WTB A. mckelveyana

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WhalesToungueAgave
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WTB A. mckelveyana

#1

Post by WhalesToungueAgave »

IF you have any that I can buy drop me a line Thanks D))
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Agavemonger
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#2

Post by Agavemonger »

Be forewarned: Agave mckelveyana is a greenhouse plant outside of it's natural desert environment. It grows fast and offsets readily in summer here (Outside in San Diego), then gradually peters out and fades away as winter progresses into spring, even here in Southern California. I have (twice) lost all of my several plants over a relatively short time. :frown:

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Viegener
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#3

Post by Viegener »

Yes, same here in LA. Lost two now...
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Azuleja
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#4

Post by Azuleja »

Why, moisture and cool weather?
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Viegener
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#5

Post by Viegener »

I assume so. And like Monger said, the problem really appears in late winter/early spring. Lower leaves turn brown and then often the entire plant eventually dies. It's confusing because the weather by then is pretty nice.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#6

Post by Azuleja »

A. mckelveyana is a cool plant but I'm trying to avoid things that will just want to die here (cool and wet here as I type). Thanks for the info.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#7

Post by Viegener »

I have the built-in assumption that almost anything will grow in So CA, but it's not true. I'm easing off the Baja agaves and many of the Arizona varieties. If they don't see winter rain in their native habitat, they won't be happy here.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#8

Post by mcvansoest »

My bet would be too much humidity.

I think they can deal with the low temperatures, but it is another one of those too much moisture both in the ground - they generally grow in poor but very fast draining soil/substratum - and in the air - Arizona rarely has high humidity for very long.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#9

Post by Agavemonger »

I've largely come to the same conclusions as Mathias & Thijs.

I have trialed nearly all of the stuff from Baja, Eastern California, Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico outside in inland San Diego County under theoretically "ideal" conditions, and here are my findings:

Plants that struggle (at best) here (outside in full sun all year):

1) Agave margaritae
2) Agave utahensis variety nevadensis
3) Agave utahensis variety eborispina
4) Agave deserti
5) Agave deserti subspecies simplex
6) Agave subsimplex
7) Agave palmeri
8) Agave crysantha
9) Agave phillipsiana
10) Agave delamateri
11) Agave parryi (Once established, these do so-so)
12) Agave parryi variety huachucensis (Once established, these do so-so)
13) Agave verdensis
14) Agave murpheyi (Once established, these do so-so)
15) Agave X 'Ajoensis' (can be grown, but tricky)
16) Agave lechuguilla (once established, these do so-so, but they are agonizingly slow)
17) Agave parryi variety couesii
18) Agave viscainoensis
19) Agave yavapaiensis
20) Agave sebastiana (Once established, these do so-so)
21) Agave X 'Arizonica'

I should state that many of these plants grow nearly to perfection during the hotter months from May through October, offsetting heavily and growing fast. I usually have propagated them, in some cases building up as many as fifteen plants by the end of summer. Then, two years later, I am back down to just a few. In a hot greenhouse, I suspect nearly all would do well provided winter watering is done very carefully and night-time temperatures are kept above 60 degrees Fahrenheit.

Plants that have done reasonably well for me outside in full sun all year in inland San Diego County.

1) Agave aurea
2) Agave cerulata
3) Almost all forms of Agave parryi variety truncata
4) Agave parviflora
5) Agave polianthiflora
6) Agave pelona
7) Agave zebra (but develops no banding to speak of)
8) Agave colorata (but develops no banding to speak of)
9) Agave schottii
10) Agave schottii variety treleaseii (this one is a little tougher to get going)
11) Agave sobria
12) Agave sobria variety frailensis
13) Agave toumeyana
14) Agave toumeyana variety bella
15) Agave utahensis subspecies utahensis
16) Agave cerulata subspecies nelsonii
17) Agave felgeri
18) Agave parviflora variety densiflora

Some of the rarer Baja plants and the Sonora plants near the Gulf of California I have yet to try, so I have no experience with these, and therefore haven't mentioned them. There are always plants that some people have managed to succeed with, for generally inexplicable reasons, that are on this list. I have had luck growing all of these plants, but in the long haul, they have failed to consistently grow, at least as far as being predictable wholesale nursery candidates. I have seen a very few Coconut Palms growing for years in Southern California, but like I say, nearly inexplicable.

My plants are kept mostly in pots in an airy mix. They are under a comprehensive pesticide program and are generally watered with a fertilizer injector, using a 20-20-20 liquid fertilizer with micronutrients @ a 1.0 millimohs application (hose-end) concentration level, and I closely monitor this concentration with an electrical conductivity salinity meter.

Many of these plants (especially the touchy ones in the first list, and for sure all the domesticates) I consider Eriophyoid Mite hosts. They absolutely must be sprayed on a rotational miticide program, even in a greenhouse, if you are to have any hope of success in growing these plants at all.

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Azuleja
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#10

Post by Azuleja »

Thank you for sharing your growing experiences. I can't do too much about the cold but winter dry is doable for container plants. There are others from those regions though, like toumeyana, arizonica, colorata and sobria. I was hoping to put toumeyana var. bella in the ground eventually to form a colony. Same deal?
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#11

Post by Viegener »

This is very useful. To your list I could add A. parryi ssp. neomexicana & A. applanata, and probably a beautiful A. colorata 'special clone' from Arid Lands (my other coloratas, from Ron, have had two fine winters outside). I lost a beautiful clump of A. toumeyana var. bella & two other pots look unhappy. Even about a quarter of the winter-wet sensitive agaves I had in my grow tent under LEDS this winter weren't so happy. A. azurea (had one for over two years that was doing beautifully) looks miserable now. I think the grow tent was warm enough but the humidity was always very high. I guess I could try venting it better. The jury is still out on my A. cerulata ssp. dentiens, A. flexispina, A. parryi v. couseii, A. turneri, & A. zebra. (All the aloes in there were very happy regardless of humidity levels.) A. murpheyi variegata, interestingly, has been doing fine outside, as has A. murpheyi mediovariegata.

How about we put together a reference list the way Ron put Agave Species by Group, Hardiness, and Full Sun agaves at the top of Agavaceae Talk? It would be Difficult Agaves for non-desert California, and since it's a state of 40 million, that's a lot of people. It might be applicable to people growing in the humid cool-winter South as well.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#12

Post by rakkasanenterprisez »

WhalesToungueAgave wrote:IF you have any that I can buy drop me a line Thanks D))
If you are looking for these still I have some 1 gallon plants. I grow this plant outside in Colorado real easy. Had them for 20 years now. LMK
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#13

Post by Brooksphilly »

That is so interesting that you are able to grow these well in Colorado, yet the people in CA struggle with them. What gives?
rakkasanenterprisez
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#14

Post by rakkasanenterprisez »

Agave mckelveyana doesn't like full sun by any means. Morning shade I think is the key to this species. They take -10°F real easy get tip damage at -17°F several times but quickly grow out of it. Idk never thought of this species as difficult. Good to be ignorant sometime.
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#15

Post by mcvansoest »

Not sure where you are in Colorado, Rakkasanen, but I wonder at your humidity levels, when it gets cold: pretty low humidity on average?
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Re: WTB A. mckelveyana

#16

Post by rakkasanenterprisez »

Pueblo, Colorado. It's like Albuquerque, NM. We are about 10-20% humidity most of the year. On average we get 8-10" of moisture. -27°F is the all time low but lately the winter lows are -10°F or better (the last 2 winters have been above 0°F). I grow quite a few species of agave outside.
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