By Yuvraj Chand

Agave is a genus of monocots native to different regions of the Americas. These are sun-loving plants that form beautiful rosettes of leaves which can vary from a few cm (Agave Albipilosa) to several feet (Agave Americana). For a crazy agave lover like me, these appear some form of beautiful flowers with spines and found in various shapes and beautiful compact to large form, normal and variegated hybrid and pure form. 

Plant lovers grow agave around the globe as part of their collection and they really a must-add plant variety that is really hardy and easy to grow. People also cultivate them in the field of agriculture for the production of agave nectar which is used as a sweetener. Agave also used for producing fibers further used in making several goods. A different part of agaves also used in food.

Growing Agave: Growing agave is really easy and with some basic knowledge you can grow them successfully. They really don’t require much nutrition as they are fleshy leaf plants so any balance chemical fertilizer with an equal amount of NPK ratios like NPK 20:20:20 or NPK 18:18:18 or any good quality compost will do. As most agaves grow on rocks where lime is found naturally with rocks and soil.

You don’t need any special mix to grow them you can use whatever available to you easily just the main aim to make a soil mix that is quick draining and hold water for some period. So you can use pumice, lava rock, akadama, brick pieces, sand gravels, leaf compost, vermicompost, wood charcoal, cow dung manure, and even garden soil by mixing a good amount of quick-draining media like cinder, charcoal, stones, etc. They are sun-loving plants so 5 to 6 hours of full sunlight is good for most of the agave varieties except few variegated ones which required indirect sunlight as too much sun could kill them.

Propagation: You can propagate agave by seeds or new growth sprouted from a mature plant. A most effective way is to propagate them from pups produced from the mature plant but few varieties rarely produce pups so only pronation done by seeds only.

Soil mix for Agaves in easy way:

You can grow your agave plant in garden soil as well by mixing some gritty material for better drainage and porosity.

But let me explain to you to prepare the easy way to prepare soil-less potting media. Since plants are not grown on soil, so there is less chance of soil borne pests.

Use the following organic and inorganic material to make your soilless potting media for Agaves.

Sand Gravel 20%
Cinder 50%
Mixed compost 30%

Or

Sand Gravel 20%
Cinder 30%
Brick pieces 20%
Mixed compost 30%

Or

Garden soil 50%
Gravel 30%
Mixed compost 20%

Here is detail explaination of every thing we used above.

Sand gravels

Sand gravels are big grains of sand separated from the sand we use in house construction. These will not decompose with time and help in keeping the soil media quickly drain as they don’t absorb water so water quickly drains out from the pot and mixing sand gravel in the soil also increase the porosity of soil and hence air flow also increase and roots grow better.

Brick pieces

Brick pieces you can make by crushing bricks with the help of a hammer or anything you found suitable to crush them but do it carefully so that you will not hurt yourself while doing it. Bricks are made up of soil by baking them on very high temp so that the soil particles bind together and take the structure they molded in to and they become so porous and sterile. They will act as neutral media for soil and act somewhat as clay balls as they have micropores. You can use sizes from 2 to 6 mm.

Cinder

Cinder is obtained as the leftover after burning the wood and charcoal in the industry where big boilers and furnace is used. Cinder is a naturally porous and light weight material that is rich in potash and it acts as sterile media. Cinder when mixed in any potting media makes it really lightweight and porous which makes the quick-draining potting media.

Mixed Compost

Here I use the mixed composition so that plant will get all the nutrients in organic form. So our mixed compost contains 60% well-aged Cow Dung manure + 20% Neem Khali + 20% Bonemeal. So all these will give plants most of the macro and micronutrients for the better growth of plants so that you don’t need to add any additional fertilizer to soil later on.

Composted cow manure fertilizer makes an excellent growing medium for garden plants. When turned into compost and fed to plants and vegetables, cow manure becomes a nutrient-rich fertilizer. It can be mixed into the soil or used as a top dressing. Most composting bins or piles are located within easy reach of the garden

Bone meal is a mixture of finely and coarsely ground animal bones and slaughter-house waste products. It is used as an organic fertilizer for plants and as a nutritional supplement for animals. As a slow-release fertilizer, bone meal is primarily used as a source of phosphorus and protein.

Neem cake organic manure protects plant roots from nematodes, soil grubs, and white ants probably due to its residual limonoid content. It also acts as a natural fertilizer with pesticidal properties. Neem cake is widely used in India to fertilize paddy, cotton, and sugarcane.

Care: Agaves are sun loving plants so give them 5 to 6 hours of full sunlight until the temperature is too high. Keep small or soft tissue agave varieties away from long exposure to direct sunlight as they might burn. Use any good fungicide spray on first watering to avoid and fungus development as roots break whenever we repot a plant. Water Agaves only when your potting media is dry and avoid overwatering and too much compost use for quick growth as they require very fewer nutrients for their growth. Cut any rotten or dry leaf for better growth of the plant and repot plant every two to three year to avoid them root-bound and trim roots for new roots development as it makes your plant lusher with new roots development and better growth.

Types of Variegation

Mediopicta: Variegation in middle of leaves.

Marginata: Variegation on edges of leaves.

Striata: Variegation in form of stripes.

Aurera: Stand for Yellow or cream variegation.

Alba: Stand for White Variegation

A new method of propagation like coring also in use by few expert growers in the cultivation of agaves but not accepted by the plant growers community due to less reliable results as this method include damaging the central core of the plant to induce growth of new pups from the plant but many times due to inexperience it results in to permanently damage to plant and sometimes people lost their beautiful plants as well.

Introduction of New varieties: In the last few years agaves got really famous among plant lovers as they are easy to care for. So expert hybridizers continuously working on making new hybrids by crossing different varieties to create new beautiful and compact hybrids. Kelly Griffin is one of the world-famous hybridizers who created really beautiful cultivars like ‘Blue Glow’ and many more.

I love talking about agaves but ending it here with the hope I will post again if you like this article. I am an IT guy who really falls in love with plants since childhood and my wife ( Sonam Chauhan ) really encourage me and support me to explore my hobby. Agaves come on my growing list since 2019 and they become my passion so far collected more than 100 different varieties and a long way to go. I really love to talk about plants especially Agaves. As there is an uncountable number of varieties of plants around the globe so one cannot learn enough in one life so learning is always going on.

You guys can reach me at mail2uyuvraj@gmail.com to ask about plants or share about your collection or anything about the gardening hobby.

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