Aloe Plant Care is easy. Learn how to care for it in this short guide and imply the tips.
Aloe Vera and all the other plants that belong to this genus are warm-climate plants but can be grown in cold temperate regions as well. This succulent is a low-maintenance plant and is often killed due to extra care. You can either grow it in a pot or on the ground. But if you live below USDA Zone 9, plant it in a pot because it doesn’t tolerate frost.
Aloe Plant Care & Growing Requirements
*Do you know a well-cared aloe vera plant can live up to 100 years?
Sunlight
Aloes love the sun. If the right amount of sunlight is given, the plant perks up quickly and produces fat fleshy leaves, although overexposure turns the leaves yellow and thin. Put it in a location where it receives plenty of sunlight but shade in the afternoon.
You can also grow it indoors; it’s EASY, but at least a couple of hours of direct sunlight is essential.
Watering
Its fat serrated leaves store water like many other succulents. If you overwater it, the plant will die from root rot. It is better to let the soil dry out between watering spells. To check, poke your finger 2 inches deep down in the soil and check whether the moisture is there or not. If it’s dry, then and only then water your aloe plant.
Soil Type
Use soil mix formulated especially for succulents. Aloe vera requires a well-drained growing medium with neutral soil pH.
Rootbound
Rootbound is the state in which a plant has no space left in a pot to spread its roots, and it starts to encircle them around the root ball.
Fertilizer
Aloes don’t require much fertilization, but when a plant is growing in a container after a point of time, soil nutrition gets consumed by the plant, which is why it is better to feed the plant with general purpose fertilizer during the growing season (in summer 2-3 times, in cooler zones).
Pests and Diseases
Aloe is usually quite pest-resistant but sometimes suffers from mites, aphids, and diseases like root rot due to improper care and overwatering.
Also Read: How to Re-pot Aloe Plants
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I am having a problem with gnats coming out of my inside plants. What is the solution? Is there anything you can put in the soil?? I keep vinegar water by them. I would like to destroy them while
they are in the soil, not in the air!!!
Put pebbles, gravel, or sand over the soil to get rid of the knats.
I was given one and it is Turing brown so I hope I can pull it out
Water with equal parts of peroxide and water
Unfortunately, gnats often come with the repotting soil. The mixture of half hydrogen peroxide 3-4% and half regular water will kill the larvae and tiny gnats, but they will eventually return. After you pour the hydrogen peroxide mixture all over the soil and around the stem of the plant, drain it from the bottom so that the catch dish underneath the pot is dry. Then, use plastic wrapping paper to seal the soil from the air for a few weeks. Tuck the plastic paper all around the stem and sides of the pot so that the gnats won’t table to escape.