There are three ways your average gardener can propagate an agave. It can be grown from seed, removed as a pup or sucker, or it can be done from pulling off bulbils (also called plantlets). Seed takes too long and in some cases you might not even end up with the same plant once grown up. Suckers are the easiest. Just wait until they have a nice root structure and remove them from the mother plant. Unfortunately, not all agaves like to make pups, so you are left with growing from seed or waiting for the plant to flower and make bulbils. What are bulbils? The definition is “a small bulblike structure, especially in the axil of a leaf or at the base of a stem, that may form a new plant.” This post is about agave propagation from bulbils. I figured it would be a good time to write this post as I currently have two non-suckering plants that have flowered and now have bulbils ready to propagate.
Back in February I wrote a post on Agave ‘Blue Glow.’ In that post I showed that one of my Agave ‘Blue Glow’ was in flower. Now, almost six months later, the flower is loaded with bulbils and it is time to pull a few off to propagate, which will eventually replace other aging Agave ‘Blue Glow’ in my garden. The propagation of Agave ‘Blue Glow’ bulbils is actually very easy compared to the plant I will write about later in this post. With Agave ‘Blue Glow’ it can be as easy as pulling them off and sticking them straight into the ground. However, I like to do my agave propagation a little more carefully so I get the plants rooted quickly and on their way to healthy growth.
First a refresher, here was the flower back in February.
Here are the clumps of bulbils now ready for removal.
The first step of bulbil removal is finding the best candidates. I prefer to find the stragglers rather than pull them out from a large clump like shown below.
What I look for are the bulbils with roots already developing. Having the beginning stages of roots like shown below makes a big difference in how fast the plant will root out in the pot and start growing for you.
So how do you remove the bulbil? You just twist it off. It really is that easy. I have seen a few people recommend clippers in some cases but I find that with a plant like Agave ‘Blue Glow’ you will only do more damage with the clippers than just twisting them off. Done cleanly, you end up with something like this shown below.
An example of what you do not want is damage to the base of the bulbil. This can come from yanking the bulbil off from a large clump or by being careless while removing with clippers. Severe damage to the base of the bulbil like shown below can lead to excess water loss and fungal rot, plus it makes it much harder or impossible to root.
I strongly believe that for most successful agave propagation, this is what you want. A clean break with some roots already forming.
The next step I take is to dry the wounds out for 48 hours. This will ensure the damaged parts are hardened off so you greatly decrease the chance of a fungal attack. You can see that after 48 hours the bases where they were removed from the flower have dried and are ready for planting.
The second plant that I wanted to show you agave propagation from bulbils is actually an intergeneric hybrid between Manfreda and Agave called Mangave ‘ Bloodspot.’ This is also an example of a much harder plant to propagate. The bulbils below look like they are developing just as you saw on the Agave ‘Blue Glow’ above.
But there is a difference on this plant. They do not come off cleanly as singles. They grow in clumps on Mangave ‘ Bloodspot.’
When you pull the small clump off, you will need to divide the larger ones off that clump. Ideally I would have left these on the plant a little longer but I wanted to use them for an example in this week’s blog post.
A comparison of how you want the bulbil to look on the right and what you do not want on the left. The plant on the right has a clean break and two roots forming. The plant on the left was broken off too far up the base of the bulbil.
The next step most people just skip, because the reality is agave propagation from bulbils isn’t rocket science. These bulbils below will most likely root if I just placed them directly into soil. However, I like to use a rooting hormone just as an added reassurance I will get the best results for these bulbils to make strong roots so the plantlets can grow quicker. Any rooting hormone will do. I just happened to have Root Boost handy from my Ti plant propagations I did last week.
To apply the rooting hormone I simply dip the base of the bulbil into water and then dip it into the rooting hormone. The water gets the powder to stick to the plant.
All done and ready for planting into soil.
I use small bands to root my bulbils. The soil I use is EB Stone Cactus Mix. It is a really fast-draining soil, perfect for agaves.
To help ensure my agave propagation is successful, I place all the plantlets in my greenhouse. The extra heat and humidity are appreciated by these plants while they root out.
