Agave or pita card

• Common name: Pita, Pitera or Agave
• Scientific name: Agave Americana
• Family: Agavaceae ( Agavaceae
• Origin: Mexico
• Light: Lots of natural light and sunshine
• Location: Exterior and interior
• Temperature: 10-30 ºC
• Irrigation: 1 time every 10 days in summer and reduce to 1 time per month in winter
• Credit memo: Specific fertilizer for cacti

Description of agave or pita

Pita is a succulent plant It is usually grown outdoors, where it reaches 2 meters, but it can also be grown in pots, in which case its size is much smaller.

Your sheets The long, large, hard and fleshy spines emerge from the ground forming a rosette. At the edges, they have sharp spikes about 2 cm long and, at the end, a thick, hard thorn. Like all agaves, it flowers only once in its life and dies after that flowering (monocarpism).

Light of the agave or pita

It is best placed in a very sunny spot, but it can also grow even if it is not in full sun.

Irrigation of agave or pita

If the plant is outside in the open air, it does not need watering. If it is in a pot, it will be necessary to give it away a little, always having plenty of water. watch out for waterlogging We cannot forget about drainage, as it is essential for this type of plants.

Flowering of agave or pita

The flowering of this plant is spectacular and only occurs once throughout its life because when the flower dies, the pita dies with it.

When the plant reaches maturity, a large stem is born, which grows to bloom in summer Despite this circumstance, the plant can live up to 40 years before flowering and dying and, during all this time, it produces a large number of offspring around it.

In addition, when the bush dies, from its roots emerge a lot of offshoots. We can extract these offshoots by cutting the stem that joins it with the central bush and thus we will obtain a new bush for the reproduction of the plant.

Tips for agave or pita

The juice of the leaves is irritating When handling the plant (especially when cutting or removing leaves) it is advisable to protect the skin of hands and arms by wearing gloves and long sleeves.

In addition, it is also important to protect yourself from the barbs on the leaves. To avoid problems, they can be cut carefully with a pruning shear.

Pita or agave varieties

There are different varieties with leaves in different shades: some have color in their leaves, others only with the perimeter of a color, others with dark green tones, others with a bluish color, others with contained or small size, etc.

Curiosities of the agave or pita plant

This plant should not be confused with aloe vera. Both plants have some similarities, but they are different.

Another of the curiosities of this plant is that your blade is made up of an infinite number of small fibers After harvesting, the strings, known as "cuerda de pita", are made.