Thursday, March 3, 2016

I love you Corona! (or how procrastinating paid off)

You've heard me complain — this winter has been wet, very wet. We've broken all sorts of records for precipitation. Skies like this one (on February 2nd to be exact) with that beautiful shade of blue, have been rare.

When I decided to plant an Agave ovatifolia in this large container I knew it wouldn't be going anywhere over the winter (too heavy), so I built a little cover for it out of PVC and an old shower curtain (that story here). Last winter was such the cover came off frequently, this wet winter however, has meant it's stayed on, a lot. Too much...

We have a problem.

Yuck, and on an inner leaf too...

How to get in there and cut it out without creating an even larger problem by damaging the leaves around it?

Well I did like any smart lazy person would do and put that off for another day...

Wednesday February 24th was that day. It had gotten a lot worse over those three weeks.

My usual tool for cutting off rotting Agave arms is a serrated steak knife, it works like a charm. However there was no way to get in there and cut without doing damage to the other leaves. I tried a couple of my other snips and pruners but none were up for the job.

Then I got an idea! What about those odd curved grape snips Corona put in the swag-bag I received at the NWFG Show tweet-up?

I remembered looking at them and thinking they were strange, what with their long curved blades and small body.

But there couldn't have been a better tool for the job.

They fit in there perfect, the curve echoed the natural shape of the agave, and they were so sharp that cutting was effortless.

No other leaves damaged in the process!

The finished job. I had this same thing (a rotting inner leaf) happen on an Agave victoriae a few years back. It was easy to get to though and once I cut out the offending appendage the wound dried up and the plant is still alive and looking great.

Gross right?

Look what the "skin" is doing, it's like thin vellum...

The surgery was followed by two dry days, now the rain has returned and the cover is back on. Fingers crossed everything will be okay. Oh..and tomorrow we'll look at how the rest of my garden is doing post-winter...(ya, it's meteorological spring and that's good enough for me...). Meanwhile, thank you Coronal Tools! (and the moral of this story...if you wait long enough to do an unpleasant task the right tool just might fall into your hands!)

All material © 2009-2016 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

21 comments:

  1. Wow, you did a fantastic job. I've never even seen a pruner like that. I may have to add it to my tool kit.

    BTW, this is a mighty fine looking ovatifolia.

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    1. Thanks, and I think you should...they're pretty inexpensive!

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  2. I hope your whale's tongue Agave heals up just right. I need to repot a very toothy Agave but I fear it's going to entail breaking the ceramic pot it's in. What a cool tool they gave you. Yet another reason for me to be bummed that I missed it.

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    1. Sorry Alison, but you can buy a pair pretty cheaply. Do you guys have Orchard Hardware up there? I find they carry a big line of the Corona tools.

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  3. A perfect use for those snips! Wishing A. ovatifolia a speedy recovery!

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  4. Another takeaway moral: never throw anything away just because you can't immediately see its usefulness (do I sound like a hoarder to you?)

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  5. This happened to my A. ovatifolia this winter, too. It's been fine for five years, but the winter wet seemed to finally get to it this year. I lost half the leaves off a 30" wide plant. Now it is only a 16" wide plant. Fortunately the crown is still solid. Let's hope for some dry days!

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    1. Yikes, that's a lot of damage, sorry. Yes...dry days!!! We deserve them dammit.

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  6. Poor ovatifolia! I wish it well. Hands down my favorite species. I killed three with my hubris one year.....lesson learned.

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    1. Lesson learned and you'll try again OR that's it you're done?

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    2. Lesson learned that there's no way A. ovatifolia can shake off my winters!

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  7. I didn't even realize those snips were curved! I gave them a cursory glance and then dismissed them. Guess I should pay more attention! This winter may have set records for precipitation, but I feel like it was more concentrated. On the whole, I feel this winter has been sunnier than most I remember. But I wasn't around last winter.

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    1. Wow, how different our feelings about this winter have been. Speaking as someone who walks a dog 3 x a day I feel like it's been grayer and wetter than any in years.

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  8. Your title = Words I live by on a daily basis! Good luck with the Whales Tongue! Wishing you could send some of that wet weather East.

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    1. I do too, south, east, any direction just outta here!

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  9. I hope your agave recovers quickly! And it is always nice when the right tool appears...

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    1. I was out checking on it yesterday (sunny afternoon!) and it's looking pretty good already (still crossing fingers).

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  10. I got a little pair of Corona snips in my swag bag. Very sharp and perfect for clipping the spent hellebore leaves. Those curved blades look pretty cool, though!

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    1. We didn't get the same snips? Wow...I guess I'm doubly lucky that I grabbed the back I did!

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