Why is my Whale’s tongue agave yellowed with shriveled leaves after moving?

Thanks to Eric Norris for this great question! When he moved recently, he brought along his healthy whale’s tongue agave in a container. After a few weeks, it was yellowed, washed-out, and even shriveled.

This is sunscald. The sun has destroyed the chlorophyll in the leaves, hence the washed-out color, and the pattern of discoloration isn’t reversible.

But future damage is easy to avoid by moving the agave to a shadier location.

Much like humans, plants become accustomed to the amount of light that they receive over time, and are damaged if overexposed too quickly. You can acclimatize plants to more sun, but the large dose that this agave received all at once was more than it could handle.

Note: this is why you should slowly move winter protected plants back into sunlight outdoors and why seedlings are “hardened off,” to get used to being outside.  

But this agave will grow new leaves and damaged ones can be pruned out as desired.

If you plant whale’s tongue in the landscape, plant in partial shade or a bright, filtered spot, protected from the harsh afternoon sun. If the spot is too sunny, you can also protect the plant by placing rocks, boulders, or even a trellis on the south/west side to protect it.