Growth Over Time - Agave parryii

[WayneByerly]

One of the members here saw a picture of my one single Agave, an Agave parryii, and made a positive comment about it. The comment was made in such a different context than the comment itself presented, that I thought he really liked the Agave. And I've done a couple of these "Growth Over Time" topics, so I thought I would do one of the Agave ... because it was deemed so attractive ... and on the off chance that some others members MIGHT like to see it, and it's growth over the last few years. I like the Agave ... It was one of my first succulent purchases ... but I'm not sure that I think it "gorgeous". But the very, VERY wicked spines and teeth DO appeal to me profoundly. I do wish it was a good bit bigger though. I'm going to fertilize this year (I didn't in 2017 when I put it in a bigger pot) and we will see what it does!

All of these pictures have been resized to 800x600 ... I wish I could show them to you at a higher resolution, for better detail, but it is what it is, so ...

2013
I bought this as an offset, and it fit nicely in a 6" pot.

2013-07-31.jpg (94.36 KiB) Viewed 2149 times

2014
The next year, it still fit the 6" pot, but you can see that it was starting to fill it up.

2014-02-26.jpg (111.72 KiB) Viewed 2149 times

2015
In 2015, I put it in an 11.5 pot. It had just gotten too big for the 6" pot. (what an odd size, eh?)

2015-12-27.jpg (82.37 KiB) Viewed 2149 times

2016
Between 2015 and 2017, every time it put out new leaves, a matching number of leaves at the bottom of the plant died off. So it didn't make much "apparent" growth, although it WAS making SOME progress.

2016-10-05.jpg (108.08 KiB) Viewed 2149 times

2017
And then late in 2017 I put it in a 14" pot that's fairly deep. It's so big, that when it's wet, it's all I can do to move it. Granted, I'm 65 years old, and not in the best of health, but it's a hefty plant/pot now.

2017-11-11.jpg (137.1 KiB) Viewed 2144 times

2018
This is the last picture I've taken of it. I think I'll go water and fertilize it now. The weather is unseasonably warm, and I think I'll try to get a headstart on spring.

2018-02-08.JPG (117.07 KiB) Viewed 2149 times

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I hope you enjoyed ... let me know what you think. I need the feedback in order to judge whether or not to continue these "Growth Over Time" postings.

[ElieEstephane]

That pot in 2018 is very beautiful! Is that brass?

[WayneByerly]

That pot in 2018 is very beautiful! Is that brass?

I wish ... no, it's a plastic (so it's very light) painted to look like oxidized brass or bronze. It's quite pretty, but it's light AND cheap. I don't think they would sell too many of them were they actually metal. And it's so heavy now that it would be absolutely unmanageable were it made of metal.

You can see in the 2018 picture (at about the 2:00 position) where I dropped a piece of iron rod (rebar) on it and broke a chunk out of it, and had to glue it back into place with some caulk to keep water in it long enough to seep down into the soil. Otherwise, it would have just ran out of the "hole" that I had broken in it.

[ElieEstephane]

I actually thought that was welding

[DesertSun]

Omg, I love this agave. So beautiful Wayne and fantastic growth!

[CoffeeAddict]

Very nice. I lost mine over the past few years. It is a very beautiful plant.

[WayneByerly]

I lost mine over the past few years...

Did you forget where you put it? Or did it fall out of your pocket? Or what?

[CoffeeAddict]

I lost mine over the past few years...

Did you forget where you put it? Or did it fall out of your pocket? Or what?

Just plain neglect on my part.

[WayneByerly]

Just plain neglect on my part.

Oh man! That must have been some serious neglect! These things are so hardy that they can go months and months at a time without watering and still thrive.

Anyway, I'm really very sorry to hear about your loss. I know how bad I feel when one of mine dies. It's like... Well it's not quite like a death in the family, but it's severely non-trivial.

[Vipassana]

Very good looking plant, thanks for sharing.

If possible, get it more direct sunlight. The more the better. I can tell from it's form, it's not getting as much light as it can handle. It's certainly healthy, but it's leaves will be shorter, wider, and stand up more if you get it more direct sunlight. It's actually looking like in the 2016-2018 picture it's getting more light so maybe my advice is unneeded!

