BCSS - Forum

Its still growing, only a teenager atm

It's described in Greg Star's book as 'this massive monster can eventually reach 3-4 feet tall and 4-6 feet across' be warned!

You could always get A.Havardiana instead which is also beautiful and similar to ovatifolia but not as big

Agave havardiana is a good call, its one im trying to source.
Other Agave id recommended is parryi ssp parryi, huachucensis,.

Agave bracteosa is very resilient too.

Wayne

Something to consider with havardiana is that it doesn’t tolerate wet winter conditions anywhere near as well as ovatifolia. They are very cold tolerant, but where they grow in Texas/Coahuila (also Chihuahua if I remember right) is much drier than the Sierra Lampazos where ovatifolia occurs.

NorfolkExotics wrote: ↑Sat Dec 16, 2023 11:38 pm Something to consider with havardiana is that it doesn’t tolerate wet winter conditions anywhere near as well as ovatifolia. They are very cold tolerant, but where they grow in Texas/Coahuila (also Chihuahua if I remember right) is much drier than the Sierra Lampazos where ovatifolia occurs.

This, exactly. Ditto Agave parryi ssp neomexicana.

Agave ovatifolia is hard to beat as long as you have space. The biggest I have seen here in the UK was around 1.2m diameter. As a 'general' rule of thumb, the montane Mexican species are more wet tolerant and less heat demanding. This can be a disadvantage, sometimes, as winter 2022/23 proved.

I think it's generally accepted that root room for Agaves is a good thing. So I have always potted mine on into bigger pots, when based on what's above ground, you'd think they wouldn't need it. As a consequence I have a variety of slow growing A. utahensis in pots that seem more and more out of proportion to the plant. I am in the process of repotting now and this year am putting them back into the same pot having knocked off a good amount of soil and pulled off dry roots.

Do you think this is a mistake and will hinder the already slow growth of these plants? They were by no means pot bound but all had roots right through the pot but if I'd potted them on into a yet bigger pot it would start to look a bit ridiculous I think.

How do others manage this?

I think it depends a lot on your climate and growing conditions. I keep my utahensis inside all year currently as I'm afraid they will get too wet outside regardless of pot size!

If the compost in those pots is drying off fairly quickly then I'd be tempted to go as big as I dared too as I do think we bonsai our plants too much in pots as a side effect of preventing them rotting.

I think you can keep them in the same size pot but they really do appreciate fresh soil, not a full strip down but a good bit of new compost. I am slowly changing from pans to deeper pots as I'm sure they seem to grow better, maybe they get hot roots.
Utahensis are very slow but there are some slightly faster clones around , just the luck of the buy.

I’ve had 2 utahensis growing in a bed outside for nearly 2 years now.