Store-bought potting soil is loaded with nutrients to aid a plant’s growth and development. But this type of soil is still not good enough for the picky aloe vera.

The Natural Habitat of the Aloe Vera

Native to Africa, the aloe vera is accustomed to living in dry, rocky, and open areas, exposed to high intensity sunlight and heat. Its fleshy leaves that retain water, horizontally growing roots to catch the scarce water, and sometimes prickly exterior are all adaptations that help the plant survive in these extreme conditions. Because the aloe vera is not evolutionarily equipped to survive in wetter, colder climates, you need to accommodate the plants’ needs when growing it in your own home. To do so, you will want to plant your aloe vera in soil that best mimics the dirt found out in the desert: sandy, rocky soil that has a low water content.

Soil Recommendations:

Here are a few mixtures you can create to give your soil the desert feel an aloe vera prefers:

1. Half Potting Soil, Half Sand: Perhaps the easiest and cheapest solution to your aloe vera soil dilemma is to simply mix your regular potting soil with the same amount of sand. You will want to use river sand, not beach sand.

2. Half Potting Soil, Half Granite Grit: Granite grit is simply crushed granite–that dark, granular igneous rock you might remember from high school earth science. Again, replacing a little bit of regular potting soil with granite grit will help meet your aloe vera plant’s special needs.

3. Equal Parts Potting Soil, Sand, and Perlite: Perlite is a volcanic rock that can expand up to twenty times its normal volume in heat. This triple ingredient recipe for aloe vera soil therefore creates soil with high moisture retention and aeration, making it ideal for plants accustomed to a desert lifestyle.

4. Potting Soil Made for Cactuses: If you visit your local gardening store, you can find many soil products lining the shelves made specifically for desert plants.

Restore the Nutrient Levels of Sandy Soils

A downside to planting an aloe vera in sandy soil is that its food supply decreases; the nutrients an aloe vera plant would normally get from regular potting soil is replaced by a low-nutrient sandy substitute. To compensate for this loss, you should regularly repot the aloe vera, revamping and restoring the soil contents. Another way to ensure your aloe vera plant gets the proper diet it needs from its soil is to fertilize it with a very dilute solution. Choices include slow-release fertilizer pellets and a balanced liquid fertilizer. Just try to avoid solving the issue of low nutrient levels by using compost, as it contains a lot of organic components and therefore increases the moisture level of the soil. The last thing you want to do it fix one problem and create another.

Once you have mastered growing your now adolescent aloe vera plant, you may want to start raising another. The good news: you do not have to go to the store to get an additional one of these wonderful succulents. Breeding new baby aloe veras from your original plant is simple and inexpensive. By separating and replanting the bulbs of the plant, you can keep growing aloe veras. Let’s take a look at how you should propagate your aloe vera plant.

The Unique Structure of the Aloe Vera Plant: 

Most plants in the succulent family, like cactuses, are best propagated in the traditional method: rooting. The process of rooting involves taking cuttings from a plant and placing the branches in new soil to develop its own roots and become an independent plant. However, due to the aloe vera’s unique anatomy, it needs to be reproduced in a different way.

High moisture content: Because of its high moisture content, aloe vera plants are not built to be breed from cuttings. When trying to reproduce an aloe vera, you leave the main plant alone, instead focusing on the outlying bulbs at the base of the plant. Taking a leaf of an aloe vera plant to root would only result in a dead or rotten leaf. When it come to aloe vera plants, just remember: rooting = rotting.

Rhizome root system: Luckily, biology has equipped the aloe vera plant with a rhizome root system that allows for an alternative way of propagation. Growing horizontally and shallowly, the rhizome is an underground stem that has multiple nodes from which shoots and roots grow. Although not ideal for cuttings, aloe vera plants can be reproduced by separating these bulbs, detaching the offshoots from the main plant. Simply put, instead of rooting an aloe vera leaf, you take the root of the aloe vera plant.

When to Propagate Your Plant 

It is important to wait for your aloe vera plant to mature before you can use it to breed additional plants. As a general guideline, when the bulbs are 1/5 the size of your main plant, you can split up and replant them. Waiting until the bulbs grow to this size gives your replanted bulb the best chance at survival.

A Tutorial: How to Separate Aloe Vera Bulbs 

Although broken off from the aloe vera plant, the bulbs are not broken. If you follow the steps outlined below, your aloe vera bulbs will develop into healthy, independent plants:

Things you will need: Make sure you have the following supplies on hand when propagating your aloe vera plant: (1) a clean, sharp knife or pruning shears; (2) potting soil; and (3) a new pot for the transplanted bulb.

