Agave xylonacantha is bolting

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Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#1

Post by mcvansoest »

I sort of suspected this was about to happen, but despite looking at that plant regularly, the appearance of the stalk still caught me a little by surprise:
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So if all goes well at some point in the reasonably near future I should have some xylonacantha pollen available.
I have a replacement plant - a pup from this plant - sitting around in a 3 gallon pot waiting for just this event.
I got this plant at a pretty big size, once planted it did well but as you can see never ended up with a whole lot of leaves and it always needed some shade cover in the summer months - though I had that down to just June - July last summer.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#2

Post by Gee.S »

Yeah, Littaea Agaves don't give their plans away as readily as Agave Agaves.

Hmmmm.... I have a guadalajarana bolting. Wonder what that offspring would look like....
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"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#3

Post by mcvansoest »

Definitely worth a shot!
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#4

Post by mcvansoest »

Not a speed demon, stalk wise like the big weberi's I have had flower, but still plenty of progress:
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#5

Post by Gee.S »

Yeah, that's gonna be done before my guadalajarana starts. I have a mack × utah that may synch with that.
Agave
"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#6

Post by mcvansoest »

Yeah, my plant is about ready to open the first flowers I think. I will most definitely try and save some pollen, only thing going in the neighborhood that I can see is A. vilmoriniana.
The stalk did not really get very big. Not sure if that is normal or if it is stunted by the really dry weather we have had.

Actually I think I still have some of that A. phillipsiana pollen in the freezer that I can try and find...

Here are some pics of the stalk and flower buds:
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#7

Post by Melt in the Sun »

I'd love to try crossing that with 'Macho Mocha' and my unknown hybrid...maybe there will be some overlap, if not I would very much appreciate some pollen!
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#8

Post by mcvansoest »

I'd be very happy to do some kind of exchange... a cross of xylonacantha with 'Macho Mocha' could be quite interesting...
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#9

Post by mcvansoest »

Some progress pictures. The stalk did not grow my taller compared to the previous pic. It is hanging lower as it got heavier with the development of the flowers. The first ones are opening. These are from this morning, I did not get to check things out when I got back home, but if there is any pollen I will harvest some.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#10

Post by mcvansoest »

More flowers and open flowers. No obvious pollen yet though...
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#11

Post by mcvansoest »

Pollen observed and 'harvested'. Also tried to use some previously frozen A. phillipsiana pollen that I got from Ron a good while back to pollinate the flowers... So fingers crossed on that.

Photos to follow, but it looks like the flowers first open for a full day before pollen starts appearing which is accompanied by a lot of nectar production in the flower as well.

The flowers have interesting smell that is hard to describe, not completely pleasant but also not horrible.

The way this is going I'd say there's about a week left before things are done. Anyone else nearby with pollen available?
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#12

Post by abborean »

I should have mitis (the actual plant, not a hybrid) soon if it ever returns to Spring here. May be a week or so as it's in the hairy asparagus stage. Does xylo self like lophantha and funkiana?
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#13

Post by mcvansoest »

I do not know, but if seed sets we will find out. There were several flowers where the stigma already clearly had pollen stuck to it, before I came by to try and use the phillipsiana pollen. I can also take the next section of flowers and see about pollinating them with pollen from the plant itself.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#14

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Nothing here is ready yet. 'Macho Mocha' will be first...maybe within a week but still looks further out than that.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#15

Post by mcvansoest »

I will do my best to save some pollen and put it in little packets that I can mail out.

Of course this has to be the year that my manfreda undulata 'Chocolate Chips' decides to skip flowering after flowering 3 years in a row...
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#16

Post by mcvansoest »

The promised photos:

Overview:
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The flowers lower down look less nice:
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But had plenty of pollen and nectar going on. I harvested quite a bit of the pollen, though quite a lot had fallen away. Hope to get more from the flowers higher. You can see where I put a smudge of pollen on top of the stigma:
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And you can see from the yellow flower hanging on one of the Agave flowers that my Palo Verde is doing what just about all of them have started doing: it is working up towards full bloom. A few weeks of a different kind of yellow snow ahead for my front yard...
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#17

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Any activity still? 'Macho Mocha' is really close to opening some flowers.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#18

Post by mcvansoest »

I think at most a day or two, possibly only just one. I have saved a bunch of pollen I can stick in an envelope.

So far it looks like there might be some seed pods forming, but I am not completely sure yet. Some look like they are plumping up iso drying out now that the flower is spent. It looks like the areas where I used xylonacantha pollen to try and self the plant have more of that going on and the areas where I used the phillipsiana pollen got more pods drying out...

Finger's crossed.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#19

Post by mcvansoest »

Got the first seeds off the plant. Interestingly a bunch of random seed pods in the middle of the flower stalk opened up first, while things lower down which flowered first look like they still need some time.

I'd say about 50/50 black vs. white seed. Seeds are on the small side. I will try to get some pictures soon.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#20

Post by Gee.S »

For a domestic setting, I'd say 50/50 seed/chaff is pretty decent.
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"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#21

Post by Melt in the Sun »

Indeed!

To follow up - 'Macho Mocha' doesn't appear to have set any pods. Flowers were a bit misshapen and needed some help to open. I also put pollen on my Matt Maggio mangave, which likewise produced nothing.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#22

Post by Agave_fan »

mcvansoest wrote:Got the first seeds off the plant. Interestingly a bunch of random seed pods in the middle of the flower stalk opened up first, while things lower down which flowered first look like they still need some time.
Glad you mentioned this as my plant bloomed around the same time as yours and I have been foolishly looking at the lower portion that opened first ignoring the rest of the stalk! I will start looking at the entire thing now so thanks for posting this.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#23

Post by mcvansoest »

Melt in the Sun wrote:Indeed!

To follow up - 'Macho Mocha' doesn't appear to have set any pods. Flowers were a bit misshapen and needed some help to open. I also put pollen on my Matt Maggio mangave, which likewise produced nothing.
Well, it was worth a shot!

Happy to share some Xylonacantha seed, but have not yet figured out how to separate seeds from chaff.
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#24

Post by Gee.S »

There is no way that seed in the center of the stalk has developed faster than from the bottom. What happens is that pods can dry and open unevenly. you should strip all pods off the stalk below those that have opened, if you want to maximize seed collection. Let them finish drying in a container.
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"American aloe plant," 1797, from Greek Agaue, proper name in mythology (mother of Pentheus), from agauos "noble," perhaps from agasthai "wonder at".

"Some talk the talk, others walk the walk, but I stalk the stalk"
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Re: Agave xylonacantha is bolting

#25

Post by mcvansoest »

Thanks, Ron, that is excellent advice, I will be doing some seed pod collecting when I get home from work.
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