That’s it. Now it is just a waiting game. If you follow this process you should have quick results and a high success rate. Hopefully I don’t jinx myself here, but I have yet to not root an agave from a bulbil following the steps in this post. I will update this post a few weeks down the road to show how much the bulbils have rooted into their bands.
UPDATE: November 12th, 2016
This update comes almost 3 months after I first propagated these agave bulbils. I ended up having a 100% success rate in rooting the bulbils and will now start to pot these up into 1 gallon containers. You can see below that my Agave ‘Blue Glow’ bulbils have grown very well and have developed a excellent root structure.
I wasn’t totally convinced I would get all my Mangave ‘ Bloodspot’ bulbils to root. They can be a little more challenging as I mentioned earlier in the post. However, I ended up with great results with this propagation as well. You can see these Mangave ‘ Bloodspot’ are well on their way and have an excellent root system developing.
Great Post. I recently damaged the roots of a small yucca plant I was moving and did not know how to care for it.
If I have already planted the yucca, should I uproot it to see if it’s rooting?
If the plant looks happy, leave it. If you start to see it declining in anyway, I would dig it to see what the issue is. Yuccas are tough plants, so as long as it was planted in good draining soil I doubt it will have any problems from the root damage.
What a helpful and timely post. I’ve had a couple of Bloodspot mangaves bloom before, but I never got bulbils. I wonder what determines whether they produce any.
Did you leave the flower on? It can take a while for them to start to develop. At the very least you should get some growing in the rosette. Maybe I have just been lucky all these years 🙂
I have two Bloodspots with spent bloom stalks right now. No sign of bulbils. I was going to cut the dried stalk off, but maybe I’ll wait a little longer.
Oh, if it is drying out you can cut it. It is gone. I asked around about this from your first comment and yes, it seems it is hit or miss on bulbils on these. I have been lucky I guess. Did you get any forming in the rosette itself? You should at least get a few there.
Congratulations and very interesting post. I wan to know how to grow root in my Agave Victoria reginae adult. Thaks a lot
Very hard to say with what little is written. The key thing is make sure the soil is very free-draining.
Mine is flowering now but the flower stalk looks distinctly different than your photo. Do you have a photo of the stalk in bloom? I’d like to compare.
No, sorry. I never took a photo of it when the flowers were open. That’s why yours looks different. I show mine as a spear and after flower.
How often do you water the baby bulbils? I have a ton of them (over 40) in small paper pots and the EB cactus soil mix right now. Been in the small pots for about a month and roots are growing.
In summer and after roots have been growing, twice a week. Never in winter as rain does the trick.
Hi,
Great informative post! My blue glow is flowering now and I will wait and see if it grows the bulbils. If I get them and pot them will the cold temp effect growth? Should they be brought inside at night? I’m in zone 9. Thank you!
Colder temps, slow root development. Inside best through a zone 9 winter I believe.
Excellent post, and I appreciated the Q and A. I have hundreds of bulbils on the 12′ flower stalk of an Octopus Agave (agave vilmoriniana). When I plant the new plantlets, how much do I water? And then, how often? I plan to keep them outdoors in the shade. This is in the hot Central Valley of California. Thanks.
Thanks! This is a great resource, I was scouring the internet trying to figure out what this plant even was (A neighbor has a dead stalk COVERED in bulbils hanging over a wall, no plant at the base). Didn’t know the flowering stalk of an agave could turn into that, but I’m excited to grow some and see what they start looking like!
