@@mojave_lv I have several forms in my cultivation. there are still young plants. Some of my sowing. I have all of them planted in the ground. It winters under cover. -20C I think Agave utahensis var. eborispina is the rarest in cultivation? at least in Poland, I rarely saw it in the Czech Republic.
Keep fighting the good fight, I like your energy and presentation. We had a similar issue out here with people collecting Yermo xanthocephalus or running them over with 4x4s. Conservation is thankless work but I live for the feeling of knowing that I'm saving a small part of something, even if it's imperceptibly small on the global scale. Subscribed!
Great vid. I think 5-10 acre of greenhouses dedicated to utahensis could probs produce around 100k utahensis every month if it was running full steam by a competent farm team. You could grow 100k on 1 acre but other acres for storage while sales. in my opinion today, the best way to save it is to outproduce all it's threats. I'm not gunna do that but if I had the $ I'd do that lol
There's a grower here in europe that stocks seedlings of all four types of Agave utahensis for quite a good price. There's others that have at least one. I would have imagined that they are way more prolific in the US. I also suspect that you can get very close to a wild specimen with that species in cultivation, rendering poaching even more pointless not that it could be justified in any case.
@Tony.795 there are a few dozen growers here who have seeds of all the types in the west coast of usa but we don't all talk to each other and most grow for hobby not profit. problem is the hobby growers probs the only ones who have the seeds for a commercial grower to scale an operation. yes that's actually what would be my goal. golden barrel is produced by millions today from seed. has made poaching it practically worthless and wild populations are recovering from almost becoming extinct.
A cautionary note- ultraviolet (UV) light is the primary cause of skin cancer in humans. It can also damage eyes. So keep that UV light on your plants, and away from yourself. Most lights are designed not to produce much infrared light (IR) , because it creates heat. Restaurants use IR lights to keep food warm. So keep the temperature in mind.
That's a good reminder about UV light. Sunscreen for humans, cuticle wax for plants. Although someone should check on the hippies and their black light posters! And yes, esp most modern led lights designed for human lights, most are designed to emit little, if any IR light (less heat makes them last longer). Full spectrum plants lights should.
I actually noticed how some of my agave are very blue and some have white powdery stripes on them. I have one small Utahensis Nevadaensis but since it’s still small, I’m scared of exposing it to full sun. I live in Bakersfield and temps are over 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
@@mojave_lv full sun for a couple of hours. I’m not sure how long or how much because my house blocks some but at some point the sun makes its way over to the other side. I do mist them like 3xs a day, in small increments. The agave that look to be too stressed get moved to a more shaded area.
I was born in chihuahua. One of my earliest memories was of eating a roasted agave leaf from a raramuri woman selling it by the railroad tracks in town. It’s like a brown sugar taste, smokey, consistency of like roasted pumpkin with fibers. I’ve thought about roasting one one day myself.
Plant nerds like you are my favorite kind of people Thanks for this video!! Every year that I can I go into the mountains to see the succulents in bloom here on the PNW. I also go on hunts for ancient trees regularly. I wish this was the norm not the outlier :/
Good video. This is an important topic for agave lovers because a lot of people are terrified of feeding their desert plants. At the outset, I have a bit of a Japanese approach. I use Magamp K with a dash of Osmocote Plus every time I repot. If it's in the pot for more than 6 months, which it usually is, I start using Organics Alive's soluble nutrients. They have very targeted organic NPK powders you can use to dial in your fertilizer requirements very accurately and easily. For mycorrhizae I use Rootwise Soil Dynamics Mycrobe Complete that I get from Build-A-Soil. It's the BEST mycorrhizae inoculant on the market. Period. I used to use Great White until Rootwise Mycrobe Complete hit the market. The world record largest pumpkin was grown using Mycrobe Complete. The pumpkin was 2,749 pounds. To me Great White is a bit too big batch for me, and there's a LOT of fake Great White products on the market that you may not even know you've been using. If you still prefer to use it, buy it directly from the source to avoid getting scammed. When I'm making fresh soil for agave, and all my desert plants, I use Kelp4Less's granular mycorrhizae inoculant. It's just a quick and easy inoculant right there in the soil in the form of a granulated rock at roughly 3-5mm. I'm assuming they coat the outside of it with both endo and ecto mycorrhizae. I haven't been using it long so I can't make any claims, but many people love it.
