Agave attentua

[kata]

Mine is a lot cleaner on the new growth,

I hav'nt waterd it for ages, when do I begin to water it, do I feed it?

Thanks

[dave2166]

any time from now onwards, provided it is getting good light and growing well.
let it dry out between watering though, better a good watering than a sprinkling every other day

feeding they say can be every other week, but a lot depends on the conditions you are giving it... just remember no waterlogging, and well drained.. the two mantras

[smurnan]

Kata,

Daves bang on

If you are keeping the plant a few degrees above freezing and it's getting plenty of light during the day then you should be fine.

I watered and fed mine yesterday and will let that do now for at least two weeks and wait untill they dry out totally before the next watering.

As far as feed is concerned I use any standard type feed at this time of year but back off to a low nitrogen feed come summer.

[redsquirrel]

steve,by standard do you mean things like miracle gro/maxi-crop etc ? cheers

[smurnan]

Yes Darren,

I actually used Miraclegrow yesterday as it's what I had to hand but any standard feed seems to work. The extra nitrogen kick starts the growth and along with the lengthening days seems to work well on agaves, especially young ones. In my experience what you don't want is lush growth when the days start closing in in August time. The growth you get then is spindely and weak and could begin to rot when temperatures start dropping so use the low nitrogen feed to prepare for the Winter.

[Dave Brown]

My two look sick It has not been colder in the covered bit than last year, but it has had to be shut down far more than last year and for longer. Our temps were back up to normal and above from 3rd week in Feb last year, where as this year winter still refuses to let go. I think cold with lack of air movement is the problem.

The centres seem fine so I'm hoping they will grow out by summer.

[kata]

Thanks

Its indoors in the bathroom Good light it get a warm pot from the sun. It does look a bit better than it did but it still needs that change of pot and medium.

I don't know if I know what a terrcotta pot looks like. I have plastc, I have the blue pot which its in now, I have a brown empty pot pot if you see what I mean.

Problem is the plant its still coming with a brown tip which gradually gets worse then cracks. Rest is nice and clean further down the new growth, same stem. Its getting there but I doubt I will buy another if it dies.

It does look a mess yet but look past that and see what its looking like now.

I think in that new pot the other Dave said, right compost then fed it will buck its ideas up, I have no time for failures.

[kata]

It took me a while to make my post,

In between I took the image, had to trim it then as I was posting it DB must have posted his..

..Gave me quite a scare I could'nt think why my image, which was really Dave's had took a turn for the worse...haahhaaha

Panic over.

So, in comparison mine looks clean.I won't put it out. I will probably buy a small table to put it on in the lounge.

[Dave Brown]

I have no time for failures.

Bear in mind that plants don't fail..... but we fail to give them what they need

[kata]

Yes Dave that is so true,

But with me a lot depends on if this particular tropical lives or dies as to if I buy another. They are not in a hot country by chance.

I have now the added worry when it turns up if I can grow winter and summer that palm I ordered.

[smurnan]

Dave,

Is the centre of the plant soft or firm. If it's soft it's generally RIP

[dave2166]

My Americana variegata lost it's centre last year completely just came off in my hand
left it in the sun all summer fed it regularly and now it looks like it did 14 months ago
in fact better
if I hadn't been so patient in years past it would now be at the recycling centre

[smurnan]

Sounds like the root system was still alive for that to come back Dave. My americana is soft into the base so I don't hold out much hope for it.

[Dave Brown]

Dave,

Is the centre of the plant soft or firm. If it's soft it's generally RIP

Well they felt firm, but the smaller one seemed to deteriate rapidly. The centre was firm but when I wiggled it it just came out in my hand.

The bigger one has just got damage to the base of some leaves.

[smurnan]

Same with my americana Dave. Fingers crossed you may get away with it