americana agave

by cindy
(phx.az)

I live in az and my plant just fell ove rit was about 4 yrs old. I called the nursery and they said it probably had worms. I went to dig it up and the roots were rotted i just picked it up.It had white stuff around the babys roots. My husband saw some worms . I ended up ripping up my blue agave too, the babys had the same white stuff on the root. Isprayed triazicide around the whole yard. Im worried that whatever it is will kill my mesquite and lantanas and if ican replant anything soon. Please let me know if you have time thank you.


Doug says that they only time he sees these rot so uniformly is if they're overwatered. Worms usually invade after they start to rot.

However there is a weevil that does burrow into the root of the Agave. The adult is a black, about an inch long with a longish snout. The larva look like grubs rather than small worms. S

This usually happens in mid-summer rather than early or later in the year. At these times, you can think about watering issues.

Control would be by controlling the weevil (dusting around the base of the plants with the organic diatomaceous earth would take care of most of the problems.)

I also point out however that I'm not an expert on Southern gardening and dryland plants.