A very long story but one of these things was dumped on me a few weeks ago.
Probably in the region of 250kg in a fluted plastic terra cotta pot (me in
snob mood).
It has been planted with much pain and grief and I *shall* make it
overwinter.
Can those vicious needles be subjected to a severe pruning as the plant has
already claimed several victims?

A quarter of a tonne Agave, that must be something Rupert! They can
take a fair amount of cold, but need to be quite dry at the root. For
any of the hardy Agaves to survive, extremely sharp drainage is
essential, which means digging in a barrow-load-full or two of grit
into the soil of a raised bed.

In colder parts of the country, plants suffer badly from 'radiational'
freezing on clear nights in winter, so fashioning some sort of
open-sided tent over the plant is necessary. This will also help fend
off any rain, which can damage plants if it is followed by near or
sub-zero temperatures. To cap it all, it needs maximum sun during the
day. Away from the south coasts, Agaves are best planted where they get
high overhead cover from tall evergreen trees, but can also see the sun
for most of the day. Not always easy to organise, so artificial covers
are the way to go.

As to those needles? Yes, you can take their tips off, but do not cut
into the fleshy part of the leaves otherwise they will die back. On
this last point, I've recently brought back a 25+ year old, 5ft. potted
Yucca aloifolia (Spanish dagger) from my mother's house in the
Midlands. For some years it has stood outside in a sheltered spot and
mercilessly stabbed anyone who came near. I tipped the leaf spines
last summer, but it was decided that it was still too dangerous to
remain since the leaves themselves are very, very hard and the fine,
saw-teeth along their edges can inflict deep lacerations.

"DavePoole Torquay" wrote in message
oups.com...
A quarter of a tonne Agave, that must be something Rupert! They can
take a fair amount of cold, but need to be quite dry at the root. For
any of the hardy Agaves to survive, extremely sharp drainage is
essential, which means digging in a barrow-load-full or two of grit
into the soil of a raised bed.

In colder parts of the country, plants suffer badly from 'radiational'
freezing on clear nights in winter, so fashioning some sort of
open-sided tent over the plant is necessary. This will also help fend
off any rain, which can damage plants if it is followed by near or
sub-zero temperatures. To cap it all, it needs maximum sun during the
day. Away from the south coasts, Agaves are best planted where they get
high overhead cover from tall evergreen trees, but can also see the sun
for most of the day. Not always easy to organise, so artificial covers
are the way to go.

As to those needles? Yes, you can take their tips off, but do not cut
into the fleshy part of the leaves otherwise they will die back. On
this last point, I've recently brought back a 25+ year old, 5ft. potted
Yucca aloifolia (Spanish dagger) from my mother's house in the
Midlands. For some years it has stood outside in a sheltered spot and
mercilessly stabbed anyone who came near. I tipped the leaf spines
last summer, but it was decided that it was still too dangerous to
remain since the leaves themselves are very, very hard and the fine,
saw-teeth along their edges can inflict deep lacerations.


That's just the info I wanted, thanks for such a detailed reply.
As far as planting is concerned it has got just about the best conditions
that I can supply. The plant is already making quite large pups so I suppose
it is just possible it might flower in the next year or so and then die.
The Sharks teeth along the edges of the leaves of the Agave do not worry me
too much but the needles are liable to blind someone so they will have their
nails clipped.
I guestimated the total weight of 250Kg along with the soil. The pot was
200Litres.
V fingers around the plant and inverting the pot/sharp tap etc. was not an
option on this occasion:-)

On Wed, 31 May 2006 08:16:04 +0100, DavePoole Torquay wrote
(in article . com):
snip

Last year saw a mass flowering of an Agave relative - Furcraea
longaeva. Unlike the Agaves, Furcraea leaves are rather soft textured
and not particularly succulent. Nor do they have any vicious spines.
They are much less hardy and probably only suitable for south coast
gardens. The flower spikes were not quite so massive - most reaching a
mere 5m. with 'spindly' 25cm circumference bases, but they do it all
in less than half the time. The flowers and spike formation are much
more attractive - impressive, lofty candelabras with drooping tiers of
creamy white flowers, tinged with green. Very effective in a large
garden, somewhat overpowering in a small one. There are still one or
two left that may be approaching flowering size, but whether it will be
this year or next remains to be seen.


We have Furcraea bedinghausii here (in the small double, David) and after
flowering it died but left masses of babies behind. Ray gave a few to Bob
Hobden and I think he managed to over-winter one of them near London. But I
don't know if that's considered to be more hardy than F. longaeva?


--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
email address on web site

Sacha wrote:

We have Furcraea bedinghausii here (in the small double, David) and after
flowering it died but left masses of babies behind. Ray gave a few to Bob
Hobden and I think he managed to over-winter one of them near London. But I
don't know if that's considered to be more hardy than F. longaeva?

The true ID of these two is causing a bit of head scratching ATM. A
while ago, it was decided that bedinghausii was an illegitimate name
and the plant should be referred to as Furcraea palmieri. Then there
has been a more recent claim that true palmieri and longaeva do not
produce young plants on their flower spikes. This leaves their
identity in question, since both in cultivation appear to be very
prolific with their offsets. Furcraeas appear to be a bit too obscure
to warrant immediate attention from the nomenclaturists, so it would
seem that these two will continue with an identity crisis for a little
while yet. I'll put bets on Furcraea longaeva and palmieri becoming
merged as one species if they haven't already.

There was a similar situation with a hardy bromeliad that you have on
the nursery. Ray will always have known it as Fascicularia bicolor.
There's a much broader leaved, more robust, but less hardy form as
well, which I have here. This went under the name of Fascicularia
pitcairnifolia for many years and was later shifted to Fascicularia
bicolor 'Pitcairnifolia'. Shortly afterwards, the more slender leaved
bicolor was re-christened Fascicularia bicolor 'Canaliculata'.

Peace and calm reigned for barely 2 years when the name-changers struck
again. Finally (they decided) they had got it right. Fascicularia
bicolor 'Canaliculata' was shifted up in status to being F. bicolor
ssp. canaliculata and the broader leaved form became F. bicolor ssp.
bicolor, kicking the name 'Pitcairnifolia' (which I always liked) into
oblivion. This now means that Fascicularia is a genus of just one
species with two sub-species. So where is just plain old ordinary
Fascicularia bicolor? Does it exist? Did it ever exist? It must have
at one stage because to have a sub-species, you must first have the
species. If and when that is looked at, we can start all over again.
Fun innit?

In article .com,
"DavePoole Torquay" writes:
| Sacha wrote:
|
| We have Furcraea bedinghausii here (in the small double, David) and after
| flowering it died but left masses of babies behind. Ray gave a few to Bob
| Hobden and I think he managed to over-winter one of them near London. But I
| don't know if that's considered to be more hardy than F. longaeva?
|
| The true ID of these two is causing a bit of head scratching ATM.

Personally, I think that T.S. Eliot had it right, and the naming of
plants is about as scrutable as the naming of cats.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.