Agaves that do not pup, or often do not.

[SC FM]

I have a lot of Agaves and some send pups up everywhere, especially salmiana, parryi, lophantha. Does anyone have a list of those that do not pup? I sure would appreciate a list. Thanks. I have several victoriae-reginiae and one schidigera and a parviflora that have never pupped and are easy to maintain. I am constantly digging up pups sometimes several feet away right under a palm or another yuca or different Agave species.

[Spination]

I was thinking we might have discussed that one here. Indeed, we did...here's the thread.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4542&p=17276" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Viegener]

Gregg Star has a great list on that link. Here's mine based on my own experience (built off of Gregg's list). I'd love to identify some all the rampantly offsetting ones (americana has been a curse for me).

SOLITARY-GROWING AGAVES:
A. albopilosa
A. aurea
A. azurea
A. 'Baccarat'
A. 'Blue Glow'
A. bracteosa 'Calamar'
A. bovicornuta
A. chazaroi
A. chrysoglossa
A. colimana
A. congesta
A. cupreata
A. dasylirioides
A. deserti var. simplex (seems lightly offsetting)
A. durangensis
A. filifera
A. flexispina
A. geminiflora
A. gentryi
A. gigantensis
A. guadalajarana
A. havardiana (offsets from Ron Parker)
A. horrida var. perotensis
A. impressa
A. inaequidens
A. kerchovei
A. marmorata
A. montana
A. moranii
A. multifilifera
A. nayaritensis
A. nusavorium
A. obscura
A. ocahui
A. ocahui var. longifolia
A. oroensis
A. ovatifolia
A. peacockii
A. pedunculifera
A. pelona
A. potatorum (except ’Cameron Blue’ offset for me; might be from tissue culture tho)
A. potrerana
A. promontori
A. schidigera
A. seemanniana (though var pygmaea offsets)
A. shrevei ssp. magna
A. temacapuliensis
A. tenuifolia
A. turneri
A. valenciana
A. vasquezgarcia
A. victoria-reginae (but my v-r offsets prolifically; I think it’s the ‘compact’ variety)
A. vilmoriniana
A. wocomahi

LIGHTLY to MODERATELY OFFSETTING
A. applanata
A. attenuata
A. chrysantha
A. colorata
A. guiengola
A. gypsophila
A. x leopoldii
A. lophantha
A. macroacantha
A. mapisaga
A. murpheyi
A. palmeri
A. parrasana
A. parryi (some)
A. pumila
A. sisalana
A. tequiliana
A. toumeyana
A. utahensis
A. weberi
A. xylonacantha
A. zebra

HEAVILY OFFSETTING - BEWARE!
A. americana
A. franzosini
A. lophantha
A. parryi
A. salmiana
A. sobria
A. titanota

[mcvansoest]

Some observations from my yard and pots, so not habitat, which updates my entry in the thread referenced below/above:

Heavy offsetters:
A. x arizonica - a small plant so not a huge deal, but definitely heavily offsetting.
A. bovicornuta x A. colorata (the non-'Mad Cow' version) produces lots of basal offsets that so far I have not even tried to remove.
A. chrysantha - some plants at least my in the ground plant had a huge number of pups in the pot, when I planted it I cleaned it and it was OK for a while but this year it has suffered from a pup explosion, I have another in a pot still that has no offsets...
A. lophantha - starting to produce offsets at an alarming rate. cv. Quadricolor is much less offsetting in the ground for me.
A. 'saw tooth' - what could be A. lurida is starting to go crazy now that it has been in the ground for a couple of years.
A. titanota-ish - I guess you could call it moderately offsetting, but all my blue-white plants that may at least be close to the real thing are offsetting as much as A. lophantha in a similarly basal form that is really hard to deal with with out serious harm to oneself.
A. victoriae reginae 'compacta'
A. viviparra variegata
A. weberi - when I moved into the house I currently live in, there were six moderately sized A. weberi in the front yard all eventually turned into giants and the last of that generation finally tried to bloom and died from weevils this year, but all produced incredible amounts of offsets throughout their lives.

