How to Care for an Aloe Vera Plant
- Lighting: Place in bright, indirect sunlight or artificial light. A western or southern window is ideal. Aloe that are kept in low light often grow leggy.
- Temperature: Aloe vera do best in temperatures between 55 and 80°F (13 and 27°C). The temperatures of most homes and apartments are ideal. From May to September, you can bring your plant outdoors without any problems, but do bring it back inside in the evening if nights are cold.
- Fertilizing: Fertilize sparingly (no more than once a month), and only in the spring and summer with a balanced houseplant formula mixed at ½ strength.
- Repotting: Repot when root bound, following the instructions given in “Planting,” above.
Watering Aloe Vera
Watering is the most difficult part of keeping aloe vera healthy, but it’s certainly not rocket science! The aloe is a succulent plant that’s accustomed to arid environments, but its thick leaves still need sufficient water nonetheless.
- Water aloe vera plants deeply, but infrequently. In other words, the soil should feel moist after watering, but should be allowed to dry out to some extent before you water again. If the soil stays overly wet, the plant’s roots can rot.
- To ensure that you’re not overwatering your plant, allow the top third of potting soil to dry out between waterings. For example, if your plant is kept in 6 inches of potting soil, allow the top 2 inches to dry out before watering again. (Use your finger to test the dryness of the soil.)
- Generally speaking, plan to water your aloe plant about every 2-3 weeks in the spring and summer and even more sparingly during the fall and winter. One rule of thumb for fall and winter watering is to roughly double the amount of time between waterings (as compared to your summer watering schedule). In other words, if you water every two weeks in summer, water every four weeks in winter.
- When watering, some excess water may run out the bottom of the pot. Let the pot sit in this water so that the soil absorbs as much as possible. Wait 10-15 minutes, then dump any remaining water.
Removing & Replanting Aloe Vera Offsets (Pups)
Mature aloe vera plants often produce offsets—also known as plantlets, pups, or “babies”—that can be removed to produce an entirely new plant (a clone of the mother plant, technically).
- Find where the offsets are attached to the mother plant and separate them using pruning shears, scissors, or a sharp knife. Leave at least an inch of stem on the offset.
- Allow the offsets to sit out of soil for several days; this lets the offset form a callous over the cut, which helps to protect it from rot. Keep the offsets in a warm location with indirect light during this time.
- Once the offsets have formed callouses, pot them in a standard succulent potting mix. The soil should be well-draining.
- Put the newly-potted pups in a sunny location. Wait at least a week to water and keep the soil on the dry side.
How to Get Your Aloe Vera to Flower
Mature aloe vera plants occasionally produce a tall flower spike—called an inflorescence—from which dozens of tubular yellow or red blossoms appear. This certainly adds another level of interest to the already lovely aloe!
Unfortunately, a bloom is rarely achievable with aloes that are kept as houseplants, since the plant requires nearly ideal conditions to produce flowers: lots of light, sufficient water, and the right temperature range. Due to these requirements (mainly lighting), aloe flowers are usually only seen on plants grown outdoors year-round in warm climates.
To give your aloe the best shot at flowering:
- Provide it with as much light as possible, especially during spring and summer. Aloes can be kept outdoors in full sun during the summer, when temperatures are above 70°F (21°C). If nighttime temps threaten to drop below 60°F (16°C), bring the aloe inside.
- Note: Don’t move your aloe from indoors to full sun right away; it needs time to adjust to the intense light or it may sunburn. Allow it to sit in partial shade for about a week before moving it to a brighter location.
- Make sure the plant is getting the right amount of water—enough to keep it from drying out completely, but not enough to drown it! If the plant’s being kept outdoors, make sure that it’s not getting consistently soaked by summer rains.
- Give your aloe a proper dormancy period in the fall and winter. Aloe tend to bloom in late winter or early spring, so giving them a period of rest consisting of less frequent watering and cooler temperatures may encourage them to flower.
- Don’t be surprised if it still doesn’t flower. Despite our best efforts, indoor conditions just aren’t ideal for most aloes, so don’t be surprised if yours simply refuses to bloom!
Reader Comments
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Aloe Vera LEaves
Aloe can only be propagated through stem cuttings (or pups), so planting the broken leaves in soil won’t result in any new plants, unfortunately.
Outdoor Alo Vera
Outdoor full sun with sun shade in Central Valley of Ca, plant is growing exponentially and has several pups. Question what is best way to separate from mother plant, it has flowers now that are about 4' tall and growing. My wife (who planted it from kitchen window) says take a shovel and wack the pups off, I'm concerned this may harm plant.
