Plant in full to part sun in a well-draining soil and irrigation infrequently to not at all in coastal gardens. This plant is said to be hardy to the low teens° F. with minimal damage. Gray banding is most notable when this plant is grown dry and overwatering or planting in gardens with abundant rainfall will produce plants lacking this feature.

Agave 'Tres Equis' is a variety that Yucca Do named and introduced in 2014. I was one of several varieties that Wade Roitsch and Carl Schoenfeld selected a decade earlier while traveling in northeastern Mexico near the Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon border where there were converging populations that included Agave americana var. protoamericana, Agave asperrima and A. gentryi and this plant is believed these to be of hybrid origin between these species. In their listing of this plant they noted: "One plant in particular seemed to be the most ornamental with its gray-green horizontal markings and widely spaces marginal teeth. It was the best of this hybrid conglomeration, and we labeled it 'Tres Equis'! The plant produces medium-sized, open rosettes composed of erect spreading leaves that are a silver in color but exhibit darker greener horizontal striping erratically along the leaves length, often referred to as banding. The texture of the leaf surface is scabrous and the leaves become channeled with age. A plant sure to stir debate amongst agavephiles on blog postings internet wide. The plant will be happy in dry, bright shade or full sun. For the leaf banding to be most pronounced the plant need to be grown in a moderate to low rainfall region. In wet, wet areas ( regions averaging over 35" of rain a year) the leaf banding gets washed out and may not exhibit well."

We thank Dr. Don Merhaut Extension Specialist Nursery and Floriculture Crops with UC Cooperative Extension for providing us with stock plants of this cultivar. 

This information about Agave 'Tres Equis' displayed is based on research conducted in our horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also will relate observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments that we receive from others and we welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share any cultural information that would aid others in growing it.