Aloes are flowering succulent plants. There are over 250 species of Aloes in the world, mostly native to Africa. The most commonly known is the Aloe vera.
I have several Aloe vera plants. I use the gel in the leaves on my dry skin. I bought one of my plants at a garage sale over the summer. It is a huge old plant that was in a teenie-tiny pot along with 5 large pups (you can see the picture below). Mama Aloe and her pups have since been repotted and are all doing great!
I enjoy my aloe vera plants so much that I thought I would share a few tips on keeping these easy to care for plants.
Guide to Growing Aloe Vera
Aloe vera is extremely easy to grow. Here are a few things to keep in mind while caring for your Aloe Vera plant:
- Choose a suitable pot. One that is four times larger than the root ball is a good size. Make sure the pot has a drainage hole.
- Aloe will grow in most soils, but a Cacti/Succulent potting mix is ideal. You can always mix in 1/3 sand to 2/3 potting mix as well.
- Do not over water your aloe! This is important, so let me repeat it… DO NOT OVERWATER! An aloe can go for months without water, but will rot if given too much. Allow the soil to become dry before giving the plant any water. During the winter the plant will become dormant and should need minimal watering.
- Keep your aloe in a partly sunny and warm location of the house. A few hours of sun is more than enough for an Aloe Vera plant. Sitting right next to a cold window can be harmful. Keep an eye out for darkened, shriveled leaves. You also do not want to place your plant near a heating vent. Try for a warm but even temperature.
- I always put my aloes outside for the summer. Introduce them to the sun gradually so they don’t burn. A week or so in the shade before moving to a partly sunny location will help prevent burning. Orange discoloration or brownish spots on the leaves is a sign of too much sun.
- Aloe Vera is cold hardy to about 45 degrees. Zones 8-10 can keep it outside. If you are in a colder zone take your plants in well before a frost, since even a light frost has killed off some of my younger aloes.
- You can fertilize once every two months. I use Miracle-Gro. Just follow the directions on the package.
- If you are harvesting the leaves you should use the outer ones first. If you don’t use the leaves very often, and the outer leaves start to sag and turn brown at the tips, you can cut or gently pull them off the stem. This will help the plant keep its shape.
How to Divide Aloe Vera
Aloe vera plants form offset pups and will eventually become a clump of plants. These plants need to be removed to keep your mama plant healthy. It is easy to tease out the small plants, and I can usually pull out my pups after they are 4-5” high. They have their own little root systems, so all I do is plop each one in a brand new pot and water them.
Sometimes the pups grow attached to the mama plant. If your pups are growing on your aloe plant you can slice them off. Let the cutting sit overnight so it has a chance to callus over. Put 1/3 of the cutting into the soil (cut end down). Do not water the cutting heavily. I usually mist it. Roots should start forming within a month. When you actually see it start to grow you can water it. Don’t worry if it shrivels a little in the first weak or so, that is normal.
Using Aloe Vera
I love to just open up the leaves and use the gel on my hands. It make a wonderful moisturizer for sensitive skin. You can also extract the gel and use it for a few months. Aloe vera gel is great for several skin issues:
- Speeds up healing on minor burns, rashes and cuts
- Great for sunburned skin
- Fantastic moisturizer
To make Aloe Ver Gel from your plant, follow these simple steps:
- Harvest several large leave from the outer edge of the plant.
- Stand each leaf upright on the inside edge of a bowl, allowing the sap to drain out of the leaf for 15 minutes.
- Lay your leaf flat on a cutting board. Cut off the tip of the leaf, as well as the serrated edges on both sides. Then slice the the leaf lengthwise.
- Use a spoon to scoop out the the slimy mucilage and the clear gel. Avoid scraping out the sticky sap.
- Store your aloe juice in the refrigerator. Use a glass or plastic container. It will keep for a month or so, but remember, aloe gel is best fresh.
I hope you enjoy growing and using your aloe plant as much as I have!
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your well versed and the information is so very helpful and i have been extremely enlighten on the care of the aloe vera plant and i plan to start growing another plant from “scratch” . most of the plants i have had were given to me or i bought from a store like wal-mart. now that i have the information i need on growing a healthy plant i am goiing to take full advantage of it. i would like to invite you to my contact list. are you a yahoo messenger user? it doesn’t matter if it’s yahoo or not we can still add each other to our contact list. thank you so much for your time and effort.
I am trying to find out how to start an aloe vera plant. I was given two stalks of one but they have no root system. How can I root them?
Put 1/3 of the cutting into the soil (cut end down). Do not water the cutting heavily. I usually mist it. Roots should start forming within a month. Don’t worry if it shrivels a little in the first weak or so, that is normal. It is living off of the energy in the stalk while it grows roots. When you actually see it start to grow you can water it like a normal aloe plant.
You seem to do wonderful with the aloe. I never had that much luck with this plant.
I have an aloe vera that was growing good, until I put it in the sun for a couple of days, I usually keep it in the house and its been nice and plumb and green, now after having outside, it is limp and turn light greenish like a dull green, Did it get to much sun? I live in New Mexico. thanks
Thank you for the great info! I was giving an aloe plant from my mother in law and it was doing very well and now the leaves are brown, is it dead? Or can it be revived? Please help!
I have an aloe plant she is doing great but now her pups were growing around her and I took them out and planted them else were and that was fine but now ther are two more pups but they stared growing inside of her and they are pushing her to the side what do I do beacouse they have no roots for me to pull them out, pleas help I don’t want her pups to stress her out more than she already is.
