Seeing an agave bloom is always a spectacular sight! Their tall flower stalks look like whimsical trees from a Dr. Seuss book. When an agave flowers, it’s reaching the end of its initial life cycle—however, it will produce baby plants in one of two ways, depending on your specific variety! So, while you may lose one plant, you’ll gain several new ones in the process! Here’s what you need to do once your agave starts blooming, so you can begin the cycle of life once again.
Seeing an agave flower bloom is always a spectacular sight. The towering flower stalks resemble Dr. Seuss trees come to life. But this marks the end of the first stage in the agave’s life cycle. These sculptural succulents are monocarpic, meaning they die after flowering just once. However, they live on by producing offsets or aerial bulbils to propagate new plants. Here’s what happens when your prized agave starts blooming and how to continue its legacy.
The Agave Bloom Sequence
An agave’s natural cycle unfolds over many years:
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Maturation – Agaves spend years, often a decade or longer depending on variety, building energy reserves before sending up a bloom stalk. The rosette-shaped plant grows steadily during this time.
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Flowering – When mature, the agave invests its stored energy into a towering flower spike, reaching over 30 feet for some species.
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Decline – This huge energy expenditure depletes the mother plant As flowering finishes, the main rosette fades and withers over weeks or months
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Rebirth – But the agave lives on by producing offsets or aerial bulbils propagating a new generation before dying off.
So while agaves perish after blooming, they cleverly generate offspring to carry forward their legacy.
Why Does Flowering Drain Agaves?
That monumental flower spike requires funneling all the plant’s resources into rapid growth for a short burst. Here’s the toll it takes:
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The bloom stalk can tower 20-40 feet tall, demanding extensive energy reserves.
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Hundreds of individual flowers cover the stalk, opening progressively over weeks. Such abundant blooming is taxing.
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Nectar-filled flowers attract pollinators, ensuring reproduction. But ample nectar saps the plant.
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Seed production after pollination further drains the agave. Each flower can yield dozens of seeds.
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Root and vascular tissues deteriorate as resources get redirected to the urgent flowering needs, hindering water and nutrient uptake.
With its life force channeled into this final reproductive act, the mother agave simply cannot sustain itself any longer.
Preserving Agave Offsets
While the original plant dies after flowering, we can propagate new plants from “pups” or offsets that form around the base:
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Leave pups attached initially after flowering starts to let them bulk up. Watch for them to detach naturally when ready.
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Sever thick, mature offsets with sterilized tools and replant in well-draining soil. Water sparingly at first.
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Carefully separate and transplant the largest, most established pups first if crowded. Move smaller ones later to prevent shock.
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Stake unstable pups until roots take hold. Mist occasionally until new growth emerges.
By nurturing these basal offsets, you can perpetuate favored agave varieties after the parent plant expires.
Harvesting Aerial Bulbils
Some agave species also produce aerial bulbils along the bloom stalk, yielding more new plants:
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Bulbils form after flowers fade, replacing spent blooms on the stalk. They look like mini pinecones.
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Let the stalk fall naturally, then twist or cut bulbils off the dried stalk.
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Briefly dry bulbil ends before planting to prevent rotting.
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Plant bulbils just below the soil surface. Water lightly at first.
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Partial shade encourages roots initially. Acclimate to full sun after growth starts.
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Remove spent stalks carefully to avoid spreading irritating fibers when they detach.
Collecting and planting agave pups and aerial bulbils allows you to reinvent treasured varieties by propagating future generations.
Caring for Mature Agaves Post-Bloom
When your prized agave begins blooming, provide some extra care:
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Stake emerging bloom stalks if needed for support against toppling.
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Situate potted plants carefully to avoid tipping from the heavy stalk.
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Water thoroughly then allow soil to dry before repeating.
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Applying diluted liquid fertilizer can aid nutrient demands from intense blooming.
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Monitor for secondary rots as the plant weakens. Promptly remove decaying leaves.
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Prune deteriorating outer leaves near the base. Leave younger center leaves intact.
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Shelter from harsh conditions accelerating decline of the fading mother plant.
While we can’t prevent the inevitable end, attentive care helps maximize the agave’s final glory.
Key Takeaways
To summarize, here are the key points if your treasured agave starts blooming:
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Appreciate the fleeting beauty of its towering flower spike before it fades.
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Know the mother plant is fated to die after this final flowering phase.
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Propagate new starts from basal pups before the parent dies off.
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Collect any aerial bulbils on the spike to grow more new agaves.
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Care for the fading original while propagating its replacements.
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Transplant and nurture agave offspring in proper conditions to continue the lifecycle.
Though saying farewell to a beloved mature agave is bittersweet, we can find solace in planting its next generation. With proper propagation, the agave’s unique legacy can live on for years to come.
