Gardening with Gary




Gardening Advice from an Expert

Aloe Vera

Q. I need to know how to take care of my Aloe Vera plant. It never grows at all. How often do I water. What kind of soil. How often do I fertilize and with what kind of fertilizer? It has been the same size for 2 years and is very sad looking.

A. You are obviously experiencing problems with this plant, but show knowledge of plant care in your questions. I feel all the areas should be dealt with satisfactorily.

First, repot the plant. I am sure it is in dire need or new, fresh soil mix. Buy a general house plant mix and add perlite to it, maybe 1/3 to 2/3 soil. Keep the plant soil line the same as it was, but knock off some of the old soil without injuring the roots. If it needs a larger pot, go up only one inch size.

Fertilize with any house plant food, according to the directions, once a month. Try Miracle-Gro, Hyponex, Optimara, or Schultz.

Grow the plant in bright sunlight, except in the very hot of summer days in the mid-afternoon. Protect with a shade, curtain or blind, but do not try to grow in a shady location.

Water only when the top inch of the soil is dry. Stick your finger down and feel for moisture. The aloes are members of the succulents and store water in their fleshy leaves, thus are like camels in that they can go a long time without water.

Keep them in a warm location, but away from a draft, especially a heating vent. You can place outside on a patio or balcony if you have warm summers, but bring back inside for fall.

Q. How do I propagate a new aloe plant? It is getting large, and I would like a few babies.

A. I do not know how long you have had the plant, but you must wait until the plant sends up side shoots. These are the babies that grow up from the root system and make a plant of themselves. It is beneficial to the mother to have the new ones taken off to lessen the crowding and competition. When you see the new plants, let them get about 4-5" tall, with at least three good leaves. Take the entire plant out of the pot, lay on newspaper and gently separate the little ones from the mother, getting some roots with each plant, more for the original.

I find it helpful to separate when the plant is on the dry side, as they break apart so easily and do not tear the roots in the process.

Be patient, give it good strong light, water only when dry, and feed monthly
with a house plant fertilizer.

Q. I understand that over-watering Aloe Vera is dangerous, But mine has 3 leaves/spires/branches shriveling up from the tip, like they are no longer filled out, but concave and 2 branches aren't super firm to the touch. They're a little soft. What does the softness of some branches and the shriveling of the others mean? More water or less? I bought a medium-little plant, and it's in a little pot - I was told not to repot until spring. Do you think it's problem is a cramped pot?

A. I have to make a guess since I really know so little about your plant and the location and the way you have been caring for it. My top answer is that it is being overwatered. The second hunch is that the soil is too dense, not sandy and loose enough. But either way, the roots are not performing properly.

If there is too much water in the soil mix, either you are giving it too much water or the soil is not drying out due to density. Therefore, the soil remains moist and the roots rot. Roots need air and if kept moist, they will die. Then the top of the plant will show limp, soft, mushy, thin growth. That is the key!

So, knock the plant out of the pot and examine the soil. Do you see lightness or is there a strong smell of rotting material? Is the outside full of many roots circling the root ball? The latter means you need to repot.

Cut back on the water, keep the plant in as bright a window as you have, only water when the top feels quite dry to the touch. If the soil is heavy, you will need to remove some of it and replace with a lighter mix with sand and perlite added.

Che writes~
I've read your Q & A section with great interest. I repotted an aloe 3 years ago (it was already 5 years old) into a 13" diameter pot. The original plant continued to grow up and over the side, contorting itself to the floor for support. The pot filled with baby aloe plants (I have ignored it for a good year). Ten babies, ranging from 6" in height to ones that are 14" tall and need a good 9-10" pot themselves. Is the original mother plant salvageable? To put it all into a pot, I fear I will need to get a 20" diameter patio pot which I am willing to do. However, due to the contortion, this will put the actual plant lying in the dirt to get the root covered. Is it worth it or will it just start to rot?



A. Aloes are very productive when it comes to side shoots, which turn into new plants. It is a fine method to add to a collection or give new plants to fellow gardeners. But to repot with the original plant lying on its side in order to accommodate all the new plants will lead to rotting of the flesh. Any contact with moist potting mix for a prolonged time will turn it to mush. It would be far better to break apart the clump and plant each young plant in its own clean pot and keep removing until all is left is the original. At that point, you can ascertain if it is worth saving. It may have exhausted itself, which happens many times after a plant produces many side shoots which have all vied for the available light, water and food.

