I have never seen bite marks or leaves obviously being eaten on an Agave americana, but that doesn't mean that animals won't do it if they are hungry/thirsty enough. Maybe they're actually doing you a favor by keeping the size under control. I don't see a lot of leaf-chewing on the agaves here, the herbivores seem to prefer roots instead. And for what it's worth, that is something both squirrels and gophers find delectable, unfortunately.

One thing the cows love here, when they can get to it (which is often possible with our small-to-medium native agave) is the budding inflorescence. The agaves out near pasture areas end up dying with a stump of an inflorescence if the animals can reach it.

Some examples.... these are all Agave shawii inflorescences in habitat near pasture.



Here's the big picture.

I don't know who's the culprit(s). I'm there often enough with the cows hanging around that I'd have thought I'd have observed them - but maybe not. There are deer and feral hogs around. I'm more inclined to be suspicious of the raccoons. There are also possums and a very few porcupines though they are increasing now. Naturally field rats and mice and squirrels. I think the damage is too large at once for it to be the smaller rodents. Whatever does it doesn't wait for hot, dry weather. The leaves get thoroughly chewed in spring to early summer. They seem to only chew the ends and not further. They do a good job of shredding it down to only fiber. That dagger point is not a deterrent. Sometimes the leaves go ahead and die, but usually they hang on until winter before they die and sometimes they just live in the scraggly state. Small pups have not been chewed on, which I also find odd.

I've been considering those pups. I have a limestone outcrop here in the yard. I had wanted Hesperaloe parviflora (Red Yucca) grouped there and grew a bunch of plants from seeds, but every time I plant them either the squirrels eat them in winter and if that doesn't kill the plants, then the grasshoppers finish them off. I am managing them in containers, but can't seem to get them established in that outcropping. So maybe 3-4 pups will get to try in the area. I can't get the mower over it because the rocks stick up too high, but there are a lot of crevices between them. Maybe those slabs will also help keep it from getting too weedy. I've been reading about and looking at photos of Agave americana per the suggestion of Thijs. I would agree that my plant would seem to match that. Info pretty consistently says it will suffer in temps below 20F. Most winters we get a couple of spells that reach the teens and more rarely into the single digits. I know the plant will survive, but am not sure how much scarring it will get during those spells. They are usually brief. I'm thinking I may try. It's been raining here, so now might be an easy time to get a sharpshooter to collect the offsets and plant in between stones. At least in that location they aren't likely to get chewed up unless it's the raccoons. Then all bets are off. Most likely I'll just be making a rattlesnake habitat. Oh well. Or maybe I should wait 'til early spring? And hope it rains enough to dig.

Donald, grab a pup, put it in a pot and try. Why not? It is not a rare and valuable orchid. It is more like an angry spikey weed of the south. They will survive your temps. If they don't I can send you all the spikey pups that you could ever want yearly

Also, just a thought for all your plants. We have tons of scorpions here. I have three small ponds. Those ponds help keep all unwanted critters from entering my home and eating my plants for water......... plus they just look cool! It absolutely is one of those " If you build it they will come" things.

I was at Home Depot today checking on prices for putting in a new floor. Checked the plant dept. while there and saw a small soft pretty looking agave. Looked cute and I think the name means it out grows my house. But I purchased it. Under $5 so just so.





Saving up my money to purchase a forklift to move them indoors in a few years.
What ever happened to buying only small growing agaves?
They should not be allowed to sell small cute looking plants that grow into monsters.

I have the same one.

They can get huge if planted. However these are pretty tender when it comes to frost.

I'm growing in pot culture so I'm hoping it takes a very long time before it gets out of hand. Or I can trim off many leaves when it starts to get too big?? At least this one shouldn't draw blood when I move it around like it's family.

Not really and agave man, but I have a couple of common ones.

Ai minha nossa senhora do céu

So many different species and cultivars

Pete, for a new member you just blew my collection to crap. Very nice. I think I know all the names of your agaves. Do you have ID's? Mine could never compete with yours in you growing climate. Right now mine are in my basement with little to no water and little light.

Stush, your plants are totally amazing given they spend months at a time in your basement. Really, I'm quite impressed by how well you (and they) have overcome the disadvantages of climate.