Lightly to moderately offsetting:
A. americana mediopicta alba
A. amerinana ssp. protoamericana
A. americana variegata
A. angustifolia
A. applanata - still in a pot and producing some offsets, which I have a hard time keeping alive.
A. applanata 'Cream Spike' in the ground the offsets do not last very long so far (the plant has been struggling with the summer sun/heat so far) in a pot a moderate offsetter.
A. asperrima ssp. asperrima is mildly offsetting for me.
A. cerulata ssp. cerulata
A. cerulata ssp. nelsoni
A. colorata
A. decipiens (could end up in the heavily offsetting category)
A. deserti ssp. simplex got some pups from a plant in a pot.
A. difformis
A. guiengola
A. havardiana
A. isthmensis
A. lechuguilla
A. macroacantha
A. marmorata has produced some basal offsets, so lightly offsetting for me.
A. multifilifera (if it was larger it would be in the heavily offsetting category)
A. x murpheyi
A. x murpheyi variegata
A. nickelsiae is a mildly offsetting plant for me - lots of offsets in the pot, but only a few in the ground so far.
A. palmeri
A. parrassana (got many offsets from Ron's plant and both plants I got from other sources have produced quite a few offsets in their pots, one in the ground plant has been offset free, after cleaning before planting, so far)
A. parryi ssp. parryi
A. parryi var. truncata
A. x 'Royal Spine'
A. salmiana var. crassispina - 2-4 pups a year after 3 or so offset free years when I first put it into the ground
A. salmiana var. salmiana - so far I'd call it moderate if it keeps going, I might have to upgrade it to heavily offsetting
A. sebastiana
A. seemanniana var. pygmae
A. 'sharkskin'
A. sisalana
A. sobria ssp. frailensis
A. tequilana
A. FO-76 and similar green plants often sold as A. titanota.
A. victoriae reginae yellow and white variegata
A. xylonacantha both in pot and in the ground
A. zebra

Solitary so far:
A. asperrima ssp. zarcensis
A. avellanidens (got a bunch of different plants from different people all still in pots, but no offsets at all so far)
A. atrovirens
A. azurea (in pot)
A. bovicornuta
A. cupreata
A. durangensis (both in ground and in pot)
A. 'emerald envy'-ish
A. funkiana
A. gentryi 'Jaws' (in pot)
A. ghiesbreghtii
A. x glomeruliflora
A. guadalajarana
A. x leopoldi variegata (in pot)
A. x 'Mad Cow' (in pot)
A. mapisage (only just planted it out so who knows what happens in the future)
A. maximilliana (both in ground and in pot)
A. montana (both in ground and in pot)
A. neomexicana (though it came with one offset in the pot, none since it hit the ground)
A. ovatifolia (though I have one plant that has produced a lot of offsets)
A. parrassana cv. 'fireball' (in pot)
A. pelona (in pot)
A. potatorum (both in ground and in pot)
A. shrevei - presumably matapensis
A. sobria forma 'pseudogigantensis' (in pot)
A. temacapulinensis (in pot)
A. valenciana (in pot)
A. victoriae reginae - regular form
A. vilmoriniana
A. wocomahi (in pot)


I will update as things develop and I check on some plants in pots that I have not looked at in detail in a while.

[SC FM]

JUst a few I grow that do not pup for me, exception is the lophantha.

DSC03652 (1).JPG (113.49 KiB) Viewed 5708 times

Thanks everyone. I will research and see the ones that may be hardy for me here. I just am getting to old to constantly be digging up unwanted pups and getting stuck all the times. My arms now look like pincushions, but yes, I know , it is part of enjoying and growing Agaves. Sometimes I think I might have to get a blood transfusion, LOL. YEs and the parryi huachuensis has never pupped but a few times. but probably will. The parryi pups come out of the ground tough and powerful and ready to go! I need to get some of whatever it has to make it so powerful. LOL.

