Tequila Plant

[billg]

On Mon, 02 Nov 1998 15:53:20 GMT, where51 at hotmail.com (pat darwin)
wrote:

>A friend brought back a Tequila plant as a gift from Arizona.  The
>write-up says that the plant, a member of the Agave cactus family,
>grows to enormous size and produces huge fruits used in the
>manufacture of Tequila.  All through Spring and Summer it has been
>thriving on the windowsill in a clay pot and has been growing steadily
>with daily watering and Miracle Grow about every 3 weeks.  Now that
>Winter is approaching, I am hesitant to leave it on the cold
>windowsill, but moving it anywhere else would mean no direct sunlight.
>We live in NJ.   Does anyone have information on the best way to care
>for this unusual plant?

Tequila (and mescal) is made not from the fruit but from the juice of
the plant tissue. A grub called the Agave Borer is a common pest of
the plant is sometime added to the mescal or tequila. The plant blooms
once and dies, but produces many pups, and is usually propigated this
way. I believe the plant is hardy to at least 20 degrees F.
Bill