Agaveville

So, I bought this agave online (A. americana ssp. protoamericana cv. "Blue Steel", according to the nursery) and it arrived in a pretty sorry state. The center looks ok, but all the other leaves are yellowed and shrivelling from the tip. It looks sun-scorched to me, but I'm quite baffled, how do you even scorch an americana? Those buggers are nigh-unkillable as far as I know.
I repotted it - it was shipped bare rooted - and after a few days I gave it a good drench. I tried to keep it mostly sheltered from full sun, just to be sure, however the damaged leaves are drying up. What should I do? Is there any way to speed up its recovery and prevent further damage?

All the leaves are lost, don't bother trying or hoping to salvage them. Core looks fine, and given the improved care it will receive now should produce a series of new leaves to restore the plant's looks. Patience.

Agreed. It's far from death. Give it a year it'll grow new roots, then leaves. Nothing comes quick with agaves.

Thanks for the replies! Let's hope it grows as fast as my other americanae once the warmer season begins!
It was quite a bummer to receive a plant in such a sorry state, it wasn't really cheap either, they sold it as a "selected specimen". Oh well, the risks of buying online I suppose

"Selected specimen"??? I would RIP the seller in review. That's disgraceful.

Yikes! I've sold more than one agave with some leaf burn, hey I live in Phoenix after all, but they certainly weren't marketed under the guise of "Selected Specimen".

It should recover quickly, as you soon as Spring hits anyway

So, after a few months of watching it get worse I unpotted it and found out that for some reason it was having trouble rooting. Some drastic root pruning and a couple more months of rest did the trick, now it's looking way better
Good thing these plants are so tough!

That looks drastically better

Glad to see it come around.

I have had similar happen a couple of times where all outer leaves, roots and all die, core is fine but 'trapped' inside the dead shell and will slowly dry out and die unless the dead part is removed for it to root again.

Luckily with agaves the time frame to remedy such situations is crazily long.

Only thing that will kill them quick is water

Congrats!

KLC wrote: ↑Mon Feb 15, 2021 11:19 pm Nothing comes quick with agaves.

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