How do you get rid of an Agave Century plant on the side of the house

My friend has an old Agave Century plant in a relatively inaccessible location on the side of his house

It's a "century" plant, about 3 feet tall and five feet wide with the spiky thorns (I don't have a picture, else I would have posted it). Sorry.

He knows I'm now an expert in poison oak, so he had asked me how to get rid of it. Apparently, today he tried to cut it with a sawsall (leaf by leaf), and the gooey green stuff made his forearms itch like hell within minutes.

Looking it up, apparently it has calcium oxalate crystals and some kind of chemical called a "steroidal glycocide saponin" (whatever that means), the first of which punctures holes in your cell membranes to allow the second access to the juicy part of your cells.

(I wonder who is the predator here.)

Anyway, he asked me HOW best to get rid of such plants without getting splashed with the green itchy gooey stuff.

Any suggestions?

Reply to
Danny D.
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Go to google and type "agave harvest"

Pick out a couple of youtube movies and watch them do the job, especially this one:

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If this looks like a bit too much work, how about a chain and a 4 wheel drive?

Reply to
DanG

Or if you don't mind waiting, spray it with a Roundup type product and wait a month or two until it dies and dries up. Then you can remove it.

Reply to
trader4

I like the part about the tongue of the mother in law!

Reply to
Danny D.

The problem is that this side of the house is inaccessible, in that it has no (clear) access to a vehicle. So, pulling it out one option that's probably not in the cards.

Watching the video prior, they STARTED with the plant out of the ground, but I'll look for a video where they dug it out.

Reply to
Danny D.

How about trimming the leaves off with a long-handled pruning saw? Could probably then douse the base with some brush killer or just dig out the root ball.

Reply to
Norminn

Is the adjacent house fireproof? If so you could throw some gasoline on it and burn it, just stay away from the smoke/fumes while it is burning.

Reply to
hrhofmann

If an American, the friend's taxes already pay for an Agricultural Extension Department expressly to answer questions like this.

Reply to
Don Phillipson

Good point. It's even worse than American. It's California!

Reply to
Danny D.

Boiling water or steam (industrial steam cleaner is what a friend uses behind his auto shop)

Goats do a good job with poison ivy and kudzu.

Reply to
NotMe

"A" frame and a come along.

Reply to
NotMe

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