Now DON’T plant either the mother or offset. They both have fresh wounds and this provides the perfect entry point for bacteria and viruses that could weaken or kill both plants. Instead, dust each wound on the plant with yellow sulphur and place each plant in a dry cool place and leave them for at least four days. After four days the wounds have dried and hardened over and the sulphur would have prevented infection entering the plant.

Some agaves produce offsets directly from the base of the plant without producing a runner or rhizome as such. On the left is an a. Parryi Cream Spike with two offsets. As can be seen they are attached directly to the base of the mother plant and need to be freed from the mother plant by gentle manipulation. They should come away intact with a small amount of root attached as shown in the picture below.  

Now pot the offset and mother plants up and water them in. Over the coming weeks the offset will produce its roots in addition to any left on the rhizome or its base when you potted it up. Congratulations, you have a new plant!

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Propagation From Offsets

To propagate from an offset select a plant that has an offset with several distinct leaves developed and that has broken the surface of the soil. Remove the parent plant and offset from their pot or lift the plant from the garden and brush off the attached soil until you can clearly see the offset and where it’s attached to the mother. Using a sterile sharp knife cut the offset away from the plant close to the point it is attached to the mother. Carefully untangle the offset separating the offsets root structure from that of the mother plants. Now trim the roots of the offset back so that it will fit in a pot but don’t re plant the mother or offset just yet.