What To Do With An Aloe Plant

January 19, 2022

What To Do With An Aloe Plant

I've always had an aloe plant, as long as I can remember. My mom had them when we were kids. I can remember her breaking off a piece and rubbing the aloe on us if we burned our finger or had a scratch. Aloe has antioxidant and antibacterial properties. It helps heal burns and cold sores and helps relieve skin irritations.

There are different types of aloe plants. Some of them can grow very large, while others stay small. My daughter lives in Arizona and they have them growing out in the wild and they are huge. I can't even remember where I bought mine from. It is very old. Let's be honest, I have several of them, but the one I'm talking about today has gotten very big. I enjoy plants and growing things. I started an avocado tree from an avocado pit. I started a pineapple plant from a pineapple. I love the challenge of starting new plants and getting them to grow. Another time I will share with you how to grow your own elderberry plants, but for now let's get back to the aloe.

Aloe plants don't like to be put in big pots; however, once they outgrow the pot they are in, they will start having babies. You will see new aloe plants start growing in and around your original plant. That means it's time to transplant your aloe. Mine was overdue for a transplant, as you can see in the photo below. Not only did I have babies popping up in the dirt, but mine had gotten so big that it had new shoots growing out of it and was so tall and heavy that it was falling over.

To propagate and start new aloe plants here is what you will need to do:

1. Any babies or pups (the technical term) that have roots can just be transplanted into a new pot. Start off with a small pot.

2. Any new shoots can be cut off with a sharp knife. If they have even one root attached you can plant into a new pot of dirt. Sometimes roots will grow where new shoots form. If there isn't a root, don't throw it away! Just set it out on the table for about 5 days and let the ends callus over. Once this happens you can then plant it into a pot of dirt. I had five pups with roots and three without.

3. If the stem on the original piece of the plant has gotten long and the plant won't stand up straight, just peel off the lower leaves until the plant will sit up straight. Don't cut the lower portion off. Just plant the whole lower portion in the dirt (the root and the part where you peeled the leaves off). Mine was so long it wrapped around in a circle in the pot.

4. What kind of dirt should you use? You can buy potting soil for succulents. Or, I had some regular potting soil, some orchid soil and some perlite that I mixed together. Basically succulents don't like to stand in a lot of water so they need soil that will drain well. AND, you always want to get a pot that has at least one hole in the bottom of the pot so the roots aren't sitting in the water.

5. How often do you water an aloe plant? No more than once a week. Aloes like the sun. Depending on how hot it is and how strong the sun is, will determine how much water they need. They hold onto their water in their leaves so they can go a long time without water. It's better to under-water than over-water. In the summer I water mine once a week because they sit in a window that gets the morning sun. In the winter I only water them every 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. If you can stick your finger in the soil and the soil is wet, DON'T water it. Wait until the soil is dry before you water it.

6. Don't throw away any broken leaves or leaves that fall off. You can harvest the aloe from the leaves. I took a sharp knife and cut the leaves in half, vertically. Then I took a small scraper or you could use a knife or a spoon, and scraped the aloe off of each leaf. I put it in a jar and ended up with 16 ounces of aloe! It will store in the fridge for a very long time. Next time you need aloe, just open the jar and spoon some out.

I hope this has been helpful and if you don't have an aloe plant, go get one! Or, reach out to me and I'll give you one of mine. :)