1. Begin by familiarizing yourself with the structure of your aloe vera plant, working on identifying its bulbs. Remove the dirt around the base of the plant to get a better look. Also, remember that the bulb should have several shoots and an entire root system of its own when removed;

2. Once you have identified it bulbs and signaled one out for cutting,  take out your knife or pruning shears and cut the bulb away from the main plant. Make sure the tool you have chosen is clean to avoid exposing your bulb–and future new aloe vera plant–to any diseases or contaminants;

3. After splitting up the bulb and the main plant, replant the detached bulb in a new pot with potting soil. You may want to make a mixture of half potting soil, half sand to mimic the dry desert conditions the aloe vera plant thrives in in its natural environment;

If your pot not does have a drainage system (i.e. hole in the bottom of the container), you will want to line the bottom with rocks to prevent any extra water from rotting or drowning your plant;

4. Press down the soil firmly around the roots; and

5. Water and take care of your bulb as you would a normal aloe vera plant. Sit back, and watch as your plant grows.

Happy rooting!

Aloe vera is an extremely useful medicinal plant and helful to have around the house. Fortunately, they are also compact and attractive plants that adapt well to container growing. Aloe Vera is easy to raise, requires relatively little care and provides pretty foliage year round.

Aloe Vera plants are hardy succulents. With their dramatic tall spikes, they add some height to the place where they sit, and while they live outdoors very well if you live in a warm, arid environment, they do splendidly indoors as container planers. While a single Aloe Vera plant can be attractive in just a plain pot, there are also many Aloe arrangements that you can create using stones, signature containers and even other succulents.

First, from a design standpoint, Aloe plants do not do very well with other plants in the same container. Because they grow upright, and because their thick fleshy leaves are so eye catching, taller plants tend to look crowded, while shorter plants tend to get lost in their fronds. However, that does not mean that the Aloe needs to be your only succulent, especially indoors where you can control the environment. For example, a jade plant, with its fat full leaves and falling branches, makes an attractive counterpoint to an Aloe plant’s spikes, while cape Aloe, also known as Aloe Ferox, has similar tall leaves with a slightly different texture. For a bushier look, consider an Aloe Haworthioides, while a cereus cactus produces blooms once a year, lending some color and fragrance to your home.

When you want to plant your Aloe Vera outdoors, consider using several Aloe Vera plants in the center of the arrangement and then surrounding the plants completely with a shorter succulent, like the ever popular hen and chicks. These plants do very well when together, and the hen and chicks plants will add some color to the milder color of the Aloe Vera. When you want something a little more plain in an outdoor garden, plant a few Aloe Vera plants spaced irregularly in the bed and leave the ground between them bare. This recalls high desert conditions and it allows each plant to show off its curving leaves.

When working with outdoor plantings, consider bordering your Aloe plants in their beds with broad flat stones. Choose stones with warm dusty colors like brown, red, and yellow for that charming Southwestern look. Take advantage of these colors to complement the slightly dull color that some Aloe Vera plants get when they are grown outdoors.

If you are considering growing your Aloe Vera plants indoors, think about how attractive planting them in clay dishes could be. Aloe Vera roots can grow out as easily as they can grow down, and a dish container gives them plenty of room to let their leaves sprawl. If you are not worried about your Aloe arrangement having a small footprint in the place where you are setting it, a dish allows you to keep the plant low to the ground. A dish planting also allows the focus to be on the spread of the leaves.

Scatter river stones over the soil where you have planted your Aloe Vera, whether you have planted it indoors or outdoors. These stones do very well as a visual marker as their smooth surface contrasts nicely with the plants sharp leaves. Similarly, they can add a little bit of color to the area as well. In addition to their decorative use, the stones can also help your Aloe plants drain more effectively; as desert plants, they are very prone to wet roots which will then rot.

When looking for pots for your Aloe arrangements, consider the benefits of choosing terracotta. Terracotta pots allow excess water to evaporate through to the air, keeping the roots drier, and they also have a warm color that contrasts nicely with the vibrant color of the Aloe plant. These pots are also sturdy and heavy; as Aloe plants can become top heavy as they get older, this prevents the plant from tipping over easily. If you don’t mind losing some of the pot’s evaporating ability, painted pots can also create an eye-catching display.

If you’re ready to get started, check out our post on Aloe planting and care for more information. Try group plantings, broad dish planting or start with a single Aloe Vera plant on your window ledge. There are many reasons to love Aloe and to have an plant or two (or a whole garden), in your home. Not only are they infinitely useful and easy to grow, but they are beautiful too!

Planter from Stoneface Creations.