Agave “Blue Glow” is Flowering

[5150cycad]

My Agave Attenuata x  Agave Ocahui (blue glow) has started to flower. I recently cut about 3-4 rows of leaves off the bottom of the plant. I assume that cutting the leaves maybe shocked the plant enough to make it flower. If anyone was wondering why I removed the leaves, it was at the request of my daughter. She likes to catch frogs and lizards and was getting really upset because the frogs and lizards kept hiding underneath the Agave leaves. She could not get to them without having her hand look like a pin cushion so she demanded OFF with the leaves.  

There were a couple of things I was unsure about so if anyone has any information on the questions below, please let me know.

Does anyone know if it is common for these to flower at such a young age or was it flowering due to stress? 

Does the flower produce viable seed? 

Thank you very much. 

 

 

 

 

[JubaeaMan138]

I had a Victoria Reginae do the same thing this year super small I had recently cut a lot of leaves off can't remember why I normally don't cut any leaves off at all i usually wait till they are completely dead and pullmoff with a slight tug. A collector told me if you water your agaves heavily it will also cause them to flower not sure how true that is I keep all of mine heavily watered cause they look best when they have alot water . But all of the blue glows I have ever seen flowering are huge and old. Plus all the blue glows i've seen flowering produce pups so that's a good thing. I wonder if they produce bulbils like there parents itll be I nteresting to see if they do 

[Tracy]

I have to agree on the vigorous pupping when they flower.  I don't have any recent photos of the pups which have formed off the base, but this photo from last spring has one of my Agave blue glow with a tall inflorescence coming out.  It actually goes above the frame of the photo on the far right.  You can also see a bulbil on the inflorescence, several feet off the ground.  Most of mine bloomed between 5 and 7 year after coming out of a 5 gallon pot and never trimmed.

Slightly off topic Bryan, the agave's along the outside of my wall toward the front were Agave blue flame, which is a cross between Agave shawii and Agave attenuata.  They also form pups vigorously, but want to crawl forward as they get large rather than staying upright or in their place; bottom line they end up taking up a lot of space as they crawl forward, but also spread in other directions from the base of the original plant.  Blue glow is a better choice on that front, but the blue flame is one your daughter would appreciate more, as the leaves are more pliable to move out of the way when lizard and frog hunting! 

[Geoff]

I have not seen these produce seed, but have seen many produce a good number of bulbils.. however, mine flowered last year and not a seed or bulbil... the plant is still going strong, though and seems to be cranking out a ton of offsets from the middle of the plant (not sure these are going to survive long term)

 

Here are the flowering plants in the Los Angeles arboretum, many with bulbils.

 

[JubaeaMan138]

I have several agave blood spot that flower and produce the offsets from the center growing point around the flower stock. I have had great success rooting these if you wait till they are of good size I have around 50 of them right now that I rooted a couple months back

[5150cycad]

Thanks for all of the information everyone. I was surprised to see that this plant hasn’t produced any offsets. I am hoping it produces some bulbils so I can plant more in my garden. I really like this Agave.