Agave sisalana

Sisal or Agave sisalana belongs in the Asparagaceae family and is native to southern Mexico but largely cultivated in many other countries of the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate areas for its high quality fibre. The sisal fibre is used for rope, twine, paper, cloth, bags, dartboards, footwear, and carpets. It is an evergreen, succulent plant with a large rosette of leaves 60? 160 cm long that eventually forms to a flowering stem of up to 6 m in height. Few minute teeth are visible along the margins of young leaves but vanish as leaves mature. The plant typically produces about 250 commercially usable leaves throughout its 7-10 years life-span, with each leaf containing an average of around 1000 fibres. The sharp leaf spines are used traditionally in Central America as needles. The heart of new shoots are cooked and eaten as vegetables. The sweet sap is fermented to make beer and the roots, as well, are used in the production of alcoholic beverage. Further, sisal plant is a folk remedy for dysentery, leprosy sores, and syphilis. Other Names: Mkonge, Shikwenga, Te robu, Umugweegwe, Yaxci.

Agave sisalana is an evergreen Perennial growing to 2 m by 2 m at a fast rate.
It is hardy to zone 10 and is frost tender.
Suitable for: light , medium and heavy soils, prefers well-drained soil and can grow in nutritionally poor soil. Suitable pH: acid, neutral and basic soils. It can grow in semi-shade or no shade. It prefers dry or moist soil and can tolerate drought.

Agroforestry Services: Living fence Industrial Crop: Fiber Management: Standard Minor Global Crop
A plant of the drier tropics and subtropics, where it is found at elevations up to 2,000 metres. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 15 - 27c, but can tolerate 10 - 45c. It can be killed by temperatures of -5c or lower. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 900 - 1,250mm, but tolerates 500 - 1,800mm. Requires a sunny position in a well-drained soil. Prefers a pH in the range 6 - 7.5, tolerating 5.5 - 8. The plant has escaped from cultivation in many of the areas in which it is cultivated and has become invasive in some areas including several of the Pacific Islands and Australia. Harvesting the leaves for fibre can begin 2 - 4 years after planting, depending on temperature, and usually continues for about 10, occasionally up to 20, years before the plant flowers and dies. The average yield is about 0.9 tonnes/ha of dried fibres. On the best plantations in East Africa, yearly yields of 2.0 - 2.5 tonnes/ha of dried fibres are obtained. A monocarpic species - the plant lives for a number of years without flowering but dies once it does flower. However, it normally produces plenty of suckers during its life and these continue growing, taking about 10 - 15 years in a warm climate, considerably longer in colder ones, before flowering. The roots rarely go deeper than about 35cm. One ton of fibre removes about 30 kg N, 5 kg P, 80 kg K, 65 kg Ca and 40 kg Mg from the field. Because the fibres themselves contain few minerals, the majority of the nutrients can be returned to the land with the pulp.