As an exotic species, the agave naturally depends on certain location and care conditions in order to thrive in Central Europe. In reality, certain damage to the agaves is often not caused by diseases and pests, but rather by certain care errors.
What diseases can occur in agaves?
Common agave diseases are usually due to care errors such as waterlogging. Pests such as the palm weevil, scale insects and mealybugs can also attack agaves. Prevention and control include special substrate, correct watering behavior and pesticides.
Distinguishing correct illnesses from care errors
Agaves have an enemy in this country that is not noticeable through feeding damage or certain discolorations: waterlogging. Since agaves are usually cultivated in pots anyway, a special substrate can be used as a first preventive measure. In addition, even in hot summer temperatures, agaves should only be watered when the top layer of soil around the plant already feels dry and crumbly. If individual leaves die after an initial yellowing, this is usually due to an oversupply of water. Sometimes plants whose plant he alth has already been compromised can be saved by quickly repotting them.
The impending danger of the palm weevil
Agaves are sometimes associated with cacti because of their appearance and location requirements, but tragically they have something more in common with palm trees: the threat of a pest for which no effective antidote has yet been found. The so-called palm weevil has been threatening not only a large number of palm trees on various coasts for around two decades. The larvae of this dreaded pest have already been discovered in the trunks of Agave americana. However, the density of palm trees and agaves in Central European private gardens is likely to be so thin that there has not yet been a threatening spread of this pest.
These pests also attack agave species
Certain types of pests occasionally also attack agaves and can cause serious damage, especially to plants that are not very he althy. So-called scale insects and mealybugs can sometimes cause problems and unpleasantly affect the appearance of agaves. With regular inspection, colonies of these lice are noticed relatively quickly and can therefore be easily combated:
- with special pesticides
- with biological means
- by washing the colonies with a sharp jet of water
Tip
In the vast majority of cases, it is not pests and truly infectious diseases that are responsible for damaged areas on the agaves, but rather care errors such as persistent wetness that leads to signs of rot.