Agave Attentua

[kata]

Swan's neck plant.

It will be missing sun but something else is wrong.

Its new top growth is nice till it opens, just before fully opening (unfolds) it has a brown crack at its tip. This carries on and continues to be there as the leaf ages.

Its a bought plant off ebay from portugal, supposed to do fine here in England. I had it in the garden border in summer but then because of frost I brought it in. Good job I did after the winter we had, still having with more snow due this week.

6Before the above I used fleece to try to get it through the winter without disturbance. The fleece was green and when I checked the plant several days later something had bit though the fleece and badly chewed the plant leaves.

I changed the compost, potted it in a big pot and its still indoors but still getting cracked and brown.

Do I need special compost (cacti) maybe, or a succulent?

Do I need to feed it, if so with what?

Thanks!

[metalhammer]

Agave attenuata is not a hardy plant,anything below 3c is going to cause problems,some of the marks are physical damage,others do look like cold & damp.I wouldn't do anything to the plant for the time being,wait until the warmer weather arrives then see how it grows.You don't need any specialised fertiliser,any liquid feed will do,high nitrogen early in the seaon & something like a tomato feed later on,say after mid-July,this will harden up the growth.I would also suggest you keep it permanently in a pot & plunge the pot into the ground after the threat of frost has gone.This will depend on where you live,but where I live I can get ground frost upto early June,usually only light frost.




metalhammer.

[kata]

Gotta dash,

Many thanks for the quick reply MH..apprciated.

At this time it looks a little less stressed but still brown with recent growth with a small hole in it. No sign of any insect or flies, too cold for flies lol

I will keep it in the pot permanantly now. Later put the pot on the garden wall in summer. The pot is quite big so plenty of root room.

Snow expected this week.

[smurnan]

Hi Kata,

Looks like Metalhammer has said, a fair amount of physical damage and maybe too much watering ??

I have several types of attenuata and they are by far the most difficult agaves to care for in my opinion. The leaves snap easily as they are very thin compared to most agaves. They also are less tolerant of full sun prefering semi shade and require slightly more watering during hot periods. I will be stopping retailing these as they damage so easily in the post but will be keeping some in my collection.

They are not suitable for outdoors in the UK and should be kept frost free (6C if possible) despite what you have been told. Ideal for a conservatory of greenhouse but not the garden.

I think under the circumstances you are fortunate this plant has survived !!

[Adrian]

As said above, not at all hardy.
Mine has gone to live with Darren and Debs now, cracking plant but the leaves are just so easily broken, I always damaged it by putting it away in the greenhouse each winter, then again bring it out.
They love it outside for summer but definately in for winter.

[redsquirrel]

we found that out just in the nick of time Ade,i know you said it was very tender so we put it out in the conservatory,thought it would be fine in there but soon let us know with some discolouring to the bottom leaves. now it resides indoors upstairs and is romping away up there

[dave2166]

i too bought one off ebay (sorry steve not you this time!!) and it came from madeira, and it too arrived a bit battered and bruised, even the growing tip was bent over, so i'm hoping it will move on this year.

interested about the semi sahde bit though.

it you've seen pics of these they tend to grow on slopes so waterlogging in the wild isnt and issue, but like its been said your compost looks a bit dark to me.

i would tend to repot in a gritty mix of john innes 2/3 , horticultural grit and or perlite to keep the mix free draining.

hope steve agrees on that one??

[smurnan]

Absolutely Dave,

It's GOT to be free draining and the pot will need a drain hole. I've grown agaves successfully in 100% horticultural grit in the past but generally 80% grit and 20% potting compost now.

[dave2166]

and an unglazed terracotta pot helps too.

all my succulents, (aeoniums, agaves, aloes, ) are in terracotta, well crocked at the bottom the pot allows excess moisture thru the pot, whereas plastic means it only goes one way... downwards, and if that is a bit blocked than the water cant get out and allows to much moisture.

[smurnan]

Another good point Dave and one I totally agree with. You won't see an agave in any other type of pot in this neck of the woods.

[kata]

Hi to smurnan,

In order as they have appeared (posts)

I don't feel very fortunate I made my son stop the car in Golf Del Sur (Tenerife) to look at these monsters at the roadside with the huge necks...wow!

I was thinking Blinking ek look at that neck of flowers on that plant. I never forgot it after I left Tenerife and Googled what I believe must be called Swan's neck, real name came later.

I was surprised to see an image from the search words..thats it..thats the one. Rings my son because his girl and I named it that..

I never thought you could buy them here though off Ebay, mine came in top wack condition from a girl in Portugal.

Hi Dave,

I have some nice..had some nice Terrocotta pots which to my utter amazement the frost and snow broke. Anyone else had that proble, I got two broke ones?

well crocked at the bottom

Thats ok, I have the pieces of crock from the pots lol

Water how often anyone. Over the top or below?

I was meant to shock the neighbours with this plant lol

your compost looks a bit dark to me.

Really Dave? Its Arthur Bowers, thanks for advising the new mix which I will sort soon as snow shifts again..sick of it...

..And get a new big Terracotta pot.

Many thanks everyone, normally I have green fingers and the only garden plant I can't raise is the dratted peony.

Its nice to know not only me has a bit of difficulty with the tropicals.

[Nigel Fear]

Let us all know how you get on Kata.
Hopefully you can share the experience of bringing it back to being a show-stopper.

What other exotic plants [indoor or outdoor] do you grow?

[dave2166]

Kate.

not to big, as the ,more compost = more water = more chance of rotting off. I've a.ready lost a aloe polyphilla by watering, only once and it rotted right off, in less than 2 weeks, and it only had a watering to settle it into its compost, drained out then put on a window sill, but it croaked...

i have found that homebase have terracottas at the moment, and have the 4 inch at 38p reduced to 19, Ive already emptied leyland and warrington on my travels.. at theat price i dont feel to bad if i drop one.

[kata]

Hi Dave,

Reduce is fine if thats what it takes.

Here is what it looks like today, See how clean the new growth till it starts to age. Its still a sorry mess though.

It is too big that pot you are right. Be too heavy for me to take to the garden as well in summer.

We'll sort it out with luck.

Thanks again Dave.

[dave2166]

how tall is it??

i think you could drop it down to a 6 inch pot and not worry too much. as you know most of these are sent bare rooted around the world, I've had two Agaves come from Thailand now with no problems.

i would get as much of that compost off the root ball as poss, then use the magic mix.

if you go to smurnan's website http://www.selectsucculents.co.uk/

he has a page on seed prop and splitting pups, and also details on compost mixs..

if its any consolation mine doesn't look that different to yours.
also try a top dressing of grit too, particularly around the neck of the plant, this helps to keep water away from the bits that can rot off