have died. I do have a battery recip saw but I have avoided using it because of the blades I have -I felt like I needed to use more of a finish blade to cut through the fibers. Do you know what the TPI of your blade is ?
ReplyDeleteDear husband bought blades marked as being intended for plant pruning. Diablo brand 5 TPI
DeleteOh good-I have a pack of the same blade. I should be able to take care of this before the rain comes back - thanks for the info.
DeleteHope it works for you!
Delete"before the rain comes back"??? Sigh.
Interesting to see the process, and yay for saving babies of your gorgeous plant. I am curious how by removing the side shoots you are able to interrupt their flowering. I would have thought if they were "programed" to do so there would be no stopping it.
ReplyDeleteMy experience with the various 'Glow' Agaves is: if you cut out the side shoots soon enough, they don't flower (until many years later, after they have grown into plants and matured). If you leave the side shoots on the plant long enough, they will eventually flower. You have to kind of time it to get a side shoot big enough to grow some roots and turn into a plant but before it gets big enough to flower as a side shoot. This is the only variety of Agave I've tried to do this with.
DeleteThe offsets you harvested should definitely be viable.
ReplyDeleteI love your little saw. I have an electric recip saw, but it's heavy. What brand is it?