Thanks for any suggestions
Separating Pups
It would be best to use a tool designed for cutting plants, like hand pruners or loppers. It’s a good idea to sterilize the tool with rubbing alcohol before and after cutting, too. A shovel will get the job done, but it will also damage the plant tissue, which can expose the plants to disease. A clean cut is best.
Leggy leggy!
When repotting an extremely leggy AV plant, should I remove the leggy stems?
All great information, but I
All great information, but I'm still not sure if I should be wary of topically using the gel from my aloe vera plant that has begun showing signs of ill health.
Note: Large outdoor plant/ recent exposure (last 2-3 months) of unusually heavy rainfall& flooding/ plant has been exposed nightly over last 2 -3 months to temperatures just above freezing. ( Yes, I now know that all these are horrible For the plant, and will be on the lookout in the future)
leaves outer side has begun to Brown and even yellow in some spots. But on the inside it looks like little bubbles have formed in groups randomly within the gel. Almost like air bubbles that are trapped. Any help as to whether or not this is potentially dangerous for human topical application, would be greatly appreciated
Aloe Gel
If the leaves are just a little soft and discolored, they can still be used topically. However, if they have a foul smell when opened, we would recommend not using them. In either case, the effectiveness of the gel will likely not be as good as that from a fresh, healthy leaf.
quick question
hey there! thank you for this post, it was really helpful. i bought my plant around a year ago and it has grown quite a bit but i have a feeling it might die soon. i am terrible at keeping houseplants and i don’t want to mess this up. my plant seems to be sagging a little on the bigger leaves and it is a little squishy when you squeeze it. the younger ones are not, but i want to keep the whole plant healthy. is there something wrong with it? if so, how can i fix it? thanks!
update
so i did a little research and so i decided to remove my plant (it was a little big for the pot anyways) and the roots were brown, but not squishy. any more advice?
Aloe Problems
Repotting was likely the right move. You’d want to use fresh soil when repotting, as the old soil may still contain the root rot fungi, if that’s indeed what was causing the issue.
After repotting, leave the plant alone for a while to let the roots get established and regrow. Don’t water again until at least the top 1–2 inches of soil are dry. Keep the plant out of direct sunlight for now, moving it back into direct sunlight when you start watering.
Lack of light can also cause limp, soft leaves, so if you encounter that issue in the future and you don’t think it’s a watering issue, that could be the problem.
aloe vera
I buy aloe vera juice by the gallon and drink it regularly. It actually soothes the stomach.
Benefits of Eating Aloe Vera are numerous
I had a hangover with headache and stomach nausea. 20 minutes after I swallowed a 2"X 1" scoop of fresh gel from a large leaf I was fine! I have a huge list of internal benefits of drinking commercial juice. However, once the gel is removed from the leaf an enzyme
is released which destroys much of the healing properties which take 2-3 years of plant growth to reach maximum healing. A patent filed showed a stabilization process protects the healing properties from being destroyed. Aloe also contains rare plant vitamin B12. The super healing plant is reported to even remove radiation from the body and is one the most under rated healing plants both externally and INTERNALLY and heals nearly everything.
GROWING ALOE VERA
Good Evening,
This is indeed a very useful article with complete details and photographs.
I grow this plant and this article helped me to correct the methods of growing and care taking.
Thanks and Regards
Uma
Aloe vera
Aloe Vera is a wonderful plant, thanks for this article. Another good point about Aloe Vera is it a very forgiving plant. If you discover too late you’ve been over watering just remove the plant from the soil & lay out of direct sunlight. It will recover without soil & start growing beautifully again. When I thin out my aloes, I love taking the bare roots to gatherings with friends & they take all they want.
Aloe Vera - my previous post
When I mentioned a troubled aloe can be removed from the soil to recover, I forgot to mention to replant it once it has returned to normal. If left out of soil it will eventually die or not flourish properly. Thanks.
Aloe Vera
I’m so glad you mentioned it’s forgiving that’s what I always say about it now that I have a jungle of it from a plant of it left by the former owner. On a wym I thought maybe I could revive it even though it looked like it had been there dried up for years outside in the Phoenix heat & desert winter nights! But I did & man I must say I now have sooooo much aloe Vera it’s all over the house inside & out! I also make terrariums & when the other succs die the aloe Vera always seems to stay alive! One thing to note is if you put it in water to stabilize it or make water terrariums do not cover any of the green part with water only the stem & roots & change water once a week in hot humid temps & every few weeks otherwise. If you smell rot then change water more frequently & rinse off stem area really well
comment
Aloe vera work better for skin and good heath it perfect on all solution
aloa vera
Aloa vera is used a great deal for medicinal purposes. Cuts, grazes stomach problems, sunburn etc.. (it is almost considered as a cure all even used as a hair conditioner). Even my rabbit would, if feeling poorly, would go and nibble some. Other animals also use if they are sick. Animals have more sense than humans and do not overeat the plants! I throw many pups away as they sprout constantly. A hardy, I think an attractive, plant that most bugs avoid. 50 cm is a good height
Aloe vera plants stopped growing
I have about 12 aloe vera plants that I repotted because last year they sprouted as pups from the mature mother aloe. I have had the mother aloe for about eight years and it always grew and sprouted pups, now it looks terrible and the grown pups have stopped growing too and the some of the leaves fall off by themselves (since December growth has been super slow). They are on the porch balcony, and receive indirect sunlight. Help!