This is the most informative article I’ve found. I purchased an aloe plant at Lowe’s in the spring and have had to transplant it twice since then and was wanting to start new plants to give to family and friends but wasn’t sure how to go about it. Thanks for the help.
wow, cool, im thinking on getting my own aloe vera, but how long does it takes for the pups to form? i’m going to buy an aloe that is already close to an adult, so i’m just wonder, also, do you have to keep the aloe pups that arn’t attached to the mothere overnight, or is that just with the ones that you have to cut of???
but for everthing else about it thanks, really helps
My aloe just bloomed, and now that the flower has faded *sigh*, I don’t know what to do next! anyone know if you’re supposed to cut the flower stalk after it blooms?
Hi. I am grateful to have come to your website in my search for answers to my problems with my aloe plants. It is very informative and I am hoping I will get more help. I live in Melbourne Australia. It is winter down here and has been raining almost every day, so there is really not much sun. One of my aloe vera plants in a pot has orange discoloration with black spots in almost all of its leaves from the tip towards the middle. Even the some pups have this discoloration. I am worried, it will die. This was given to me few months ago so this is the first time I have it blooming. The spike is also orange in color. Is this normal? What could be the cause? What should I do? Another aloe planted in the ground, some of the leaves turned black. It bloomed, but found the spike on the ground one day. What could be the cause and what should I do? I need help please.
Thanking you in advance.
[...] Aloe Vera Plants: Growing, Caring for, and Dividing | mevsthehouse.com Your well versed and the information is so very helpful and i have been extremely enlighten on the care of the aloe vera plant and i plan to start growing Aloe Vera Plants: Growing, Caring for, and Dividing | mevsthehouse.com [...]
Help! My Aloe leaves are starting to go limp. Did I over water it? I cut the limp leaves is that correct? Is there anything else I can do to nurse my aloe back to health?
hi ,i have had 2 aloe vera plants for years and have given people the cuttings off them , my 2 mother ones are monsters and i have not really known what to do with them and your page has been very helpful thank you
will deffinately start using them cosmetically now
I have an alo plant, and decided to try to grow another one from a cutting. I planted it an a pot, 1/3 of the peice covered, and then i read your article. it sais that you should let the cutting sit over night before planting it, but i didnt, i planted it right away. Will it still grow?
I saw an aloe vera plant growing in a glass bowl using rice as soil. I am wondering if anyone of you have done that. It looked beautiful and I would like to try. Wondering about rice becoming soggy.
I have a large aloe plant that stayed inside during the winter and I put them outside…they have turned brown. Have I killed them?
I have a aloe plant and would like to divide it without destroying it. The information above was very helpful. Thanks! I am glad I found your website. You certainly put a lot of work into it!
Thank you for the very helpful info on “How to Divide Aloe Vera”. I have heard from a few different people how to do it, but they were all different ways! Once I found your website I was amazed to learn the right way! I also learned some things that I never knew! You learn something new everyday!
I had a big, lush, bright green aloe plant. I set it outside in the shade, but after a couple days, the entire plant turned brown. I brought it back inside, but will it survive? What happened?
hi thank you for the helpful info I still dont know fully how much days i should water my plant though!!!
I think u just saved my plant. I just bought my first after years of wNting one. I have been wartering quit often. However its been in a warm place and I have noticed some broth and expanchion in the week or so that I have had it. I must say that I should probly get a larger pot for ut though. Considering the one I transplanted it to is still small.
There is a dark black rotten-like patch near the end of a aloe leaf. What can I do????
Nice and easy informatyion. Thanks for everything.
i am a student studying aloe and this has helped me very much. thank you!
My aloe vera plant has grown over the edge of the pot and I am afraid it is going to fall out or break off. It is so crooked I am afraid I will break it trying to repot it. If I am to repot it, will it hurt if the plant lays on the dirt? It had babies and I have already removed them. Thank you.
Thanks for the advice,was having little luck with my aloes,they were infested with scale,and I thought I’d lost the lot.They’ve been outside for the summer in sheltered spots.The out door environment seemed to take care of most scale,but there’s no quick fix,or is there?I had been inspecting and removing all scale from my beautiful variegated aloe,but they just seemed to move deeper towards the centre.I was also finding ear wigs sleeping within the folds!anyway the quick fix for scale is to take some strong alcohol,grain booze like whisky works best,(coz it makes them sick),apply a tiny amount to the scale and they should drop off and die.hey presto!My aloe mother is now after much neglect,out of soil completely,beginning to flower,so you’re advice on the correct way to take cuttings is appreciated.I may save her yet!Top blog.
We just moved into this house and the back yard is over grown with aloe. Need help to figure out to weed out the good from the bad plants.
Very informative,,,,, 5/5….
aloewonders.blogspot.com
how you go about getting the plant to grow roots? we a piece get so heavy, i suppose, that it broke off. is there any to make it re root?
I am seeing so many questions I wish I could answer, I just want to say aloe is so hardy, often if it looks dead, just give is a good flush (and actually flush the water through, not leave the plant full of water) and put it in a sunny window and you will be amazed at how quickly it comes back. As with most succulents, you can often get a good piece of aloe to reroot even if it does not have roots on the piece that broke off- just let it sit and dry over night and stick it in the dirt the next day misting with a spray bottle- not soaking with water.
i’ve been growing and rescueing aloes for years and have amounted quite an army of aloes. today i decided to search the net to see if there was anything better i could be doing for my lil babies and found this page. just wanted to say i enjoyed the way you presented your information and the pictures attached. thanks for having this page for people to see and learn from
Hi
I am Basavaraj, I have Aloe Vera Plants in my home, searching for sale.
Where do I sale Plants. More Thanks for giving information abt to sale.
Thanks & Regards
Basavaraj K H
9902888801
basavarajkh@ibibo.com
Great paintings! This is the type of information that should be shared around the net. Disgrace on Google for now not positioning this post upper! Come on over and discuss with my website . Thanks =)
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