American Agave

Outdoors, the American agave above all needs protection from winter wet, because a permanently damp root collar makes it rot sooner than cold does. Place it sheltered under an overhanging roof or against a warm wall, cover the root area with dry leaves and brushwood and wrap it loosely in horticultural fleece in hard frost; in a container or in harsh locations, bring it indoors from October, bright and frost-free, water very sparingly and do not feed at all in winter.

You propagate the American agave most reliably by offsets (pups/daughter rosettes), which the mother plant forms around its base on underground rhizomes. The best time is spring to early summer, when the wounds heal quickly in dry, warm weather. Wait until an offset has formed several leaves and roots of its own. Expose the connection to the mother plant and gently wiggle the offset free; if it sits firmly, cut it off with a sharp, clean knife. Let the cut surface dry in the air for a few days until it calluses, then plant the offset in free-draining, gritty substrate and at first water very sparingly.

A second vegetative option arises when the agave flowers once after decades and then dies (it is monocarpic): small daughter plantlets (bulbils) often form on the flower stalk. Twist them off as soon as they are firm and well developed and show small beginnings of roots, let them dry for one to two days and grow them on like offsets in free-draining substrate. They usually root within a few weeks.

Sowing from seed is also possible, but takes longer. Soak the seeds beforehand in lukewarm water and sow them on the surface or only very thinly covered in sandy, well-draining substrate, because many agaves germinate better with exposure to light. Keep the sowing warm and evenly slightly moist; drying out completely just once can wipe out the whole batch. Germination usually begins within a few weeks. Note: seeds collected in the garden are often hybrids. True-to-type propagation only works via offsets or bulbils.