Most succulents have a mutual gear up of problems. But the agave growing issues are rather unique for that plant. For a hardy found that grows mainly in the desert, i would look the agave to give you as few growing issues as possible.

Agave problems

But due to the change of habitat and different growing conditions, the establish sometimes succumbs to dissimilar diseases. Moreover, the fact that nearly gardens are magnets to pests that don't be in the desert, agave growing problems tin can become complicated at times.

To simplify your life with the agave delicious, we accept put together a list of the top six issues you lot might come across and what you tin do nearly them.

Potted Agave Care

The easiest way to grow agave is to constitute information technology in the garden and let it feed off the nutritions in the soil, and relish the natural sunlight. But sometimes, you'll need to abound agave in a container. Harsh cold winters and excessive frost occurrences are simply 2 reasons you lot'd want to keep your succulent mobile so that you tin winterize it indoors.

Only growing a potted agave entails some unforeseen intendance problems. From repotting to adjusting your h2o quota and frequency of watering based on the size of the container and the flavor. Not to mention that keeping the succulent indoors cuts downward on its sunlight intake, which can be detrimental to the establish's health and growth rates.

How to Set up It

Unlike other plants growing in containers, agave doesn't mind beingness root-spring. Even when the found outgrows its container, and the roots come out of the drainage holes at the bottom, it volition still non show signs of stress. Only other problems might show up, and caring for a potted agave has to be mindful of the following considerations.

  • Make certain the soil or potting mix drains well but dries slowly. You tin use a succulent potting mix that retains moisture amend without beingness waterlogged.
  • Line upward the lesser of the container with medium-size gravel that doesn't block the drainage holes and acts equally a buffer between the potting mix and the bottom of the pot.
  • When repotting the plant, make certain the crown is higher up the soil line to forbid crown rot, a common agave problem that we expand on after.
  • Identify the container on a window sill facing the west or due south and gets most half-dozen to 8 hours of sunlight a 24-hour interval during the growing season.
  • Water the plant regularly but allow the top half of the soil to get completely dry before watering again.
  • Feed the potted agave with a balanced liquid fertilizer twice a year in the bound and summer.

Agave Snout Weevil

Agave problems

As a gardener, you must have had many encounters with the detested weevil. But what is the agave snout weevil, and what has it got to do with the agave delicious? As the proper name suggests, the agave snout weevil is a weevil with a long olfactory organ that dangles in front of its face up like the trunk of an elephant. Its whole life bicycle is centered around the agave plant.

When the adult female agave snout weevil wants to lay its eggs, it picks an old or sickly agave and bites the center of the rosette to deposit the eggs. The bite lonely injects millions of leaner into the heart of the agave, which causes infections. Once the eggs hatch, the larvae spread more diseases and damage by chewing at the center of the agave. They continue at it until they sever the leaves from the heart of the rosette.

By the fourth dimension they're done, the larvae leave behind a mushy center that is totally rotted and leaves scattered around the agave. So what the adult agave snout weevil starts, the larvae volition finish with their persistence.

How to Fix Information technology

Needless to say, agave snout weevil attacks agave plants growing outdoors and non those you keep as houseplants. Then most pesticides that target this pest are for outdoor agave plants. The most effective pesticide is Triazanon. You tin get it at the local nursery where you bought the agave plant from. Information technology comes in granular form, and you need to go the granules equally close to the roots as possible. The roots volition absorb the diluted pesticide with the moisture in the soil and transport information technology up to the center of the agave.

When the adult female person snout weevil bites the middle of the succulent to lay its eggs, it will die on the spot. You'll need to employ information technology once a calendar month during the spring and summer.

Another style to gainsay the insect is by using sprays. Just since the agave snout weevil has a thick shield on its back, nigh sprays fail to penetrate that outer shell, and the insect volition go about its business unbothered.

Agave Crown Rot

The crown of the agave is the role of the delicious that connects the roots to the leaves. In near cases, you lot'd want that crown to be above the soil to avoid rotting equally a upshot of being in contact with wet soil for a long time. In fact, moisture is the number one culprit behind agave crown rot.

That moisture could come from to a higher place if you tend to water the succulent from above. A few drops of water that fall into the heart of the rosette can be plenty to cause crown rot. Other times, the subversive effects of the agave snout weevil might starting time the crown rot concatenation reaction that ends with the demise of the whole establish.