I dont have means of weighing accurately to work out when to water, my plants are in all sorts of sizes and shapes of plants and I permanently agonise about when the plant has dried out sufficiently to water again as I want to maximise growth during our short summers. I bought a cheap moisture meter but dont trust it. Is there any other way to decide when the soil is dried out enough. I am just guesstimating based on time elapsed, weather and weight of pot, but the weather varies so much from day to day in the Uk where I live it is challenging!
I'd still absolutely recommend a scale and measuring! An inexpensive kitchen scale can be had for about the same price as that moisture meter. Especially if your weather and pot shape and sizes are variable, you'll probably want to weigh for a few weeks in each season to get an overall pattern.
Great info! Can they be hard grown from seed or as transplanted young plants outside, resulting in the tight upright formation? I’m trying to grow a mostly native garden and I’d love to cultivate some ethically but I love their natural growth formation. So is it just a matter of starting them young outside and recreating their natural growing conditions? I live in S. Nevada btw so I assume that shouldn’t be difficult.
In my experience, here in Southern Nevada, most of us live at far lower elevations than utahensis naturally grows. So young plants are melted by the summer (May through like September) sun and heat in a matter of hours.
@@mojave_lv Ahh, valid point. So growing in a controlled environment would be the best bet until hardy enough for the outside heat. I wonder how they would react to partial shade. My knowledge of most succulents and cacti is pretty basic compared to that of our other native plants 😅.
For me, even in partial shade (3-4 hours of sun a day) they melt in a single day during the summer. I've had to use 50% shade cloth even in partial shade areas.
I had never even considered plants could be poached before watching this video. If an endangered cactus lives in your yard would it still be considered poaching to take cuttings?
I think you own that cactus if it lives in your yard. Its not shoplifting if its in your fridge ;))! If you manage to multiply the endangered plant then I see that as a win for you and the species
It actually depends on the state. I believe that native cactus are protected even on private land here in Nevada. I've never heard of anyone prosecuted for digging up a cactus on their own land tho, I think it's mainly aimed at large scale land owners and requiring them to get permits before they dig a bunch of native cactuses. And of course, I'm not a lawyer.
I agree, it depends on your climate. I live in the 5th rainiest state in the country: Georgia. During the spring and summer every single day it sits at about 60% humidity here or higher depending on what mother nature throws my way. For cactus I use 100% inorganic. For agave I add no more than 10% organic material in the form of compost or worm castings. My mix is primarily pumice and lava rock, a lava sand called kiryu, followed by zeolite, akadama, a dash of kanuma, and oyster shell or if I have it on hand, limestone. I'm a bonsai tree enthusiast so I tend to have Japanese soils around anyway which is why I use kiryu, akadama, kanuma, hyuga pumice and black fuji rock. Like someone else said in the comments, if it's agave, I'll add a bit of Magamp K and a small amount of Osmocote Plus upon planting. If it's cactus I'll add the tiniest bit of Magamp K upon planting. One thing you didn't mention that is also the purpose of porous rock like lava, pumice, and perlite is the aeration factor. Roots and plants grow faster when the roots can breathe. Fine feeder roots explode with growth when proper aeration is in your potting vessel. Adding limestone or decomposed granite (or any other solid rock) is ideal for drainage, but what makes porous rock so perfect in soil is not only does it drain well, it leaves space for air within the rock itself allowing your roots to breathe.
I failed to mention that the above is my outdoor mix for agave. Indoors where the humidity is around 30-35% I use a bit more compost or worm castings and a lot more akadama for water retention. I really don't want to water my indoor agave every other day so adding more organic material and/or akadama makes it so that I only have to water once or twice a week.
Thank you for a very informative, helpful video. There is no actual correct answer to potting media or soil mix, and many people do not mention that. The soil mix should always be considered by the growing environment as you said! It is difficult to obtain any crushed limestone in my area, and the fact that it is not necessary makes me at ease :) I use cactus soil mix, seramis, akadama, etc for my agaves. I usually go 20% or less on organic materials. It's great that it dries out fast, but is downside frequent watering. I add MagAmp K, osmocot when repotting and frequently give synthetic fertilizer when watering. The growth definitely feels different when you fertilize agaves, none of my agaves are 'hard-grown' and are doing perfectly fine with forms.
That mix sounds awesome. And yeah, I think the whole "hard grown" thing comes primarily from cactus folks, and even so I've never been 100% convinced on it.
