Experts in rooting Aloe Vera babies.

[Magic Miss Sarah]

I have an odd question. Not really sure it's that odd, but after a ton of research, I can't find the answer, so it must not be a common question.

I've had my aloe girl for over a decade. She has had DOZENS of babies. I have always rooted them in a jar of water and they do fine. They root, I plant the roots in dry soil and they grow. Is this unusual, or is it just not the preferred way to root? Finally, if it's an ok method to root, can you do it with more established stalks?

I like this way, because you get to watch the roots grow. I'm kind of a geek that way. Lol

[Asica]

Aloe just like most succulents will rot if put in a water. I am actually surprised that they grow for you this way. Do you cut off the rot before planting in?
I do it two ways. One is I put cutting straight into a dry soil, and water it few days later. Second method, I let the cutting heal in cool dark place for few days, weeks, whenever I have time to plant it. With aloe there is no roots growing with a cutting left to heal. However, there are other succulence that creat great roots and pops from leaves. I love finding those. They are such an interesting group of plants.
The other day, I found aloe inside my compost bin. There is a lid, but somehow the roots sent out one shoot. I had to save the little guy. I have also saved some aloe from a trash bin, thrown away by gardener. One time, I also got some aloe from a Neighboor that had a poor guy in a plastic pot on a side of the house. The roots were growing on some table too. There was bunch of little babies stuck together. I planted them on top of big wood log. They look really great.

[imafan26]

Water rooting is unusual for succulents. Aloe is very easy to root. You can even grow it from a leaf cutting. Just cut off a piece of the leaf and let the cut end callus off and dry and stick it in soil. I have removed pups from the aloe. I you can get some of the roots with the pup, it usually does fine just planted in the soil.