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Droopy agave leaves https://www.growingontheedge.net/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1760 |
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Author: | Mike and Hev [ Fri Jul 25, 2008 6:26 pm ] |
Post subject: | Droopy agave leaves |
We've recently noticed one or two of our medium sized americana leaves starting to droop.Is this down to heat stress?The garden is south facing and with the recent weather can get very hot.In the Agave book by the Irishes' they say that this can be quite a bad problem.I know what you're thinking Paul,get a decent agave in there instead!The plant has been in the ground for about four years and is approx. three foot tall. |
Author: | Paul Spracklin [ Fri Jul 25, 2008 7:08 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
It is just a temporary thing to do with the heat plus being dry. My americana do it all the time, but it is nothing to worry about as far as I can see. If you think about it, Agave americana grows throughout the Mediterranean countries - even in places like Sicily and Greece where day time temps can reach the upper 40s - so the small amount of heat that we can generate in this country isn't really going to trouble it. |
Author: | Nick Macer [ Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:51 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
Mmmmm...don't know I'd agree with you there Paul. My giant specimen used to have rigid leaves when it was stuck in a pot and semi-starved for years, but when I unleashed the roots it started to grow very vigorously and became floppy leaved. I associate floppy leaves with vigorous, soft growth in an easy climate like ours. For example, most of last years growth was floppy, right through the wet, cool summer. |
Author: | Matt-Eureka Calif. z10a [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 1:41 am ] |
Post subject: | drooping is normal |
Here in California it's very common to see large agaves w/some drooping leaves. Here's a smallish agave Americana growing in my front yard that shows some flopping of the leaves. But really it's fairly common, from my nonscientific observations of Calif. |
Author: | Paul Spracklin [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 7:48 am ] |
Post subject: | |
So there you have the definitive answer, Mike - it droops because it is either a/ too dry and hot or b/ too wet and cool. Nick - mine behave very differently from yours, I guess, as I never get vigorous soft growth here! |
Author: | David Matzdorf [ Sun Jul 27, 2008 11:18 am ] |
Post subject: | |
The leaves on my quite large potted A. americana are rigid when young and progressively recurve as they age, such that they eventually look like the ones in Matt's picture from Eureka. So it doesn't seem to be related to the growing conditions when they emerge - they stay rigid for a year or more. Before they die off, they are so recurved that they hang down below the level of the table that the pot is on. There are three smaller offsets from this plant on the roof - utterly different growing conditions, except that they're all kept quite dry in Summer - and, in their miniature way, they are doing a similar thing. I think it's likely that genetic variation plays a part in this. A. americana is not a species that lends itself to generalisations. |
Author: | Mike and Hev [ Mon Jul 28, 2008 4:15 pm ] |
Post subject: | |
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