Pete, those plants are immaculate! You must be providing really good care, and I would guess some protection from the sun for the variegated plants. Are they under shade cloth? I really like the last plant, and I could spend hours taking pictures of the albopilosa. Speaking of which, I hope we can talk you into putting some of those images into the plant database one day soon.

Thanks Baja for the kind words.

Pete, Saying "your not an agave man" with anything that's not so "common". What plants do you keep?
You know that White Rhino is selling for the price of a new car right now on EBay.

Wow, Pete! I'd love your collection! You obviously have a superb growing climate for them. Mine don't begin to compare with yours. At first I thought you meant Washington, but you must be in Western Australia, right?

Thanks for the very kind words. All my plants are gown out in the elements, but receive some shelter from the house and fence line from our brutal afternoon sun. Our climate is ideal for xeric plants, though we do get 600-700mm if annual rainfall and hail which can be deviating. I dont chase agave, but if one comes up I will happily trade with rare aloes.

Well Pete, lets see your Aloes. Or maybe we should start a new thread 'Show your Aloes Here'. In fact, I will. I have a ton of these also and in bad shape this year due to tremendous rain fall we got this year.

I took a bunch of photos of my front yard Agaves some are already up in previous postings but I figured an updated look never hurts, I am not sure I will get them all up in one posting so it may come in several.

Here goes in no particular order:

Agave deserti (most likely simplex, but not 100% sure) and Agave isthmensis:


Agave ghiesbreghtii and Agave murpheyii 'Engard':


Agave x 'Royal Spine' and Agave applanata 'Cream Spike':

That isthmensis is a really nice looking plant.

Thx! Went and saw a Desert Botanical Garden exhibit this evening called electric desert, very nice light show using the desert landscape. Pretty cool. Hence the posting hiatus. Here are some more:

Agave nickelsiae, one of two similarly sized plants I have in the ground, the other plant did not make this round of pictures; and Agave guadalajarana, which flips between an open and closed leaf posture very dramatically between the seasons (open posture at the moment):


Agave parryi var. truncata and Agave chrysantha (Agave nickelsiae #2 visible in the lower right of the picture):


What came to me as Agave americana sap. protoamericana, but it has something going on that if it keeps developing likely means it is something else, I will have to wait and see for what happens with the next set of new leaves, and Agave victoriae-reginae #1:


Agave salmiana ssp. salmiana and Agave xarizonica #1 with lots of pups - this plant was unreachable until a week ago when I finally got around to pruning back the come back effort of a Desert Museum Palo Verde that used to be a huge tree but was blown over a number of years ago, which keeps trying to grow back - so come spring I will harvest many of those pups and have them available for interested parties:

Agave xarizonica is a really neat plant to grow, does not get too big and has beautiful red margins, both of mine have seen too much shade, for this one that has now changed so it should start going a little more compact.

Agave parryi (based on coloring probably var. huachucensis, but not 100%, it will need to grow a lot to find out) and a light starved Agave xmurpheyi:


Agave macroacantha #1 (with interestingly green spines and teeth) and Agave sobria ssp. frailensis:


Agave felgeri starting to spread out and Agave shrevei ssp. matapensis:


Agave parryi (I do not think it is the ssp. I bought it as, so will leave it as A. parryi for now) and Agave lophantha 'Quadricolor':

Aside from being squashed by that Prickly Pear, the Quadricolor also has had a really hard time with the summers here, despite only getting a few hours of late late afternoon sun. Plants in pots under 30-50% shade cloth are doing great...

Agave x 'Sharkskin' and Agave cerulata (not sure which ssp.):


Agave margaritae which shows the dramatic effect of being planted from a pot in a 50% shade cloth environment to an almost all day full sun position the plant can take it, but the leaves used to 50% shade cloth did not like the sun and Agave durangensis, which finally looks like it turned the corner after some really difficult years (as witnessed by those ugly leaves):


Agave ovatifolia (with vague but still clear variegation) and Agave marmorata #2:


Agave viviparra marginata (this gets sold as Agave angustifolia marginata, but Agave angustifolia is a completely different plant) and Agave colorata x bovicornuta:


Agave havardiana and what I think is Agave filifera (it is one of the threaded leaved Agaves, not 100% sure which one):


OK, this is it for now. I will post another set tomorrow.

Lots and lots of cool agaves, Thijs. I am curious how you would distinguish angustifolia from vivipara with respect to that variegated plant.