The big whit root? I was just td that on my agave perryi that it was where the pups form so you wanna keep it.

Yep, the big white thing is a pup. It's too young yet, IMO, to cut it off from the parent. I would clean off the old soil and pot it up into a bigger pot (about 2-3 inches bigger in diameter) and aim the pup towards the top of the soil, off to the side. Do the same if you find any more. Then, treat it as you normally would (but no water for 5-7 days after a repot to let roots heal).

Nancy

Thanks, guys.
Nancy, there were 4 of them in there and they went many times around the pot each....one was over 3.5 feet long!

I untangled all of the roots but much of them are brown and dried up like twigs...I cut and cut but couldn't find one with a lighter colored middle. There were a few slightly thicker roots that were alive, but not too many. Amazing to see this thing alive on the top when so much of it is a goner on the bottom.

{{!gwi}}
With the pup roots so long, I wasn't comfortable folding them all into the pot - I'd be repotting in 6 months, which I don't want to do. So I cut four of them off and folded the shortest one (about a foot long) in with the head aiming towards the top -- about an inch below the surface. Is that about right? I don't know if they're young with such incredibly long roots - but clearly they've been twirling in there for ages.

{{!gwi}}
I took the three feet long pieces and cut them down to about a foot, and placed them on a shelf on the north side of the house until I figure out if these can just be buried in a pot, or if cutting them off from the parent killed them. I'm okay if that's the case...I'm just trying to bring the parent back and keep it alive!

All of the tips are dried. Do I cut that part off? If I cut the dried/burnt(?) tips off, will the leaf itself still live? I did snip off all of the completely dead leaves.

Thanks!!

Well, you're doing something right if she's pupping like that! Since they have roots, the pups should be ok. If you pot them, I would either cover them with soil completely, or leave about 1 inch of the top exposed, but put the pot(s) in bright shade so they don't burn up. I have the same agave and it's a tough guy!

You can cut the leaf tips off, but the leaf will never regrow the point, which, on this agave, isn't exactly a bad thing! ;)

Agaves are one plant I actually enjoy repotting, because you never know what you'll find when you remove it from the old pot!

Nancy

Grace,

Bury them again and water lightly and hope that they come up. IMO, they're too young to have come off, but Agaves are resilient plants, so maybe they'll grow.

I would have refreshed some of the soil and put it back in the same pot until those pups came up and were virtual miniatures of the mother plant. As a rule, whenever they're singing the subterranean homesick blues, they're best not to come off.

The subterranean homesick blues? Jeff, you never cease to make me chuckle!

Nancy

Cactus, I did as you said. Since I had already cut off the roots, I planted them in fresh Promix and reported the main part into a gritty type mix.
I'd finally spotted two heads emerging from the soil -- yay!
and then in my move, my man decided it was just plain soil and tossed the whole thing before loading it. NOT yay.

But the main plant is doing well and I see a pup emerging. :)

Thanks for all the guidance, everyone!

Nice! Looks like A. angustifolia variegata.