Alistair writes~ I have just read you section on Aloe Vera, and I have a question about my own plant. It has a sort of main trunk up the middle with 4/5 shoots coming out of each section (a new one every year). The shoots at the bottom are long but are thin, only about 2mm thick, holding no gel and the ends are a little browned. Can these ones be cut off? What is the best thing to do here?

A. Grooming is the key here. These bottom leaves, as they are sometimes called, should be removed when they become dry and brown, even only at the tip. They are sucking nourishment from the plant and not assisting in any way. Their purpose ended a while ago, to enable the plant to survive and grow. Now, they are merely in the way. Take a pair of sharp scissors, wash the blades with warm soapy water or alcohol to disinfect, and trim these growths off the main stem as closely as possible. Any stub left behind may become a harbor of disease. Discard these leaves but do not change the culture of the plant. From your description, the plant is doing quite well and only needs a little cleaning up. This is a natural occurrence, the losing of bottom branches as trees do, becoming taller with bare trunks.

Mike writes~ I have had an aloe vera plant for about a year. It is indoors and its location is in Massachusetts. My plant was always a little wobbly so I decided to repot it. I pulled it out carefully and I discovered why it was so wobbly. My plant entirely lacks a root system it has no roots. How could it have survived this long? Why isn't there any roots and how can I fix that? I love my plant and I want it to have roots.

A. It sounds that your plant has been overwatered and the roots rotted, giving way to a top plant with no root structure. Aloes are filled with plant juices and can live without roots for extended times, so they do very well under dry conditions. If given too much water, the tissue gives way and bacteria can enter the roots and kill them. You can reroot the plant in sand with some added perlite, moistened, covered loosely with clear plastic wrap, and placed in a well-lit area with no direct sunlight. If moisture beads appear, remove covering for a few hours and replace. The plant will root if kept on the dry side. Once growing, watch watering, adding water only when the top light soil mix [cactus mix works well] is very dry to the touch and excess drains well.

Becky writes~
We live in Alaska and I have kept my Aloe Vera plant inside all winter under lights. It is now summer with long days. It has been getting in the 80s during the hot part of the day. We decided to put the plant outside to really enjoy the sun. It has changed color. It is now a tanish-green. Is this normal? Is it getting too much sun? Thank you for the info.

A. Aloe Vera love sun but not in the hottest part of the day, when the rays are the strongest and the temperatures the highest, usually from 11am to 3pm. Subjected to these conditions, they will respond as you have described. They will recover as soon as you move them to a protected area and watch the watering. Do not keep the soil too wet or the plant will rot, nor too dry or the leaves will turn soft. After they start to green up, apply a general garden fertilizer once every two weeks at half strength. A 20-20-20 is a good formula to use. It may be necessary to remove some of the more damaged leaves if they do not recover, but the plant will send out new fresh leaves as soon as it recuperates.

Jamie writes~
I have an aloe vera plant that has been in the office for over 4 years. Within the last year it has really started growing. Before it grew slowly. It has brown spots at the base of the plant which goes half way down the "leaf" and goes up to at least the fourth leaf from the bottom. Does it have a disease or is this from too much water? I trimmed the plant once where the spotting was occurring and the spots eventually appeared on the following "leaves" at the bottom of the stem. The plant is on a filing cabinet close to the window so it gets lots of sunlight. I just want to make sure my plant is not sick.

A. Check the potting mix it is growing in. Being a succulent, it needs a very light mix with a good amount of sand with very little organic matter as peat moss. This allows the water to flow quickly through and out the bottom hole. Repot if necessary using a cactus mix. Night temperatures may be getting too low and therefore leading to water retention and root rot. Offices are places where often the heat is turned off or down low and therefore cacti and succulents suffer. Brown spots or bruises are a result of roots holding too much water and the tissue bursts. You may need to grow the plant in a warmer location.

Dixie writes~
I have an aloe vera plant, the kind that produces lots of babies, but I keep the babies cleaned out so the energy goes into the Mother plant, have left only two babies, and it has been like that for a very long time now, but just a few days ago I noticed that it is blooming, I didn't even know that they did bloom. Everyone I asked about it says the same thing, they didn't know they bloom. My one sister did say, when I finally remembered to ask her, that only the female bloom, so is this pretty unusual for them to bloom.

