Question
I have a large americana agave cactus in my front yard, that seems to be shriviling up at the stalk bases.  A few of the cactus leaves at the base have turned black and I have cut the off. The rest of the plant looks good with blue green color throughout.  I live in the southwest desert. This time of year the lawn gets watered 4-5 minutes a day on a sprinkler system.  There is a tree behind the cactus that has a water spicket on the sprinkler but I don't believe the cactus has a designated spicket.  The plant came with the house and I assume it is 15 years old.  It looked great all summer long and now I'm concerned.  Very large plant-around 5-6 ft high and same width.  The leaves appear to be loosing their firmness at base only.  Help can I save this plant??? Thanks for your time.

Answer
C,

Actually it sounds like your plant may have fell victim to the Agave beetle. Actually the beetle's larva eat their way up the roots to the "heart" of the plant and it eventually dies. This year has been especially bad for this problem (I lost a couple of Agaves this year to the beetle's larva). There is no real treatment for this, except to sprinkle "borer" pesticide around the base of the plant. This would have needed to be done months ago.

However, it could also be suffering from over watering. If you can, cut back the watering to once every 2 weeks or longer between watering. Watch it closely to see if your plant starts to improve. Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Greg