ALOE VERA PLANTS SECRETS, CARE TIPS, Do’s & Don’ts & Propagation

Aloe Vera is a gorgeous wonder plant, can be easily grown indoors as well outdoors. Given the proper plant care, these amazing aloe vera plants can live for many, many years. In this episode we will look into some important care tips, DO’s and Don’ts and some simple tricks for automatic multiplication and propagation of aloevera plant.

This video is a complete guide to aloe vera plant care and covers:

  1. Basic Information On Aloe Vera Plant   
  2. Aloe Vera Plant Benefits    
  3. Important Tips For Growing Aloe Vera Plant   
  4. How Often To Water Aloe Vera    
  5. How Much Sun Does An Aloe Vera Plant Need    
  6. Best Potting Soil For Aloe Vera Plants    
  7. Best Fertilizer For Aloe Vera    
  8. Propagating Aloe Vera Plants    
  1. BASIC INFORMATION ON ALOE VERA:  Aloe vera is basically a cactus like succulent plant and this is just one of hundreds of different types of aloe plants and the most common type and commonly called medicinal aloe vera. Aloe vera is a stemless or very short-stemmed plant and can grow upto 100 cm tall. Its either grown as an ornamental plant for it beautiful look or as a medicinal plant to extract aloe vera gel from its fleshy leaves.
  2. ALOE VERA PLANT BENEFITS: Will not go into details of this topic. To mention a few, Most people are already very familiar with the medicinal and healing properties of aloe vera plants. These days you’ll find aloe vera gel in everything from skin and haircare products, to drinks, supplements, and food products.  Another great benefit of growing aloe vera as a houseplant is that it helps to purify the air in our homes. I have discussed about NASA recommended Air purifier plants in a detailed post.
  3. ALOE VERA PLANT CARE TIPS: There’s really not much to it, and guess what – your aloe vera might just do better if you ignore it, Yes! they thrive on neglect.  But, still there are a few things you need to do to keep your aloe vera growing and multiplying at its best.  The two most important parts of aloe vera plant care are proper watering and lighting.
  4. HOW OFTEN TO WATER ALOE VERA?  The most common mistake people make when it comes to aloe vera plant care is overwatering. In nature, aloes grow in desert climates where they hardly get any rain. Aloe vera succulent plants hold water in their leaves, so they can go a very long time without water.  Overwatering will cause root rot, and eventually cause the stem of the plant to rot, eventually killing the whole plant from the bottom up. Aloe vera plants like to be watered more during the summer than the winter months.  It’s best to allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings. The best method to water aloe vera is using the Finger Dip method. Dip one inch of finger into the soil to check moisture. Water it if its completely Dry. And when you water it, do it thoroughly, allowing all of the excess water to run out the bottom drainage holes. So, The Point to remember is Thorough and Infrequent watering is the Rule for Aloe vera and all succulents and cacti.
  5. HOW MUCH SUN DOES AN ALOE PLANT NEED? The second most important thing about aloe vera plant care is proper lighting. Aloe vera plants will grow their best when given lots of light. Outdoors, aloe vera can be grown anywhere from full sun to partial shade. They tolerate any amount of light. But its better to avoid direct noon sunlight. When it comes to shade and indoors, they generally tend to get leggy if they do not receive adequate light. They also do well under LED grow lights if grown indoors. If you don’t have enough sunlight in your home, then you should definitely get a grow light for your aloe vera. You can check details on these topics on Indoor plants here.
  6. BEST POTTING MIX FOR ALOE VERA PLANTS: The best soil or potting mix for aloe vera is one that drains very quickly, and doesn’t hold water. You can either use commercially available succulent and cacti mixes or you can prepare your own DIY succulent soil mix. One such recipe I use is:
  7. Any Good quality Garden Soil – roughly about 30 to 40 Percent.
  8. Sand: You can use River sand / Construction Sand and not the sea or beach sand for this which is high in sodium chloride that’s salt. The proportion to use is about 30 to 40 Percent. You can also use Coco peat or Peat moss instead of sand for aloe vera but it’s not recommended specially for succulents, because it retains moisture and some succulents have a risk of Rot.
  9. Gravel chips or pebbles or even Small Marble or granite Chips. This can be roughly about 10 percent.
  10. Compost: This is actually not required for succulents, because the natural habitats of most succulents and cacti is a desert. But still adding 10 percent of compost like vermicompost/leaf compost/cowdung powder. Also consider adding about 5 – 10 percent of Neem Cake Powder, that really effective in preventing rot from fungus and other harmful pathogens.
  11. Perlite + charcoal like Wood Charcoal pieces or biochar pieces: These ingredients keep the soil very loose and well aerated. Charcoal also has some antifungal properties as well to prevent root rot.  All these mixed to about 10 percent can be added to the recipe.

7. FERTILIZER FOR ALOE VERA: Aloe vera plants don’t really need to be fertilized. But like most plants, they will certainly benefit from being fed once in a while, specially during their active growing season like spring through summer. I recommend using organic plant fertilizer on your aloe vera, rather than the chemical stuff – especially if you plan to harvest and use the gel. Compost like vermicompost or decomposed cow dung – a handful of it once in a month is more than sufficient for aloe vera plants. And this can also help to encourage flowers in aloe vera plants.

8. PROPAGATING ALOE VERA PLANTS: The mother Aloe vera plant will grow offsets (a.k.a aloe vera pups) around the base of the plant, and these babies can be carefully removed from the mother plant and potted up on their own to create a new plant. It’s as easy as that! But how do you encourage production of more babies or offsets from mother plant? Simple trick or solution to this is using a wide container for growing the future mother plant. Plant this at the center of this containers and you should see a lot of offsets coming soon. Aloe vera roots do not grow too deep and hence shallow wider containers are preferred when you are repotting.  
You can also grow aloe vera from seeds. The mature aloe plant produces flowering once in a while. This mother plant produces once in a year. But your need to provide full sunlight to induce flowering. You can collect its seeds pods and grow new aloe plants from these seeds.

Can you grow aloe vera from a single leaf or leaf cuttings? I have tried this many times but was completely unsuccessful. Let me know in the comment box below if you have rooted an aloe vera from a leaf.

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