RE: anyone grow macho mocha?

I find the ants may be farming scale, and give them a shot of soapy water,
and then they quit hanging around.

Richard T

-----Original Message-----
From: owner-medit-plants@ucdavis.edu
[o*@ucdavis.edu]On Behalf Of N Sterman
Sent: Friday, August 28, 2009 2:06 PM
To: medit plants forum
Cc: david feix
Subject: Re: anyone grow macho mocha?


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
>> Soup, Inc. TM    TalkingPoints@PlantSoup.Com
>>          PO Box 231034
>>  Encinitas,
>> CA 92023
>> The only book about drought
>> tolerant and Mediterranean climate gardening written
>> specifically for California
>> gardens: California Gardener's Guide vol
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>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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