[Neli]

Some agaves of the same species can pup and some dont pup at all. My potatorum pups profusely.
I was told that agaves need to be stressed to pup. How true is that?

[Neli]

I suspect if stressed (underwatered, in full sun= neglected) agaves ppup better.

[Gee.S]

Some agaves of the same species can pup and some dont pup at all. My potatorum pups profusely.
I was told that agaves need to be stressed to pup. How true is that?

I don't believe that is A. potatorum. It looks like A. 'Kichijokan' from here. How old is that photo? Is it still bolting? A few folks here might be interested in high quality close-ups of the flowers.

[SC FM]

I do have 'Blue Glow' which is in a large pot and sits outside 365 days a year and is quite hardy. I also have A. montana, ovatifolia, victoriae-reginae all listed as non puppers. I do have lophantha and it is the most prolific pupper of al; it is almost a nuisance, but it is beautiful and not so large. I used to have an A. ochai but dug it up at the wrong time late in the Fall and it died during the Winter. Neli has a very beautiful collection and beautiful garden. Living in S.Africa I would definitely grow a lot of the Ice Plants(Mesembryanthums, etc, and other Southern African plants.

[agavegreg]

That offsetting A. potatorum is actually A. 'Kichjokan' which may be a form of A. isthmensis which is a heavy offsetter.

[Neli]

Some agaves of the same species can pup and some dont pup at all. My potatorum pups profusely.
I was told that agaves need to be stressed to pup. How true is that?

I don't believe that is A. potatorum. It looks like A. 'Kichijokan' from here. How old is that photo? Is it still bolting? A few folks here might be interested in high quality close-ups of the flowers.

Thank you. This are pictures of the same agave. I shall rename it then. The picture was taken a month ago at a friend's house in Zimbabwe. I am in Zambia. But I shall ask him to take pictures, when he comes back from holidays. Not sure if it grows taller if he will manage to get closeups

[Neli]

I do have 'Blue Glow' which is in a large pot and sits outside 365 days a year and is quite hardy. I also have A. montana, ovatifolia, victoriae-reginae all listed as non puppers. I do have lophantha and it is the most prolific pupper of al; it is almost a nuisance, but it is beautiful and not so large. I used to have an A. ochai but dug it up at the wrong time late in the Fall and it died during the Winter. Neli has a very beautiful collection and beautiful garden. Living in S.Africa I would definitely grow a lot of the Ice Plants(Mesembryanthums, etc, and other Southern African plants.

Thank you! I have mesembs, and brought some of them from Europe he he he. I am in Zambia and they grow in SA. But have collected a number of them.

[Neli]

That offsetting A. potatorum is actually A. 'Kichjokan' which may be a form of A. isthmensis which is a heavy offsetter.

Thank you. Is it Potatorum Kichjokan' or just Kichjokan'

[agavegreg]

I believe it is a form of Agave isthmensis which is distinct from A. potatorum, but have not been able to confirm that with flower data. Also, the original collection locality is unknown leaving us to only guess where it came from. In my book, I treated it simply as Agave 'Kichijokan' because I could not confirm it to species.

[Neli]

This one is also bolting. Should I take a picture for you also of the flower? Maybe you want it?
Thanks Greg. So lovely you wrote a book on agaves. What is the name?

[agavegreg]

That looks like a Furcraea and not an Agave.

[toditd]

Reminds me a bit of Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Guaranteed not to pup!

Chihuly - Desert Botanical Garden

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(For those unfamiliar Chihuly, Dale Chihuly is a glass artist/sculptor who has had many of his exhibitions/installations in gardens.)

[Neli]

That looks like a Furcraea and not an Agave.

That is how much I know he he he. Looks like agave to me.

[Paul S]

Furcraea foetida 'Variegata' or 'Mediopicta' - seems the names are interchangeable. Be prepared for a few thousand bulbils!

[Neli]

Furcraea foetida 'Variegata' or 'Mediopicta' - seems the names are interchangeable. Be prepared for a few thousand bulbils!

They will go on the compost hip he he he, few to some friends and some for me.