Blue Agave: How to plant, grow and care for agave plants

Blue agave is known for its role in making a popular distilled spirit, tequila, the Agave is a plant favored for its economic value in Mexico, the state origin of Jalisco Distillery Company.

More than 300 species are described to be member of agave family, however, only 200 are given recognition.

Although native to Jalisco, Mexico, the blue agave is taught by archaeologists to be cultivated by the Aztecs, whom were among the ancient enthusiasts of beer and wines more than 9,000 years ago.

Depending on the purpose of cultivation, agave tequilana, the plant’s original name, can be cultured differently.Most growers propagate the agave either as a commercial plant or wild agave.

When about 5 years old, the wild agaves spring from shoots, and eventually develops into a stem of up to 5 meters, and topped with yellow flowers.

Native bats are responsible for pollinating agave’s flowers, during which, thousands of seeds are produced per plant.

The plant naturally dies, and shoots are taken out from commercial plants, at about one year old. Its purpose is to allow the plant’s heart to grow larger before it is reproduced by planting the shoots.

Recently, the demand for agave soared. Seeing this as a lucrative opportunity, many growers cultivate agave tequila.

But much to Mexican government’s disappointment, most of agave plants are rejected on poor breeding practices, which render the plants weak in resisting fusarium fungus and other diseases.

CLIMATE: Grows best in semi-dry climate with a varying temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, or in areas close to a meter of precipitation. The altitude should be 1500 meters above sea level.

SOIL: to produce an agave tequila plant ideal for fermentation, the soil should be in favorable condition. It must have volcanic loamy mixture combined with excellent drainage and sufficient nutrients such as basalt and iron.

SUN: For every year, the agave plants require 100 days of sunshine. Each day, they need 6 hours of adequate supply of sunshine.

SPACING: enough spaces should be allotted in between the agaves as each plant grows with long sword-like leaves from the center to outward direction.

If they are cultivated as a hobby, avoid planting them in areas where children can easily play on them or in spots where people often tread. Blue agave produces thorns that have the potential for causing injury.

PLANTING: the planting of agave tequila must be done before the rainy season to ensure proper amount of moisture, thereby, establishing strong root system.

WATERING: The agave requires little water, although it appreciates regular watering. What it needs are fertilization, weeding, growth control and disease prevention.

Besides distillery, Blue agave is also used for other purposes such as making honey, sugar, nails and needles, and even roofing materials.

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