From Japan. Thank you for the insightful video. I came across your video while researching the situation of poaching after I recently saw a large number of eborispina (over 200 /mo) suddenly appeared on Yahoo auction in JP. I thought your explanation of the temporary rescue of the population in connection with land development and the conversion of collected individuals into small cash to fund rescue activities was consistent with the current situation where large numbers of wild eborispina are currently being traded at relatively low prices in the auction. No offense, but on the other hand, your video did not seem to provide any evidence that such rescue activities really exist, and did not explain the content of "land development" and how these developments are unrelated to the incentives provided by the collection of eborispina. (Although I understand there are things you can't disclose to everybody to protect the trust between the people you are involved with). I’m just saying, but It’ll be very helpful If you could provide further in depth information as above in the comments or future video. Thank you for giving us the information about a difficult and sensitive issue.
Thank you for your comment! It's definitely a complex issue and I'm only one voice in it. First, I think it's important to note that many sellers are selling plants labeled as eborispina, that are absolutely not eborispina. My most recent video explains this in more detail. The vast majority of plants I see listed on Japanese Yahoo auctions as eborispina are not, they're nevadaensis. Secondly, it's also important to understand that in many places (including where rescue operations are happening) utahensis is the most common plant found. There are fields with thousands and thousands of plants. I think there is a misconception that utahensis is a rare plant, I think it's much more correct to think of it as a fairly common plant, in a fairly small habitat. If you ever visit Las Vegas, send me a message, I'd love to take you to some habitats where you can see that 200+ plants an month is hardly a dent in the over all population, and thus entirely reasonably attributed to legal rescue operations. And thirdly, you're absolutely correct that I was pretty vague in my descriptions of where these plants are being rescued from and by whom. Here in the US, there have been several notable examples of rescue operations that have been the target of well meaning but misguided public outrage campaigns. The folks involved in saving these plants don't want to be the target of these kinds of online mobs, and I don't blame them. And the primary folks selling them into the Japanese market are lying about them being eborispina, so I do not wish to give them any added publicity. Again, it's a complex issue and I'm just one voice, and I'm not perfect. I absolutely appreciate your concerns and am thankful that you're thinking about the ethics of these plants. Feel fee to reach out to me via private message here or on Instagram (@mojave.lv) and I can try to fill you in with a bit more detail that I'm reluctant to do publicly.
Thanks for another insightful comment. It was very helpful. Knowing the history of Japan being notorious for the importing&distributing exotic animals, I was also concerned about the distribution of utahensis. After watching your other video, I understand that it is very likely that the individual recognized as "eborispina" in Japan is nevadensis. Perhaps the sellers think that there is more demand to sell it as eborispina since the iconic utahensis individual in Japan called "Kagerow" is eborispina. It is a bit of a relief to know that the utahensis populations (subspecies or subspecies variants) are not seem to be on the verge of extinction and being drastically decreased artificially. (I understand this isn’t truly scientific conversation and I don't mean to justify the collection of wildlife.) Thank you also for the offering of private message. I think I’d like to know the details and ask you some more questions. Also, I look forward to more videos from you!
I grow an Agave utahensis pup which was from a green, long-spined eborispina. It have been growing from the size of 3cm in length and 5mm in width in estimate. It grew on same condition indoors under growlight for an year, and it's developing more wax and wavy spine probably due to strong UV and light condition. I believe plants are mostly specified by its flower in academics, but agaves may be an exception due to their ability to hybridization and its monocarpic nature(slow growth and flowering also). Similar issues tend to appear in Agave oteroi vs Agave titanota. Plant sellers and markets also just name them or specify them by their own names for marketing purposes and will cause more problems for consumers and marketplace itself in my belief. Thank you for the video to raise aware for the enthusiasts.
Utahensis, nevadensis, and eborispina all have variable flower structures, spicate, racemose, or panniculate. What would you say the terminal spine to leaf lenght ratio is on your eborispina?
@@mojave_lv The specimen's spine to leaf length is 1 to 3+. It's still a compact, growing specimen so the spine might be still developing. I could send you the picture of the specimen via email or DM if you'd like to have a look. I also have the picture of the mother plant which the pup was from. Thank you for the reply, new things learnt about the utahensis flower structures.
Always appreciate your footage of fields and videos sharing your experience and knowledge. I've been growing Agave utahensis indoors with growlight LEDs, watering them regularly as you mentioned. I definitely agree on that regular watering does not affect the form at all, mine are doing perfectly fine. It would be great if you could share your thoughts on the soil mix as habitats of Agave utahensis vary. And the condition of the habitat(minerals, trace elements etc) probably affects the most on their forms and variations (ex. limestone, sandstone). All my agaves including utahensis are doing fine in various soil mixes, but I was curious about others' opinions and thoughts. Thank you for the vid!
