Hi,
I can't find anything about agaves growing stems on the internet.
(Is it another word I'm looking for?)
Do you just have to prune the lower leaves (healthy/dead ones?) and does it work with very thick-leaved varieties too?
Thank you very much!
Agaves are very slow growing, and when they are finally old enough they will start to form stems. I do not know of any way to hurry the process, except to start with the oldest plants you can find.
Of course they need to be a species that will form stems. Some don't; they just grow as rosettes.
I think stem is the right term. Usually refers to soft plants including young woody plants. The only other term I would think of is trunk, but trunk is more often a larger woody stem of a tree or large shrub.
Agave's are a very large family, maybe as many as 300 hundred odd different types.
There are some that grow upwards, eventually forming stem's / trunks etc, but these are much more mature plants, as they age, they self shed their lower older leaves, these leaves are usually either damaged or dried up, as you know, these plants have very lush leaves that are normally full of moisture.
Perhaps IF you can go to the garden centre there will be some of the Agave plants with stems, some florist sell these plants too. Ask the staff the plant species, as I said, it is a huge family in height, width and colour. I think you will have already seen the plants with taller stems BUT perhaps never thought they were Agave's.
Good luck and Kindest Regards.
WeeNel.
Thank you guys so much for your answers! I'll ask for old agaves at my local gardening center. I actually just got 2 agaves, I wonder how old they are..
The few agaves that grow stems include Agave attenuata (the spineless plant in your picture), and that particular plant does not have to be particularly old to do it. The giant agaves that grow in the ground around here do grow a bit of a stem, and they are often manicured (lower leaves cut all the way back) so that the "piņa" stands out below the foliage. But stems are not something you generally see on agaves.
