Herein lies the tale of two agaves and how their different treatment through the years have made a difference on their growth rate.
I bought two small Agave ovatifolias in 2013, grown from the same batch of seeds, they were exactly the same size when I acquired them. Repotted into identical pots, they both grew at exactly the same size until in 2015 when one of them was transferred on to a blue glazed pot and placed at the front of the house. Since the makeover all the plants there were given extra attention, to keep the front garden looking smart (prior to that the front of the house was genuinely neglected and often a dumping ground for building materials for the back garden). So plants were regularly watered, fed, and kept weed free.
The second one was placed by the edge of the koi pond in a plastic white pot. It was a prominent spot but not a conducive one for the health and growth of the agave. Under the eaves of a pergola, it remained dry whenever rain fell, and by being on the edge of a koi pond it was rarely watered to minimise the risk of soil (and more bacteria) running into the pond.
So the first one got watered regularly and was placed in a bigger pot, the second one kept on the dry side and remained in a small pot for years. The result is going to be obvious, two years on the former is more than double the size of the latter.
Feeling guilty that I have grossly neglected the latter, it was time to treat it right by giving it a much bigger pot. It has then been placed away from the shelter of the pergola in the open to bask in the sun and get watered much more regularly. So two weeks ago it was given a new home.
Where it is now gets sun all year round, sheltered but will get rained on, and much more likely to get watered when we have the hosepipe out and the entire garden gets supplemental watering.
Hopefully it will catch up in size with its front garden brother relatively quickly. With both being in a pot neither of them are likely to attain the size they can potentially do when planted out. But they can still attain a very good size even in a pot if watered regularly during the summer and given a sufficient sized container.
Mark :-)