Check out msf sugar, a company in australia that is Using agave To produce energy in their powerplant. They mention it's much more efficient than corn and sugar from sugar cane inside the powerplant.
got distracted on Tissue culture Question, but it has a huge ability to save rare agave and cacti at various risks of extinction. but to further genetics seed is the most natural way. so I think TC is great but it's cant be the majority or whole industry on you risk loosing genetics. im sure it will proliferate though bc americans look for efficiencies, but will likely be in house by large farms one day, don't think small or medium sized farmers benefit from it as much bc TC plants are more expensive then growing your own seed if buying from 3rd party.
Personally, I'm a big fan of genetic diversity. Industrial scale TC produces mono cultures for home depot type markets. I think these awesome agave species (and agave nerds!) deserve better.
It sounds find on mine I checked on both my computers just to be sure--one has 7.1 sound and the other has a standard stereo out with very very old JBL "computer speakers" Check your youtube settings and see if Audio normalization is on/off and switch it. You can also adjust your mixer levels in your OS but those could be hard to find depending on what your running--My 7.1 system has a separate software mixer from windows because windows audio is pretty trash. Could be time to get new speakers...
In my opinion wild collected plants should not be made available for sale even if they were rescued. This just confuses the consumers who want to buy legally grown plants. If those rescuers are doing what they do altruistically they should move those plants to a place where they can continue to grow as a wild specimen. I realize that may be easier said than done. We'll never be able to tell the poachers apart from the rescuers so why try? People who really care about the species will grow them from seed, as you are doing and they will rescue the ones who need it without trying to make a buck. Poachers are going to poach and people who don't care will buy from poachers. We just need to make the process difficult and clear cut.
I don't think there is currently widescale utahensis poaching happening that we need to combat. There is a very real threat to plants from mining and housing developments, and without the profit incentive, these rescue operations wouldn't be able to pay for the various certifications (like safety protocols for working in mining areas), or pay the employees who are actually transporting and caring for these plants. They do care about the plants, but they simply can't operate for weeks and weeks rescuing plants and then for months or years caring for plants for free. And if they can't sell them, where would they go? These are huge number of plants we're talking about. I worry that many (not folks like yourself, who clearly are actually concerned about the plants) folks in the plant trade, are using a somewhat exaggerated fear of poaching to create regulations that protect their businesses. Regulations like that would ensure that the public could only legally buy tissue cultured, cultigen, selections and hybrids produced by large scale companies (like the ones that supply home depot).
@@mojave_lv Well you certainly know better than me. I did not realize there were organized initiatives to rescue these plants. I have paid some attention to the plant poaching issue and assumed this was another plant under this threat. Could there be some kind of certification for rescuers so buyers know they are legit? I wonder. Thanks anyway for highlighting this issue!
Agave pits are all over far west Texas and southern New Mexico! The Mescalero Apache tribe periodically roast agave in the Guadalupe mountains of Texas and New Mexico as a ceremony to bless the mountains.
Can you (legally) take a small cutting and grow a clone, which wouldn't kill the wild plant? I see nothing wrong with that as long as the mother plant isn't significantly harmed. But the law might disagree. Same goes for taking seeds. Interesting plant. Maybe one way to make taking seeds or clones ethical would be to rewild enough cultivated plants to offset what you took. Most seeds in the wild won't be viable, but in cultivation you can get very high germination rates. So returning some to the wild seems like a balanced trade.
I'm not a lawyer, and this isn't legal advice, but to my knowledge, no, without proper permitting, at least in this state (and I suspect other states as well) even taking cuttings isn't legal. You're right though, that the ethics of the matter may differ from the law here.
@mojave_lv with this plant since it flowers only once does that mean it only goes to seed once in a lifetime also? How long does it take to start from seed? You are probably right on the legality. I suspect that the law might go easier on you if you are showing consideration and care when it comes to the mother plant. Just because something is legal doesn't necessarily make it ethical, and inversely just because something is illegal doesn't necessarily make it unethical (legality aside). Regardless I have no interest in getting into legal troubles over a hobby.
Correct, most agaves only seed once and then die. I sell seed grown utahensis on my website, they're very slow growing. Most of the plants I sell are around a year old.
