The agave belongs to the asparagus family and, as a garden and pot plant, is more convincing with its attractive leaves than with its rarely occurring flowers. Many gardeners are unsure about how to properly care for agaves, but the basic rules are relatively simple.

Only diseased or withered leaves of the agave should be cut off

Less care is better care for the agave

If the location for the agave has been selected and prepared correctly, then the necessary care for the plants should actually be very limited. While regular pruning has a stimulating effect on the growth of some shrubs in the garden, the opposite is the case with the agave. The succulent plants have fleshy and water-containing leaves, so that cut leaves are large wounds and thus also gateways for pathogens and pests. Due to the compact growth of the agave, pruning healthy plants is usually not necessary at all.

Reduce the risk of injury without damaging the blades

Agaves with pointed terminal spines on the leaves can be quite a problem if children regularly play in the garden or complicated paths have to be covered when the agaves grown in pots overwinter. Agave owners therefore often simply cut off the end tips of the leaves together with the spines with a sharp knife. If the plants survive this well, unsightly scarred areas remain on the leaves. An alternative is protective measures such as bottle corks, which are simply put on the pointed spikes as a "blunt end".

When to Cut Leaves

Even if it is generally not necessary to cut the leaves, there are also situations in which leaves should still be removed:

  • in the case of illness and deficiency symptoms
  • with old, dried leaves
  • in case of injuries caused by the transport or repotting of the plants

If parts of leaves are accidentally torn off, the rest of the respective leaf should be cut off as close as possible to the stalk without cutting too deeply into the flesh of the stalk. Rotten leaves should be removed as quickly as possible and countermeasures such as better drainage should be examined.

tips

Occasionally old leaves die off by themselves at the base of the leaf rosette in agaves by slowly drying up. Wait until all the nutrients and moisture have been drawn back into the plant from the leaf and the leaf has dried out completely before cutting off these leaves.

Category:

Vegetable garden