Symptoms of agave crown rot include gray lesions, grayness or black leaves, and spreading rot that starts at the heart of the rosette and consumes the residual of the succulent. A past-product of the crown rot and the infections might exist red-orange fungal growths that contain fungal spores. When they explode, they spread the spores every which way and infect plants near the infected agave.

How to Prepare It

In most cases, agave crown rot can be prevented and fifty-fifty fixed if you go on a vigilant middle on the constitute and inspect the eye of the rosette regularly. Here are a few steps and tips to keep your agave salubrious and preclude agave crown rot.

  • It's good practice to solarize the soil before planting agave succulents. This helps kill whatever pathogens lurking in the soil.
  • Always expect for signs of chewings in the heart of the succulent during the belatedly jump and summer. If you find the signs, apply a pesticide to eliminate the agave snout weevil and its eggs before they hatch.
  • Spray neem oil and fungal sprays to get rid of any infections caused past the agave snout weevil biting the heart of the rosette.
  • Cut off any leaves that have chew marks on them since they might exist infected with pathogens that would spread to the rest of the plant.
  • If the crown rot has taken over the plant, you have no other choice but to dig up the whole plant and get rid of information technology safely. Burning the infected plant is normally the safest method of disposal.
  • Don't water the agave from the top. Aim the nozzle of the watering can towards the roots and avoid sprinkling the leaves or center with h2o.

Caulotops Barberi Pests

Agave problems

Besides agave snout weevils, caulotops barberi bugs are the bane of agave succulents. They're tiny bugs that can escape your find but volition wreak havoc with the succulent. They usually infect agave plants growing in zones 8 to 10, and outdoor agaves are more prone to infestations than indoor potted agaves.

Signs your agave is infected with the caulotops barberi bugs include chew marks on the leaves, scabs, spots, or speckles. The bugs might also cause the delicious to grow deformed or stunt its growth. The pests are most active during the summer and early autumn in the warm zones. Agaves growing in cooler zones are safer from the bugs.

How to Fix It

Since you can't see the pocket-size caulotops barberi bugs simply detect the damage they get out behind, you'll need a pesticide to spray the infected plants. However, the bugs tend to hide under debris and other plants around the infected agave.

And so when spraying the agave, make sure to spray around it and remove any fallen leaves, stems, or debris around the delicious. Utilise the pesticide during the summer and early on fall. Since the bugs avoid the sun and get active in the morning and evening, you lot should apply the spray when they're virtually active.

Spray the agave once every two weeks to keep the bugs at bay until mid-fall.

Anthracnose On Agave Plants

Agave problems

Fungal diseases are usually difficult to deal with for near plants. Merely agave seems to exist plagued past anthracnose, a fungal disease that is hard to detect in the early stages. Like most fungi, this one thrives in hot and humid conditions. Wet soil can also facilitate the spread of the fungal spores.

For the most part, splashing h2o on the leaves of the agave, poor ventilation, increased humidity, and partial or full shade, tin can all be contributing factors in the spread of the illness. The first signs of an infection include sunken lesions in the heart of the rosette. If left untreated, fungal growths that are cerise-orange in color volition appear on the leaves. These growths volition later burst and spread the spores with the wind.

How to Gear up It

Although anthracnose is not a lethal illness, it is more than than just a nuisance for the agave and the other plants in the vicinity. Moreover, some of those neighboring plants might be less hardy than the agave, and the fungal infection could end their life prematurely. So information technology'south better to prevent the infection than effort to treat it afterwards. Here are a few steps you lot can take to foreclose and set the anthracnose problem.

  • Make sure that the soil is well-drained and the spot yous choose for the agave is sun-flooded.
  • Remove any infected parts as shortly as you lot run into them. Sunken legions and speckled leaves should be cutting off and disposed of safely.
  • Look for agave plants that have a high resistance to diseases, including anthracnose.
  • Don't get your plants from unreliable sources or borrow them from a neighbour, a friend, or online. Always purchase the agave plants from the local nursery.
  • Don't use overhead watering systems such as sprinklers. Instead, use drip irrigation systems or aim the h2o flow near the roots of the agave.
  • Always sterilize the tools you employ to cutting, dig, clip, and shear the plants in the garden before and later using them.
  • If anthracnose is spreading in your surface area, spray the plants in the leap and summer with sulfur or copper-based sprays.