Agave

Agave attenuata

Agave attenuata certainly is an Agave that has become quite popular in Australian gardens in recent times. It’s large fleshy leaves really are quite attractive. The only problem with this plant is that as it grows a trunk it tends to fall over. Because of this though it is probably best to give it some space and let it eventually grow into a bush.

In my garden though I placed two together in a confined area and as a consequence I’ve had to cut them back. The great thing about this Agave though is that it is very easy to propagate from. As the main stem grows it will also send off some offshoots called pups. When it does this you then have three options.

You can either leave it as it is to then grow into a bush, you can cut off some or all of the pups to propagate from and leave the main plant or if you like you can leave the pups to grow into a bush, cut off the main plant and then propagate from that.

In his instance I chose to cut off the main plants as they were growing as if they were falling over and obscuring some other plants.

Agave attenuatas

In the photo above the two smaller plants on the left were the pups that were left after I cut of the main plant about 12 months ago. The main plant, I propagated and is now growing quite happily in a pot. The larger one on the right is now about to get the same treatment.

Agave attenuata pups. If I had more room I would have just left the 5 pups to grow into a bush.

In this photo you can see the stump that remains from the main plant as well as the 5 remaining pups and surprise, surprise there is also a small Agave stricta nana growing as well that I forget was even there as it was obscured by the main Agave attenuata. Next I then removed 2 of the pups that I didn’t want and propagated from them.

Agave attenuata cuttings/pups

Agave attenuata cutting in tubes

I just soak the ends in some Multicrop plant starter and the place them into some 5cm tubes as shown and then just wait for the new roots to appear.

Agave attenuata cutting. This is the main plant that I cut off.

As far as the main plant goes I drip some of the above mentioned plant starter into the base of the cut trunk, let it soak in and then just plant it into a pot with normal potting mix. Once again it’s just a matter of waiting for the new roots to grow.

So there you have it, Agave attenuata. This Agave is easy to grow and easy to propagate from. It does grow a little quicker than some of the other Agaves I have in my garden but I have noticed though it doesn’t appear to be as drought tolerant as some of the other Agaves I have growing in my garden. Then again this Agave is still pretty drought tolerant compared to most other plants.

If you’d like to read about another Agave, Agave potatorum is another one that just like Agave attenuata is easy to grow and easy to propagate from.

Read my update on this post. It’s about the Agave attenuata cutting I took 12 months previous to this one. Growing Agave attenuata in a pot.

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