What Happens When an Agave Blooms?
Agave plants take a long time to bloom, so don’t worry—you won’t have to part with them immediately after planting. Some varieties take eight years to flower, and some take eighty years; this is why they’ve earned the nickname “Century Plant”—they have a pretty impressive life span!
Agave flowers are full of sugary sweet nectar, commonly used as a vegan substitute for honey. A large, spike-like stem will emerge from the center of the plant—some varieties grow flowers all over the stalk, while others have flowers that appear at the ends of “branches” that sprout from the sides of the stem. The blooming period generally lasts about 3–4 months. The individual flowers on the stalk will last for about a month, after which they’ll begin to fade and wilt towards the ground.
You’ll be shocked by how quickly your flower stalk grows—some can reach as high as 35 feet tall! It’s no surprise that your plant uses all its remaining stored energy during this final growth stage. Generating all those flowers and baby plants takes up a lot of energy, and your plant won’t be able to continue once its bloom time is over.
Removing the flower stalk early in its development won’t stop the agave plant from completing the first cycle of its life. Flowering is the sign that your plant is reaching the end, but allowing it to flower will help encourage a new generation of agaves to form!
Restarting the Agave Life Cycle
Agave will reproduce in one of two ways. The first way is by producing “pups” similar to a bromeliad or many other succulents. Do not immediately cut off or remove the pups that might be forming around the base, or remove the drying main mother plant too quickly. These pups need a little more time to keep growing before they detach from the parent and live a new life on their own.
Another way that many agaves will reproduce is by producing little baby plants called “bulbils” along the stalk where their flowers once grew. These bulbils are easy to plant, so there’s no need to fret when your mother plant is dying—you’ve got plenty of new plants to take her place! In nature, the flower stalk would eventually fall over on its own, landing a few feet from mama. In the wild, the bulbils would root into the soil at that point. However, gardeners can simply twist off the bulbils from the fallen stem and replant them in their preferred location. No need to use shears—just a simple twist should do it.
An agave usually uses only one of these two processes to replicate itself after flowering, either through pups at the base or bulbils along the flower stalk. There are a few varieties that reproduce both ways, but in most cases, the pup types don’t have bulbils, while the bulbil types don’t grow pups. Watching your plant and then re-starting a new generation is a lot of fun.
Did you know that agave plants can actually die after flowering?
FAQ
What to do with agave after it blooms?
The agave dies after it blooms because it has dedicated all of its energy to producing the blooms, and then the seeds. Yes, after it is thoroughly dead, you will want to dig it up and dispose of it.
How many times can an agave flower?
Agaves are often called “century plants” because they bloom only once in their lifetime. A native of the southwestern United States and Mexico, the Blue Agave has evolved to survive in barren, low-water environments.
What is the lifespan of an agave plant?
The common name “century plant” stems from its monocarpic nature of flowering only once at the end of its long life. After flowering, the plant dies but produces adventitious shoots from the base, allowing its growth to continue. Although it is called the century plant, it typically lives only 10 to 30 years.
Does a cactus die after it blooms?
What happens if you remove a bloom stalk from an agave plant?
As a matter of fact, the agave plant starts to produce a bloom stalk as a mark that its life is about to end. Without the bloom stalk, there will be no flower, and this means that there will be no seeds to produce a new plant. In other words, whether you remove the bloom stalk or not, your agave plant will eventually die.
Do agaves die after flowering?
Rebirth – But the agave lives on by producing offsets or “pups” from its base before dying, or bulbils along the flower stalk which drop and propagate into new plants. So while agaves are monocarpic and do perish after flowering, they ingeniously produce offspring beforehand, continuing their legacy. Why Does Flowering Deplete Agaves?
Can agave plant survive a long time?
However, this won’t keep your agave plant alive forever. As a matter of fact, the agave plant starts to produce a bloom stalk as a mark that its life is about to end. Without the bloom stalk, there will be no flower, and this means that there will be no seeds to produce a new plant.
What happens if agave flowers are cut off early?
It takes a lot of energy to make all those flowers and baby plants, and your plant won’t be able to keep going after bloom time is over. The agave plant will still be able to finish the first cycle of its life even if the flower stalk is cut off early.
How often do agave plants bloom?
Most plants bloom every spring, but the situation is different in the case of the genus agave where plants bloom only once. The blooming time of your agave plant depends on its variety. Some types of Agaves, like Agave Americana, take decades to bloom once, while others can bloom after 6 years or so.
What happens when agave blooms?
The flower grows to provide the sweet nectar of the agave and also houses the seeds, which can be used to grow clones of the older plant. When Agave blooms, it suddenly grows these colorful flowers, but it is always bitter-sweet. Plants begin to die.