Is this really an Agave americana?

[dk]

Six months ago I bought some Agave americana and montana seeds from rarepalmseeds.com, and they germinated within a week. Six months on and they have grown into small succulents...

I was pretty surprised by the look of the agave americana seedlings; the montana looks like a mini version of its bigger sibling but I can't see that the americana shares any resemblance to its bigger sibling. After reading davidjones' thread on the agave americana and looking at pictures of the pups that had sprung up around the base of a bigger one I was even more confused as to what kind of plant my seedlings are.

Are these really Agave americana seedlings?

[redsquirrel]

sorry mate,that looks more like sweetcorn than agave americana

[palmking]

They all look like that first, the first 'adult' type leaves will form after about 3 or 4 sets of immature 'grass like leaves'.

PS - Keep them in bright conditions- they look pretty leggy-i've snipped the leaves down when i've grown them before now, if they've got like that.PS you need to water them regularly once they get to the 'adult ' type leaves or they grow incredibly slow.

I've got a couple A.Ghiesbreghtii and Parryi neomexicana . They all look pretty much the same after germinating.

Paul

[redsquirrel]

are you doing them in the dark paul? ive done a few sp for deb now and none have taken on this grass like effect to that extreme.

[dk]

Thanks for a very informative response Paul!

It wont be long now until they'll have their first adult leaves... They've been growing under a bright growth light but have been overshadowed by much larger palms but now that the sun is becoming stronger each day they'll get plenty of natural light. Hopefully they'll pick up the pace somewhat...

[redsquirrel]

have to admit the place we got our seeds from turned out to be unreliable so could be debs americanas werent americanas at all. will get them down soon and take another look.can i ask how tall they are dk? could be ive misjudged your pot etc

[smurnan]

Sure don't look like any agave I've ever grown. You do get a grass like first juvenille leaf but even that looks thick and looks succulent

[dk]

redsquirrel, the longest leaves are 10-12cm long!! Besides the initial shoot they have had two more leaves, with a fourth beginning to come up.

The seeds looked just the like the A. montana seeds, but the similarity ends there... The color is off too (pale green), I was expecting a more blueish green color but for a while I thought I might have gotten the marginata variation that I think is less attractive...

My A. montana seedlings look just like the americana seedlings in the thread I linked to, go figure..

[redsquirrel]

tbh mate,im thinking your second and 3rd leaves on americanas would look the same too. agaves arent my thing but those dont look right

[smurnan]

Look like yucca seedlings to me. I've never bothered with americanas from seed but have propagated about 30 different agave species and have never seen anything like it. In my experience agaves produce thick fleshy succulent leaves from the very first leaf and normally the second or third leaf is a mini version of the adult leaf.

Where did the seed come from?

[dk]

The seeds came from rarepalmseeds.com.

If these aren't agave seedlings they might very well be some kind of Yucca. If I remember correctly the Y. rostrata seeds I germinated looked exactly like the agave montana and "americana?" seeds... So it could be as simple as that these have been labeled incorrectly or been mixed up with another sp.. Who knows... Anyway time will tell as these grow bigger...

[smurnan]

Rarepalmseeds have a good reputation but as you say they could have been labelled incorrectly.

Keep them growing and post some more pictures in a few weeks. I'm intrigued to see what they are. My money is still on yuccas though

[dk]

Let's say they are Yuccas, what kind of yucca are known for a pale green color?

Just for the record, these have a swollen base, unlike my Y. rostrata that has a slim "trunk", even with twice as many leaves as this type. They were sown at the same time but these have grown twice as slow with about the same light levels, water and feed. In other words, it has to be a slow growing Yucca with a pale green color...

[metalhammer]

I have never seen any Agave or Yucca produce what looks like a bulb in the ground.




metalhammer.

[smurnan]

I didn't notice the bulb. Looks like spring onions then