Blue aloe plant is huge!

AmusingistheDawn · Sun May 03, 2009 4:15 pm

I bought this from lowes about 3 years ago. It was 6" tall and said that it wouldn't grow more than 8-12" tall. It is getting a bit top heavy now, and has a small litter of pups. How big can this guy grow? I want to re-pot it into a much larger container, but I was wondering if I could cut some of the plants lower growth and plant it deeper into the soil.

[img]https://img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/amusingisthedawn/DSCN3538.jpg[/img]

bonsaiboy · Sun May 03, 2009 7:26 pm

I would prune it some, say cut off the first upper half. This will shorten it for the time being. If it is a tree aloe, it can grow quite huge, some can grow over 30+ feet.

AmusingistheDawn · Sun May 03, 2009 8:20 pm

So don't prune the bottom half and plant it deeper? I thought the pruned sections would eventually turn into roots.

Do I have to remove the pups from the pot or can I transplant into a wider pot and expect a wider plant?

vintagejuls · Sun May 03, 2009 10:40 pm

Wow, your plant is quite happy! Good for you.

Bonsaiboy has a good suggestion to prune it. Sometimes these things are a bit experimental.

If the plant were mine, I would cut the top half off; peel off a couple of the leaves from the cut piece and just stick it in dirt in a small pot and see what happens. As for the bottom half and the 'litter of pups', you could wait and see if it starts to sprout new growth; or if you feel it might be root bound (how long has it been in the current pot?), repot it into a pot just 1 size larger. If it's been in the current pot just a short time just leave it alone so as not to shock it.

Cacti are slow growers; I have a cactus garden outside - low maintenace!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

AmusingistheDawn · Mon May 04, 2009 3:42 pm

Thanks!

I'm a bit confused. Can I leave the pups alone and let them grow with the main plant or will it hurt it? I have a large pot that I would like to transplant to, and don't know if I should keep the pups or cut them out.

I am favoring to NOT cut the top half off, but still I'm undecided.

vintagejuls · Mon May 04, 2009 4:02 pm

It's a little hard to tell from the pic but it appears as though about half way up the plant, the stock gets quite thick. This is where you could cut it and take that piece and put in a small container in fresh soil to root. Of course, as I mentioned, remove the leaves from the bottom of the cut piece so you have a stem to place in the new soil (use a very small pot too).

Then the base with the pups can continue to grow. Yes, I would leave the pups with the base until they are quite established then seperate them.

Please remember though when a plant becomes root bound you want to only move it to 1 size larger; otherwise, it is too much of a shock if you put it in an overwhelming size of an area.

I have had very good experience with cuttings from cacti and succulents in making new plants. If you are unsure of cutting the entire top half off (which I understand), snip just a little off the top and put it in a tiny little pot; place it in the same location as your original plant. The plant seems to be quite happy there with the amount of light it is receiving.

My concern is it is getting very top heavy and may just break off eventually. I've known people that take an aloe 'leaf' off and stick in dirt and it starts to grow! Mother Nature is just amazing...

I hope my post has answered your questions. Please let me know what you decide. Good luck.

AmusingistheDawn · Mon May 04, 2009 4:07 pm

That is very helpful, thanks!

I'm going to go ahead and cut the thick heavy top and plant it in a smaller pot. I'm familiar with taking cuttings and even own some gel to aid in the procedure

That is a good idea and I feel better about it now. With the aloe, I need only peel back the lower portion of the cutting so that it has a stem like appearance?

Kisal · Mon May 04, 2009 4:30 pm

Maybe someone already mentioned this, but allow the cut end of the stalk to callus off (dry a bit) before you put it into the soil. Just letting it air dry for 24 hours should be sufficient. An alternative is just to plant it in dry soil and avoid watering it for a day or two.

I'm not sure this process is essential, but it's what I was taught to do to avoid/reduce the possibility of rot in succulents and cacti.

The Helpful Gardener · Tue May 05, 2009 11:50 am

Cut top two thirds of plant off. Try and root the tip of that; just a couple of nodes. Leave pups to populate pot. Make aloe vera gel from rest of cuttings (best skin stuff I ever used; dry skin, scars, you name it...)

There's more...

[url]https://www.svlele.com/herbal.htm[/url]

Despite the admonitions about the antifungal, anti-bacterial properties I suspect from the list of ingredients this would be a good item to compost (high lignin and saponin favors the fungal side, the hard side to get started).

HG