Aloe Vera
Old leaves naturally die back, but the plants should be showing new growth at the same time. When the leaves fall off, are they shriveling up or do they look more like they’re melting/rotting? Dry, shriveled leaves can indicate too little water; rotting leaves, too much.
Were they left outside on a cold night (less than 50F)? Depending on how cold it got, this could have affected them.
Giving them more light might do the trick as well.
UnPotted plant
I have a nun potted aloe vera plant. At least I think it's an aloe vera plant. It's spotted, in a tiny pot, which is not in soil. How should I water this plant? Is it an aloe vera plant? I can send a pic if needed.
Unpotted Plant
If the plant is not in soil or any other type of media, then it’s likely an air plant. These should be sprayed with water every once in a while and soaked in room-temperature water every few weeks. After a ten-minute soak, turn the air plant upside-down and let it dry completely before putting it back in its spot.
Look up pictures of air plants to see if that’s what yours is. If it’s not an air plant and is in fact a succulent, doing the above will kill it!
Leaves going soggy
Hi there,
I have two plants that I have been growing for almost a year now, they have both been re-potted a few months back as there were 3 large pups and 7 small pups. I potted the 7 small pups in one pot and potted the 3 larger pups in 1 pot. All was going well until a few weeks back where I noticed some of the leaves going soggy on all of the pup plants... I cut the leaves off but it's still happening. Now the two larger adult plants have been suffering from this to with 3 of the largest leaves going soggy... I keep to the recommended 2-3 week watering cycle and all pots are placed in indirect sunlight. Please help as I love the plants and uses them for madisinal purposes.
PS
I cut some of the leaves every other month and bleed the gell into a plastic container and store in the fridge however the gell seems to be going a brownish colour, is it still usable or has it gone off and if so is there a way of storing the gell to get a longer shelf life.
Many Thanks
Iain
Soggy Leaves
It sounds like your aloe plant may be succumbing to rot. When you water, is the soil still moist? The soil should be almost entirely dry when you water again. Make sure that you’re also watering deeply, and not just getting the top layer of soil wet.
It’s best to use freshly harvested gel, if possible. We would discard the gel if it turns brown or has an unappealing odor to it.
Repotting because of long stem
I have a very mature aloe. It now has a veryyyyy long stem. There is probably about 12 inches between the dirt and the bottom green leaves. I have read online that I need to cut it, let it callus over then re pot. At the same time I will separate a pup off as well. Somebody reassure me because I am so afraid I will kill it. :(
Aloe
I know, mine also has a long stem except with dead leaves between the healthy leaves and the dirt. I also read about trimming the whole thing and letting it dry out. The stem needs a trim so bad but I keep procrastinating bc I don’t want to kill mine either. She’s huge and she was a gift and I’m scared lol I need an aloe expert.
Risky Repotting
Cutting and replanting an aloe vera stem is not without risk, but it can be done. Here’s how:
Again, this process is not guaranteed to work, so keep that in mind before you make the cut. Be sure to let us know how it goes!
I have a 20 year old aloe and
I have a 20 year old aloe and it's looking better than ever since I cut the stem and repotted it. I didn't let it callous because I didn't know I should, but the aloe didn't mind at all. I just put it into a pot of fresh dirt and it was fine right away. This plant is a survivor. You should have someone nearby who can help you because the plant may be quite heavy and it's easy to break it when moving it. Don't be afraid!
aloe vera plants
as my aloe vera plants get bigger do I need to put them in a bigger pot or are they okay where they are?
growing plants...
yes, I would like to know the answer to this as well. Do plants continue to grow to the size of the pot?
aloe repotting
We suggest that if the plant is looking tight in its pot (or there are too many pups), to repot the mother plant into a container only slightly larger than it is currently in (so that the plant takes up about ⅔ of the new pot). Plant any pups (with their roots) in their own containers. A healthy plant will continue to grow during its lifetime; some species grow faster than others.
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