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How to Grow and Care
for Healing Aloe
Vera Plants
 Aloe Vera, known as the
healing
plant, is easy to care for indoors or
in the garden. It is a drought tolerant succulent plant which
grows
well in dry shade to part sun.
Aloes have bright green stalks
that grow up to
1 foot long and up to 2 inches thick They usually have creamy
white stripes or dots along the leaves.
Aloe vera plants grow upright
and spread with time by creating clumping offsets. Perennial aloe
produces
dramatic, bright orange flowers on long stalks in the spring and
summer. Used medicinally aloe vera gel is beneficial for burns,
minor cuts, scrapes, insect bites and other skin irritations.
Water wise aloe vera is great for xeriscaping in dry gardens with other
succulents and cacti. They don't mind heat as long as they don't
get too much sun. Aloe does best in light or dappled shade on the
porch or on the windowsill in the kitchen. Aloe is even reliable
in dry
shade. One to two hours of direct sun is plenty.
Dark brown
or orange spots on the leaves is a sign of sunburn. Spots
can sometimes by crusty or flaky. Sometimes the entire stalk
turns orange.
Indoors, aloe
prefer bright, indirect sunlight. If they are getting sun in a
window, keep an eye on them for brown spots. You can either move
the plant further away from the window, or give it a screen to add a
bit of shade.
Aloe vera is
easy to care for and usually only needs water once a month or when the
stalks
become shriveled. Planted in the ground, it can tolerate more
drought and will grow slightly larger.
Aloe plants are cold hardy to
about 45 degrees. Mine have survived a light dusting of frost,
but they have overhead protection. I wouldn't leave them outdoor
in the open if Jack Frost visits your area frequently. Dark,
shriveled stalks are a sign of frost damage on these succulent plants.
Indoors, aloe vera plants are suited to the hot dry conditions of the
average home and make excellent houseplants.
They will tolerate a few hours of sun a day, but should be fine
anywhere with lots of bright, indirect sunlight.
Share the Aloe Love
Aloe vera plants form offset pups and will
eventually become a
clump of plants. It is easy to tease out the small plants.
They will have their own roots and be ready to grow immediately.
My plant started out in a small 4" pot from the
nursery.
Normally, you should repot plants in a slightly larger pot. But I
planted my aloe in a huge 12" container, knowing it would fill
in. Who
has time to repot their plants all the time? They are easy to
pull away from the mother plant, so you can give them to friends or
spread them around the garden.
To keep the pot from
looking empty while the aloe plant was filling in, I planted a small
trailing
succulent around the
edges called Rosary Plant, which you can read about on my Succulent Plant Page.
The two have similar cultivation needs, so they get along
great and look terrific.
After the first year, my
aloe created lots of offsets and filled in the pot nicely. The
new shoots are easy to tease out from the main plant so I can repot
them or give them to friends.
Aloe vera cuttings are also easy to root
Fresh cuttings need to scar over so the wet cut will get a thin film
over it. Ususally this will only take a few hours, but you
can actually wait days before your cutting must be planted.
Put at
least 1/3 of the
cutting under the ground. Either use a cactus soil mix or make
your own by mixing in sharp sand or vermiculite to help the soil drain
quickly. Keep the soil moist for the first few
weeks
while your aloe transplant develops roots.
The newly planted stalk may shrivel
while it lives off
the stored energy, this is normal. Resist the temptation to
overwater.
Like all succulent plants and cacti, aloe vera will rot if it sits in a
wet
pot.
Aloe Vera Gel for Skin Care
Aloe vera is famous for its healing benefits and is commonly grown in
kitchen gardens to help with minor burns and other skin problems.
To use aloe, work with one inch chunks cut from the tips of the
leaves. Peel off the spines on the edge of the stalk and cut open
the chunk. Squeeze
out the aloe juice and pulp onto sunburns or other skin
irritations.
Spread it around with your fingers or the aloe
peel. It will feel cold on sunburned skin. As it dries, the
juice may feel sticky
at first, but will eventually dry out, leaving a slight green
tint (relax, it comes off). Apply 1 - 2 times a day to cool off
burns and help heal
skin.
I was amazed at how well it worked on my baby's diaper rash
when nothing else helped. First, I'd slather the skin with aloe
gel, then put the remaining pulp into his diaper and wrap it all
up.
Make sure you have removed all of the outer skin
first!
Usually the rash was cleared up in a few
hours. Fresh is best, studies suggest aloe starts to loose its
properties within an hour of picking.
Healing aloe vera is an easy to grow plant indoors or out, with
outstanding health benefits and makes a great addition to any garden.
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Content, text, photos ©
Laura Zinkan
2009. Please do not hotlink to my photos
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