Great post. I have a probably a 15′ stalk in full bloom and am collecting falling seeds now. Does anyone know how long the stalk will stand while waiting for bulbils? My ‘blue glow’ was right by the sidewalk and I’m afraid it will fall on someone before I get the bulbils I want. Also does anyone know how long it takes from flower falling to bulbils?
my agave blue shot up “overnight” to 4ft high, then to 14 feet in weeks, then flowered months later. The flowers eventually blew off over 6 months and then 6 months later bulbils appeared . . fascinating. It has also produced offsets around the base, and the main plant’s leaves have been browning off for months, yet the stalk if still alive and producing well . . I might propagate for fun and further curiosity as to what this “weed” might do. . . All this in Sydney, Australia. Agave varieties are common (also wild) throughout Australia, after being introduced many years ago as adornments. FYI
Great great site! 3 years back a client said I could help myself to a couple of her blue glow agave as she had over 35 and was selling her home. Really love the agaves. Both have started flowering and one is up to about 8′. I don’t understand what is going on with my plants as they have many little 12″ long suckers (don’t know what to call them) at the base of the flower stalk. I have looked closely at all your pictures but I don’t see anything like them? The “leaves” of my agave have the very distinctive orange and yellow around the leaves and the gal I got them from called them blue glow but might they be something different than yours? I would love to be able to send you a picture of the unknown growth but there doesn’t appera to be an option to do that with the site?
Thanks is advance for any insight.
Also on a different note, I live in a senior mobile home park i
carpinteria
California and in the park there are many agaves. It is quite surprising how many of the different varieties have gone to flower this year. Is that happening in other areas?
Hi Bart, email them to info @ marriedtoolants.com
Great information! My blue glow started to flower in October. Today, after it looked like it was finally dying out (no more flowers along the stalk) we removed the bloom and then removed the pups that we found among the leaves at the base of the plant. I wonder if that was the wrong thing to do? I assumed those were the pups that I would propagate. If we had waited longer to remove the stalk, would it have eventually produced the bulbil like in your photos? I appreciate any input you can give as another of our blue glows is starting to flower.
Yes, the bulbils would have formed after the flowers. It takes time.
I want to ask you a question – our agave blue flame has several suckers growing on its trunk directly. Can I pull them out & follow the same procedure you did? They don’t have roots (as they are attached to the trunk direclty). Thanks!
Yep, same.
My octopus agave (agave Vilmoriniana)) sent up a 15-foot stalk that bloomed for months. The seeds are now brown and have dropped from all but the top third of the stalk, but I haven’t see any leaves (bulbils) forming. I do see some green pod-like projections. The mother plant itself is beginning to decline.
Do you think bulbils might still form if I leave the stalk attached and in place?
Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
Sadly, I’m not familiar with this species to know the answer.
Thanks so much for this information. How much humidity do I give them each day? If I turn on the humidifier, is that a few minutes a day and is a heat mat appropriate?
I’ve never know about bulbils until now, thank you for a great post. Question: my bulbils are forming roots. Can I plant it right into the ground even though it’s almost winter. The location is zone 9-10. Some frost but not a lot.
If it has roots yes. But the bigger the plant the better chance of survival.
My 3 month old bulbis plantlets are starting to shoot up a flower stalk, should I cut it off
Love this info, thanks so much.
Awesome article, I lloved the pics. Thank you!
Hi, my friend just gave me some bulbils from her Agave Blue Glow and said that they are not true to parents so I was wondering if you have an updated picture of what the Blue Glow bulbils look like now?
Thank you!
Have 30ft of Octopus Agave bulbils, however alot. I am Christopher Ferrini at S. CA .I want to propagate some .
This is a brand new area of gardening for me and I have searched everywhere for an article such as the one you have written here – well done. I “acquire” plants here and there just for their looks, and some are agages. One in particular, which I now know as A. gypsophuilia ssp pablocarrilloi suddenly within a week had a huge bract shooting out from the top with at least one dozen large balls of what I think are called bulbils. When I pried down the bract to see what it was, some of these just came off in my hand, and as in your article, had rooted very well. I didnt know what to do with them, so put them in a saucer of water, and the little buggers are growing like crazy. However, mum is a curly wavy grey/ble leafed agave, and these babies appear to be fairly straight, but with a nice shading on the edges. Will they grow true to form like mum, or can I expect a variety of different looking plants? I am a complete novice. Thank you. Olga Graham (Queensland, Australia).
Yes, they will in time. Also, don’t be alarmed if some of the bigger bulbils flower. They do that.