This looks like frost damage to me. If it is in a cold exposure situation I would withold water, they can go a very long time without a drink, especially in winter. The damaged leaves will continue to dry up and could be removed without hurting the plants health. Can you move it to a warmer area or cover it when the temps dip below 40F? This is not a cold hardy Agave. It is a zone 9 to 11 plant. This could help it from happening again. These guys are generally hard to kill but sometimes easy to beat up. Hope this helps, Gil

Joel, up until Friday there was absulutely nothing (apparently) wrong with any of my agaves. I have many of all varieties and every single one is now afflicted with this problem, as are others in our village. Wherever they are, they have this same problem and it has happened over three days. Mine were very healthy and looked that way until Friday. They were all nice and dark green and thriving in different soils. This one pictured is in very rocky un-conditioned soil. Others are in beautiful organic soil, and some in a sandy mix. I just put them anywhere and they thrive. Other people have them in pots and still have the problem. It's just happened suddenly all at the same time and no one knows why.

Thank you. I just went out and checked the soil, it was dry. I was unable to torque the central cone at all, it is very solid. I live in an 8b climate zone, the west side of the Sierra mountains at 3300' elevation. Our summers have many 100 plus degree days and winters as low as mid 20's normally. The location receives full sun. It has been planted there for about 6 years. I think your comments are likely right. How often would you water and is there any supplement I can use to help it heal?

Guys and gals, I think this is my swan song . I attacked the remains of my agave and pulled off all the leaves. All the rain got the agave to rot a little. It did make things a bit easier. AND the burn ban was lifted and I did burn the leaves. The spot is ready for some soil amendment after 20 years of agave. I will most likely let one , And I mean ONE of the pups reside there. Maybe I will plant some more artemisia Valerie finis. The silver will look good with all that dark green. NOW< I did do one big mistake. I had my mind on other things and not on a timely cutting down of the flower stalk. The seed pods opened and all those very busy hummers made sure there were a lot of seed. It was the drought so I thought all those seeds will just die, Right?... WRONG. It rained and rained and I can tell you that every one of those seeds were viable. They were highly impatient and did not wait till next year. I will be out there weeding and I hope that the freeze this winter kills a bunch of them. Look at this crowd of a zillion baby agaves. They are the grass green monocots (or whatever that word for that type of seedling is) nodding their little black hats. SO , if you find yourself in my shoes, deadhead the stalk earlier , before the seeds develop.