Content
- Does the agave form a usable fruit in the garden?
- The relatively rare flowering of agaves
- These products are made from parts of certain agaves
- Beware of your own experiments with agaves
- Tips
Agaves form fruits with seed pods after flowering
Does the agave form a usable fruit in the garden?
In Mexico, the original home of many species of agave, agaves form the livelihood of many people. The actual way of using these extraordinary plants could be surprising for some hobby gardeners.
The relatively rare flowering of agaves
The name century plant has therefore been naturalized for certain agaves in earlier times, because some species of agave actually bloom only after a relatively long time. It sometimes takes several decades for the largest species of agave to open the flowers for fertilization at the upper end of an up to 12-meter-tall inflorescence. Ideally, three-chambered capsules with flat black seeds form inside them. Since the seeds are difficult to obtain due to the rare flowering, agaves are usually easily increased by the offshoot formation from the so-called Kindeln.
These products are made from parts of certain agaves
Based on the range in the supermarket, some gardeners might get the impression that agaves produce particularly sweet fruits. The so-called "agave syrup" is not made from the fruits, but from the stalk of certain agaves, which remains after cutting off the leaves. In addition to the well-known agave syrup, the following economically important products are also made from parts of the agave:
For the production of sisal, agave species such as the agave sisalana and the agave cantala are cultivated on special sisal plantations. The Blue Agave (Agave tequilana) is used as the raw material for the production of the spirit Tequila, which is also considered as a national drink of the Mexicans worldwide.
Beware of your own experiments with agaves
Some people confuse agaves due to the relatively similar appearance of the leaves with the aloe vera. From your own attempts to produce tequila or agave syrup from the agaves in the garden you should refrain without appropriate expertise, as certain species of agave can quite easily be poisonous.
Tips
As soon as your agave sets up an inflorescence in the garden, you can also ripen the fruits or seeds. Removing the inflorescence from dehydration does not prevent the notorious entry of the plants after flowering. You have better chances of surviving the mother plant even after the fruiting approach, if you separate existing Kindel and gently repot the plant.