Aloe Plant Care
A Quick Run Down Of Aloe Plant Care
Aloe plant care can be as simple or as complex as you make it, but remembering that these are hardy, succulent cactuses who thrive on the storage of nutrients and are indigenes to sunny, dry places, you can recreate an environment for your wonder plants by following the rules of nature in the dessert. Give your aloe plants a small, cozy pot, as aloe plant care for a specimen of up to 6 inches in height will be made much easier if you do so. Root lock is not an issue with aloe plants, and they don’t need much water at all, so the smaller the pot the better.
Some people use fertilization as part of their aloe plant care routines, but you must remember not to use fertilizer past ½ strength if you decide to do this. Also, don’t do this very often, maybe once every sixth watering, which should equal out to about once or twice per year. Your aloe plants will need to be watered only once every two weeks at the most, and more than likely you will find that they need less than this. During the winter months, aloe plant care slows as they go into a dormant state until the days begin to lengthen once more. You will only water, and at much lower levels, once a month at the most.
Your soil choice must be well drained, and you can find cactus mix potting soil at your local greenhouse that will make your aloe plant care regiment much easier on you. A three or four inch planting pot will work nicely for each of your aloe plants, so if you plan to propagate them on your own just pick up a few extras when you’re getting started. A healthy aloe plant that has received good care for a year or more will produce little shoots at the base area, just above the soil. Simply plucking them and placing them into the same type of soil mixture that the parent plant was in will make easy work of new growth.
You don’t need to worry about special aloe plant care techniques when you begin snapping or cutting the stems. Aloe will heal itself at the wound within a couple of days, and you won’t have to do anything to help this process along. You can keep your cutting fresh for up to two weeks in the fridge, and in fact many people do this intentionally because the cold adds to the soothing nature of the aloe excretions when applied to burns and cuts. Aloe is also harvested for the nutrient rich, edible juice that it provides.