Agave talk & pictures

[Patrick]

Thanks all, I had another look at the roots and it has definitely got some but not much

But I found something in the compost that I've never seen before, don't know if that is playing a role? Bad pic I know but the white larvae was in the brown shell, about half a dozen of them. Any clues as to what that is?

Colin, yes I know what it WILL look like (but thanks for the reminder) that's why I am so disappointed with it's current state. I wonder if I should keep it warmer in the winter, it will have got down to a about 3c but reports in the US say it should go lower.

[Diane]

Agave snout-nosed weevil, I suspect, Patrick.

See: https://debraleebaldwin.com/caring-for- ... treatment/ and scroll down to comments, where someone has found it in the Algarve in Portugal.

If you have other Agaves planted out, they may well be affected too.

[Patrick]

Agave snout-nosed weevil, I suspect, Patrick.

See: https://debraleebaldwin.com/caring-for- ... treatment/ and scroll down to comments, where someone has found it in the Algarve in Portugal.

If you have other Agaves planted out, they may well be affected too.

OMG. This is disastrous. I've got 60 agaves at least. The weevil must have come in from a nursery in the Algarve.

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention.

[Diane]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Patrick, but at least you know what you are dealing with.

[Tina]

OMG, even the name sounds awful.

Hope you can sort this out at least it explains why the baby has regressed.

[Patrick]

From info in the link Diana provided it seems to be in London too and prefer variegated Agaves!!!

[Tina]

One possible solution for pot plants would be to soak them in soapy water for several days, it wouldn't hurt them but would drown the blighters.

You are getting me a little worried as I recently purchased some agave plants from 'the palm tree company' & these arrived in pots with compost,( we are putting in a dry bed) I'm going to have to ask them where they came from, not sure they will tell me.
I'm going to have to unpot them, I do normally just get bare root agaves so this could be devastating if it's really in the UK.
I guess these beetles can climb aluminium staging, would tree grease stop them ?.

[Diane]

From info in the link Diana provided it seems to be in London too and prefer variegated Agaves!!!

I didn’t scroll down that far! Oh, that is worrying, I have quite a few variegated dwarf agaves. Apparently it is also in France, too.

[Patrick]

One of the comments refers to a substance for killing cockroaches available from Amazon in France. Another swears by worm castings. I really need to look into this. I haven't seen a beetle yet and the grubs I found hadn't 'hatched' and were easy to find and pick out of the compost.

[Acid John]

I think I would ignore the worm casts. If they were that good there would be no beetles on the ground.