Re: anyone grow macho mocha?
- Subject: Re: anyone grow macho mocha?
- From: N* S* <T*@plantsoup.com>
- Date: Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:05:59 -0700
I also find that ants love to burrow in the crotch of its leaves....
Nan
On Aug 22, 2009, at 11:22 AM, david feix wrote:
I've been growing this xMangave 'Macho Mocha' for several years now,
and find that it does like summer water for getting it plumped up to
maximum size. I first saw the plant in a botanical garden back in
North Carolina, and knew I had to start designing with this plant,
it was so cool looking, and much hardier than I would have thought
for being so soft leaved. As the cross or Agave species, whichever
it tends to be classified as, comes from areas in Mexico that would
get summer rains, I would suspect that it wants more irrigation
than most Agaves that have stiffer leaves, but will certainly
tolerate dry conditions but would tend to want to go into dormancy
rather than push new growth. I grow it in full sun in combination
with Graptopetalum paraguayense and Aloe reitzii, Aloe 'Johnson's
Hybrid' and Strelitzia juncea, and also in dappled sun with
Graptoveria 'Fred Ives', Sedum palmeri and bromeliads such as
Billbergia vittata hybrids, Aechmea caudata,
Alcantarea imperialis rubra and Ceratozamia mexicana. The soil
sloping and is loamy clay/sandstone and gets watered with drip
irrigation 2 to 3 times a week for 10 to 15 minutes at a stretch,
and the plants in both exposures have gotten almost 3 feet across in
2 years time.
The one drawback to this plant is that the leaves are so easily
damaged if brushed against with a hose or pets/kids, and also that
it is attractive to snails which can mar the foliage, and deer also
like to eat the flower buds when it comes into bloom. It looks
really exotic and makes a perfect specimen if it is planted where it
isn't subject to mechanical damage, but once it starts pupping it
can get very large in diameter, and the perfect symmetry of a single
plant gets lost when dozens of pups come up all around the base of
the plant.
--- On Fri, 8/21/09, N Sterman <TalkingPoints@plantsoup.com> wrote:
From: N Sterman <TalkingPoints@plantsoup.com>
Subject: anyone grow macho mocha?
To: "medit plants forum" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Date: Friday, August 21, 2009, 10:04 PM
Does anyone grow 'Macho
Mocha,' the mangave or agave (or whatever the
taxonomists have decided it is) that has a voluptuous agave
shape but lovely manfred spotted leaves?
I have several and I can't figure out how to
water them. They are in my low water garden but look
thirsty in the summer heat. I've done deep
watering a couple of times and I don't see that it makes
any difference. Funny thing is, the agaves and the
manfredas in the same area do fine. So how come the Macho
Mochas look so stressed? They were all planted at
about the same time....
Anyone got any suggestions?
Nan
*****************************************Nan
Sterman Plant
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