Agave leopoldii flowering - advice sought

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stephen
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Agave leopoldii flowering - advice sought

Post by stephen »

I would appreciate some advice on care for my first agave which is going to flower. The plant is Agave leopoldii which I understand may be a cross between schidigera and filifera. My questions are

- when will it actually flower and for how long - this year or will it need overwintering
- any information on how tall the spike will eventually grow
- do I just continue the normal water and feed regime or should the plant be given extra feeding from now on

Disappointed to be losing a nice specimen, but looking forward to the prospect of seeing the flower progress. A couple of pics attached taken 3 days apart

Stephen
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A passion for the unusual - particularly variegates. Always looking for the greenhouse equivalent of the Tardis!
Liz M
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Re: Agave leopoldii flowering - advice sought

Post by Liz M »

Congratulations on having an Agave flower. There seem to have been a few here who have had this happen and it is a with mixture of sadness and excitement. I am still waiting for it to happen but from what I have seen others experience it would seem OK to continue with your watering and feeding regime, it appears late in the year for a flower to start emerging, so I would guess it will be next year when the flower opens. The bud will stop growing during the winter season, especially if you stop watering it but I don't know how big it will ultimately get. It is one of the smaller ones, so the flower will not be huge, nonetheless it is overwintering of a tall plant that is the real problem here. As it will in all probability grow taller than your greenhouse, you may have to dry it out and wrap it up for winter and store it somewhere sheltered outside, unless you have a tall place for storage.
There have been a number reading this who can help you more, good luck and keep us upto date with how things progress.
Obsessive Crassulaceae lover, especially Aeoniums but also grow, Aloes, Agaves, Haworthias and a select number of Cacti.
TS Hakansson
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Re: Agave leopoldii flowering - advice sought

Post by TS Hakansson »

My Agave striata has just flowered, but it was kind of a dissapointment. I had thought the flowers would be very clourful,but they were a kind of beige and lasted just for a few days. Hopefully there will be some plantlets to enjoy.Last year my Yucca filifera hybrid (outside year around) flowered and to my great surprise it died during winter,but this year there are five new yuccas instead! I did not know that yuccas died after flowering, is that normal?
Growing mostly globular,smallgrowing cacti north of Stockholm
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agavedave
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Re: Agave leopoldii flowering - advice sought

Post by agavedave »

I would be out there with a fine haired brush and try pollinating, sometimes you may be lucky depending on self fertility or not. Just take the pollen from a fresh flower that has just opened up its anthers and transfer it to an older flower whose anthers have started to droop down. The stigma should be elongated and slightly sticky.

Also when it's done and any seed pods have dried up, don't throw it away, just chop of the stalk and put the rosette to one side, sometimes offsets will appear later around the base or between some of the bottom leaves depending on species.

A bit dilute of tomato fertiliser or high potash cacti fertiliser occasionally might help at this point.

Best Regards
Dave.
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