Rotting agaves don't hurt so good

When John Mellencamp wrote his song "Hurts So Good," he definitely wasn't thinking of two of his favorite agaves rotting away. That, my friends, does not hurt so good. In fact, it hurts quite bad.

Both agaves are next to each other in the same bed along the driveway. And a third one in the same bed is showing signs of rot, too.

Let's take a look. Be sure to grab a Kleenex.

Agave #1 is a beautiful specimen of Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue'. It's nowhere near its adult size yet, but it has such a great presence.

Look closer.

It's impossible to miss.

It hurts, doesn't it?

It's even worse up close.

Much worse.

Doesn't look like there's much hope.

But I'm not ready to give up yet.

Here's agave #2, Agave parrasana. Not as bad. I don't think the rot has progressed into the center yet.

Agave #3 is the worst. It's my beloved Agave 'Snow Glow', a variegated sport of 'Blue Glow'. This specimen was the first 'Snow Glow' I got, and it's the biggest of the three I now have.

I could post more photos, but what's the point?

The million dollar question, of course, is this: What the heck happened?

My poor excuse for an answer: I don't know.

I honestly have no idea. As I mentioned, these three agaves are in the same bed. They seemed fine a few weeks ago, then a few days later they looked like this. Oddly enough, no other agave in any other area of my garden shows any damage. And this bed along the driveway is actually not as exposed to the elements as some others.

The only explanation I can come up is that the abrupt change from unseasonably warm weather in January and early February to temperatures below normal (hovering in the low 30s at night for several weeks) messed up these three agaves. On the other hand, Agave ovatifolia is hardy into the teens, if not below, and the other two can easily take temperatures in the mid-20s (it never got that cold). And the remaining agaves elsewhere in the garden would be affected too.

Does anybody have any idea what might have caused this?

As soon as I detected the damage, I sprayed these three agaves with Daconil (chlorothalonil), a fungicide I had on hand. Whether that helped or not remains to be seen. 

I'm fairly certain 'Snow Glow' is a goner. But Agava parrasana should pull through. And perhaps Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue' will, too.

I'm not giving up hope yet, but I'm making contingency plans....

UPDATE, Thursday, March 8, 2018

This morning I removed the leaves from Agave 'Moon Glow'. They came off easily—every single one. What's left isn't pretty:

Bad news: This plant ain't coming back.

Semi-good news: Even though I saw a couple of black beetles scampering away, they weren't agave snout weevils—no anteater-like proboscis. And no sign of snout weevil larvae. But there were all kinds of critters feasting on the rotten plant tissue.

Good news: I found one pup under the rotten leaves. It had several roots of its own (always good!).

Bad news: I stepped on the pup and partially squished it. I potted it up anyway, hoping it will pull through. Agaves are tough.

Agave 'Moon Glow' pup found under the rotten leaves. I potted it in pure pumice and stabilized it with gravel.

For now, I will leave the core in the ground in hopes another pup might appear. Not likely, but you never know.

As for Agave ovatifolia 'Frosty Blue', the damaged leaves are still firmly attached. I'm hoping it will pull through. I will continue to spray it with fungicide.

Going forward, I need to treat the soil in this bed. I will first start with something "natural" like Root Cleaner. If at all possible, I want to stay away from the large-scale application of chemicals potentially harmful to beneficial insects.