| Houseplant
Cultural
information: Aloe vera is really easy to grow. Just
pick a sunny southern location for your plant... water it every
couple of weeks and watch it thrive. Aloe vera can grow to
into a big plant, so be sure you have a good place to keep one
when it grows up!
The leaves of a three year
old Medicine plant can be used to help heal numerous afflictions...
including burns. Aloe barbadensis does not sucker freely like other
Aloes do. If you buy an Aloe plant with lots of little suckers
coming from the base of the plant its probably not a True Medicine
plant.
Aloe Vera prefers a location with strong, direct sunlight to
keep its succulent leaves from elongating. Large south windows,
sunrooms or greenhouses are recommended. Sunshine is the key to
growing a nice Aloe.
The soil of an Aloe barbadensis should dry down about 1/4 to
1/3 of the way down the container before watering. Then thoroughly
water your Aloe until water runs freely from the drain hole. I
water my Medicine plant every other week in the summer, every
three weeks in the winter.
Medicine plants are not really heavy feeders. I only feed mine
about twice a year, but it has a steady supply of aquarium water
which does contain a few nutrients. Feeding every 3 months should
be sufficient.
Like mentioned before, Aloe barbadensis takes a very long time
to produce side suckers. To propagate them remove the plant from
its pot and gently
pull the side shoots off... then re-pot in good quality cactus type
potting soil available from our sponsor.
Common houseplant pests include: I've never seen an insect
pest on an Aloe.
Medicine plants are available in small 4" pots thru large
10" specimens.
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