A. They are not known too bloom often but it has no relation to the sex of the plant since aloe veras are nonsexual, that is the flowers contain both parts and therefore no male or female plants. Flowers are tubular and grow in compact spikes at the tip of each flower spike or stem. They can be yellow, pink or white. For a sketch, see:

http://www.naturesherbal.com/Aloe_Vera.htm

Bonnie writes~
I have an aloe that has always been quite healthy. The leaves are long, firm and nicely green. The plant is about 12 - 14" tall and sits in a window with southern light in Delaware. Lately the plant has developed small, half-moon shaped cuts in some of the leaves. What could be causing this? Is it because my house is very dry?

A. Probably, since low humidity, especially in winter months with dry heat, can cause tissue rupture which results in cracks which ooze and then brown. This is a natural occurrence. Try placing large saucer filled with pebbles underneath the pot and keep filled with clear water which will evaporate and create humidity around the plant. Make sure that no direct light shines on the plant during this problem time until late spring.

Ms. Garcia writes~
I read the Q and A about Aloe Vera. But I have a question: my Aloe Vera is rotting away. the leaves are turning black. It has twins which look very alive. It has another baby which is on the side, next to it. It is place next to the window, and it receives the sun. I'm going to take your advice about watering it when dry. Is there something I should do that I don't know about?

A. Time is right to break the new plants called pups off the old mother plant many times the new ones take over and the old one dies. Plant them separately in clean pots with very light potting mix partially containing sand and perlite. Try a prepackaged cactus mix from nursery and keep following the low watering practice to avoid any root and stem rot as they are a member of the succulents.

PH writes~
I have an aloe vera plant that I am repotting for the first time. It is about 2' tall and it is leaning. I am afraid that it will break. Is it okay for me to prop it up or is there anything else I can do to prevent it from snapping in two at the bend point?

A. Top-heavy aloes are very common. It sounds that it has been a long time in between repotting, so do not wait so long in the future with these and many other plants. Pot the plant up an appropriate pot size not exceeding 2" in diameter at a time as the extra space will be filled with potting mix and can lead to root rot. For aloe, add sterilized sand and a little organic material as milled peat moss. They need excellent drainage and hate to be waterlogged. Place a strong wooden stake into the pot before repotting so that roots are not damaged. Anchor well and tie loosely above the soil line. Do not use wire as it cuts the tender stems. Do not fertilize the plant for one month. Once the plant has grown secure in the pot, gently remove the stake.

Bao-Van writes~
Wow! What a great website. I have bookmarked it for my reference! I was looking for more info about aloe vera plants and found most of my answers here. My only question is that my aloe plant has one large flower stalk now. Do I have to cut it after it blooms, or just leave it? Thanks so much in advance for your response.

A. Aloes can produce tall reddish orange or yellow-green flower spikes in the spring that feed hummingbirds. When flowers are spent, cut them off at the base. But, the antennae-like form of the spent flower stalks are quite attractive and you may leave one or more on for a while after the actual flowers themselves are gone. Aloe is a genus of thick leaved succulents, similar in form to the Agaves, with small spines growing off the leaf edges. The spines are relatively soft, and not real dangerous.

Most species will readily produce pups (small baby plants growing as offshoots), which are easily detached and replanted elsewhere.

Size can vary, but most species are 6" to 2' high and just a little wider than tall.

Cold hardiness varies from species to species, but most will take average winter without a problem.
Plants are rather drought tolerant and often look better if they are not pumped full of water, which can cause leaf tip dieback.

Aloe saponaria is a species with shorter, fatter leaves with whitish spotting flecks. Areas near leaf edges take on a delightful purplish tinge in cold weather.

Aloe vera is the medicinal aloe. Its leaves are narrower, longer and not as clearly spotted as A. saponaria. It reaches to 18" high, and with masses of pups, can spread much wider. The sap works well to help wounds heal.

Aloe marlothii is larger and with leaf form more similar to A. saponaria than A. vera, but it has the bonus of small teeth scattered seemingly haphazardly across the leaf surface. It is not very cold hardy though and somewhere in the 20F's or teens, it will die.

All are not picky about soils and can take some sun but need shade from the direct afternoon sunlight.