Again, I think it's healthy so don't worry if that's as much light as you can provide. If I remember, I can photograph some of my young ones that grow under trees vs the ones that grow in full AZ sun. You'll see the difference.

[WayneByerly]

If possible, get it more direct sunlight. The more the better. I can tell from it's form, it's not getting as much light as it can handle.
... I think it's healthy so don't worry if that's as much light as you can provide.

It's outside in the greenhouse now. I don't know how I could get it anymore light, unless I took it out of the greenhouse (the plastic of the greenhouse does filter some of the light out), and I don't want to do that because being there keeps it out of the rain. And it rains more often here in Tennessee than an Agave parryi would really like, so I shelter it from the rain in the greenhouse.

Or maybe I could take it to Arizona where the humidity is so much less. Humidity in the atmosphere does filter out some of the sunlight.

In other words, It's getting all the sunlight that I can reasonably give it. Maybe I could supplement it like I do with the plants inside. But that seems kind of ridiculous outside doesn't it?

P.S. Thanks for the "Very good looking plant"... that was very kind of you.

[WayneByerly]

If I remember, I can photograph some of my young ones that grow under trees vs the ones that grow...

Hey, that would be great! I love to see somebody else's Agaves!

[Vipassana]

If possible, get it more direct sunlight. The more the better. I can tell from it's form, it's not getting as much light as it can handle.
... I think it's healthy so don't worry if that's as much light as you can provide.

It's outside in the greenhouse now. I don't know how I could get it anymore light, unless I took it out of the greenhouse (the plastic of the greenhouse does filter some of the light out), and I don't want to do that because being there keeps it out of the rain. And it rains more often here in Tennessee than an Agave parryi would really like, so I shelter it from the rain in the greenhouse.

Or maybe I could take it to Arizona where the humidity is so much less. Humidity in the atmosphere does filter out some of the sunlight.

In other words, It's getting all the sunlight that I can reasonably give it. Maybe I could supplement it like I do with the plants inside. But that seems kind of ridiculous outside doesn't it?

P.S. Thanks for the "Very good looking plant"... that was very kind of you.

I hope I didn't offend. I really do appreciate you sharing. I'm always impressed with growers who can maintain a plant so we'll outside it's natural habitat; it's the mark of a good grower.

Given your location and the constraints you have (avoiding the rain is a bit one) the plant is doing quite well.

I'll try to get some pictures today and post them up.

Meanwhile, I have a few different species of Agaves I wouldn't mind mailing out to you if you were interested in trying your head at a few other species. Message me if you're interested.

[WayneByerly]

I hope I didn't offend. I really do appreciate you sharing.

No, no, no... no offense taken at all. I very much appreciate the input.

Temperatures here have been unseasonably warm... so I've repopulated the greenhouse with non-cold-tolerant species that I had brought inside in order to avoid sub 20F temperatures, and gave everything in the greenhouse a 1/2 cup to 2qt drink, depending on the size of the pot. First water anything in the greenhouse has gotten since November. Ever so slightly more than 4 months.

Temperatures here will be going back down below freezing in the next couple of days, but I've got a thermostatically controlled heater in the greenhouse to keep temperatures above 40. I think I'll go out and raise that to 45F just to be safe.

The Agave had been repotted last fall, and is now SO heavy I can barely move it. So there's no way to move it out into thr direct sun and then back into the greenhouse before it rains. The best I can do is move it into the brightest spot in the greenhouse.

I'll keep an eye out for your pix. I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival!

[WayneByerly]

If possible, get it more direct sunlight ... it's leaves will be shorter, wider, and stand up more if you get it more direct sunlight.

I meant to reply to this earlier, but I'm not finding the post that I desired to make. So maybe I fell asleep while composing and never got around to submit it.

What I intended to say was that the pictures from 2015 to 2017 were taken in the colder months of the year, and therefore the Sun did not last as long during the day as it does during the summer months. The picture below was taken in Spring of 2018 and therefore the sun has been steadily increasing in duration and intensity. So you can see that the leaves of this Agave are standing up a little more then they did in the aforementioned pictures.

20180510_084534-1024x768.jpg (105.78 KiB) Viewed 1864 times