Blue Agave Plant: Best Grow & Care Guide

Do you know Blue Agave is the only plant variety used to produce tequila in the whole Mexico? Also, you can grow this plant at home with minimal effort. 

Blue Agave Plants fit anywhere in your living space, lawn, terrace, and veranda. 

So, stick to this article until the end to add this beautiful slow-growing succulent with proper care indoors and outdoors.

Blue Agave Plant Overview

Blue Agave is a hardy plant grown as a houseplant and a cash crop.

Blue Agave Plants for Sale

You can buy this incredibly low-maintenance plant in many online stores at a reasonable price.

Blue Agave Plant Care  

Scattered root and crowd tolerance make Blue Agave the best fit for your containers indoors.

Moreover, this evergreen perennial, known as The Cactus King, can tolerate extreme drought conditions.

1. Sunlight & Temperature

Plant your Blue Agave in a warm sunny spot to fulfill its light demand while growing outdoors.

Insufficient sunlight may cause the yellowing of your Blue Agave, and low temperature may cause brown spots in the plant’s foliage.

Moreover, place it on the balcony or south window, ensuring they receive direct sunlight if you wish to keep them indoors.

Remember that they can’t tolerate temperatures below 28°F, so use frost blankets to protect them from the cold.

However, too much exposure to direct sunlight may cause sunburn and damage the plant’s foliage.

If such issues arise, place your plant in a partial shade or provide them with dappled sunlight using sheer curtains.

2. Water & Humidity 

For the newly planted Agave, you must water it every 4-5 days. However, you can gradually shift the timings to once a week after it adjusts. 

Moreover, 40% humidity is enough for this xerophyte, but you can use pebble trays if dryness extends.

Your Agave may not tolerate overwatering and suffer from mushy brown stems and root rots.

But, if your Agave has dry tips, yellow leaves, and overall wilting, this may be a sign of underwatering.

Also, shift your plant indoors during the rainy season to protect them from overwatering.

Sometimes, even if you water properly, your Agave may face issues due to improper drainage.

Always grow your Agave to a terracotta container with enough drainage holes to overcome this problem.

Moreover, you can use the bottom watering method if the soil is extremely dry.

Treatment for Overwatered Blue Agave

• Uproot the plant and check for root rots.
• Trim the damaged roots and discard damaged parts.
• Amend the soggy soil with organic perlite to increase seepage.
• Discard the plant if the whole root is damaged. 

3. Soil & Fertilization

Blue Agave plant prefers well-draining, succulent-friendly soil or sandy soil pH ranging from 6 to 6.8.

Agave isn’t a heavy feeder, but you can fertilize it monthly during spring and summer with specialized or succulent plant food.

Treatment for an Overfertilized Blue Agave

• Uproot your Agave from potting soil and flush it with distilled water.
• Repot the plant in a new succulent-friendly potting mix and press gently.
• Keep the soil moist using only distilled or rainwater.

4. Potting and Repotting

Generally, Blue Agave plants need not be repotted frequently, but you must repot them yearly or every couple of years to maintain their health.

However, repot them immediately if you notice a foul smell from the soil, root rot, or disease due to root rot.

Also, you must repot them if there is stunted growth even in the growing season due to root bound.

Always hydrate the plant overnight if you plan to repot the plant the next day.

Tips to Repot Blue Agave

• Uproot your Agave and untangle the roots without damaging them.
• Take a 2-inch wider Terracotta container with enough drainage holes and fill it 1/3 with a succulent-friendly potting mix.
• Place the Agave plant in the center of the pot and fill the remaining half with potting mix.
• Press the soil gently and keep it damp without overwatering.

5. Occasional Pruning  

You need not prune your Agave frequently, but you must trim its foliage or roots in case of disease or physical damage.

The diseases or physical damages are spread and caused by insects like Armored scales, soft scales, and mealybugs.

Also, use insecticides and pesticides or switch towards neem oil if you want safer options to protect your plant.

Tips to Prune Your Agave

• Take sterilized tools and trim the damaged parts carefully.
• Also, cut off the unappealing old foliage.
• Don’t prune more than 25% of the plant parts.
• Discard the whole plant in case of excessive damage that can’t be recovered.

Blue Agave Plant: All About the Growth Rate

Blue Agave, with 2ft long, thick, spiked, and pointed blue-grey leaves, blooms only after 7 years of maturity.

This slow-growing succulent possesses 5 m long spikes with clustered tubular yellow blooms, which are pollinated by bats.

Also, Blue Agave is a one-time bloomer; its flowers produce nectar sweeter than sugar.

People also use other varieties, like Caribbean Agave and American Agave, to make drinks.

Although Blue Agaves produce several seeds per plant, most cannot germinate.

Toxicity of Blue Agave Plant

Besides their beauty and benefits, Blue Agave can harm your pets and children if you let them roam around it.

Every part of this plant is poisonous, especially its spiked foliage that contains saponin. 

Keep your children and pets away from Blue Agave. But, if they accidentally ingest it, contact doctors and the pet poison center.

• Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435
• National Capital Poison Center at 1-800-222-1222

Moreover, keep pet deterrent mats near your Agave to keep your pets away from your Agave.

Propagation Methods for Blue Agave Plant

Blue Agave is easy to propagate through seeds or stem cuttings.

Propagation through stem cutting can be effective as you don’t have to wait years for seeds to collect.

Propagation via Seeds

Blue Agave blooms every spring and produces several seeds, but most aren’t viable.

So make sure you store the seeds properly in the right place.

• Soak the seeds overnight and prepare a germinating tray with a well-draining potting mix.
• Sow the seeds and place them in a warm shady location.
• Mist the soil to make it moist but not soggy.
• After the seeds germinate in 1-2 weeks, wait until 1-2 leaves appear.
• Transplant the newly grown plant in a new container. 

Propagation via Stem Cuttings

You can easily grow stem cuttings through pups or bulbils.

Pups are young Agave plants near the mother Agave, and bulbils are small outgrowths of the stem.

• Remove a healthy pup or bulbil from the mother plant with a hand spade.
• Allow them to callus over for 5-7 days.
• Place those pups or bulbils in a pot with dry succulent potting mix and moisten the soil.
• The roots will appear in 2-3 weeks if you keep them in a warm shady location.
• Your new Blue Agave is ready to transplant in the garden.

Watch this video to properly care for and grow your Blue Agaves and make them huge and beautiful.