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Aloe Vera – Tips for Cutting and Transplanting
If you have decided to grow aloe vera at home, the first thing you should know is that it is a plant that cuttings can also reproduce. It is enough to get rid of the leaves of another plant to obtain one or several plants quickly.
Aloe Vera Cuttings
If you don’t know how to do it, you will find all the tips to plant your aloe vera cuttings and thus obtain other plants with leaves ready to be used in this article.
From them, an excellent aloe gel can be made to apply to the skin in case of cuts, insect bites, or irritations. Alternatively, extract the fresh pulp and store it in the fridge or freezer (find out how to freeze aloe vera leaves here).
Aloe Vera Cuttings: What to Use?
You can get new aloe vera plants by planting healthy leaves with part of the stem from another plant. To not damage the mother plant, it is recommended to use the lateral leaves, gently separating them from the original plant with a sharp, disinfected knife at the base of the stem.
The leaves can be planted in the ground with or without roots, but if you want to be sure that they will take root, we recommend that you bury them with all the roots.
To remove the roots without risk of breaking them, first use a trowel to remove the soil from the surface and then proceed to the extraction.
It should also be borne in mind that several cuttings can be made from a single aloe leaf. To do this, simply cut the leaves along the vertical vein.
In this way, you can obtain 2 or 3 cuttings of about 1 or 2 inches, depending on the size of the mother plant. Each of the leaf cuttings should then be replanted into a different container.
At this stage, the cuttings, including the roots, can be grown directly in the soil or water. We will look at both methods below.
Aloe Vera Cuttings In Water
If you don’t have a lot of space, or you’re short on time and can’t use soil right away, try growing your aloe vera cuttings in water in a container.
Next, take a fragment of the original plant (in the case of aloe, a leaf, or shoot) and put it in a pot two-thirds full of water. The new plants will begin to grow in a few days.
Cut Aloe Vera On The Ground
Growing aloe vera cuttings in the soil are undoubtedly the most efficient way to develop new seedlings with leaves.
As we have said, it is possible to use both leaf fragments and leaves with roots (in technical jargon, “suckers”). However, in the second case, the chances of success are certainly higher.
Therefore, if you decide to propagate aloe leaves or shoots by planting them in the ground, proceed as follows:
- Dig a hole in the ground about 5 cm deep;
- Next, plant your seedlings with the whole root if present, taking care to make a small incision at the end of the root to facilitate rooting.
The best soil for planting aloe cuttings is a mixture of sand and peat moss. As it is the new soil, it will not be necessary to add fertilizer. The best place to store the seedlings should be bright enough to receive the right amount of light (8 to 10 hours a day), but never in direct sunlight.
If you have them inside the house, place them near a window or balcony door, preferably in a poorly ventilated area of the house.
The best time to plant is spring when the weather is neither too hot nor too cold.
The soil must be kept moist at all times, but not excessively. Therefore, use a saucer to collect excess water.
How To Transplant Aloe Vera Cuttings?
Propagation of Aloe Vera cuttings will be much faster and easier if small pots (no more than 10 cm in diameter) are used. If you use a pot that is too large, you run the risk of giving the plant too much water and causing its roots to rot.
This means that when the new seedlings start to grow, you will have to transplant them into larger pots. Unfortunately, if you’re not handy enough and don’t have a green thumb, even this operation, called a transplant, can be a bit difficult.
This Is The Procedure To Follow:
- Turn the old pot upside down and, tapping with your hand, carefully remove the plant from the container with all the soil;
- If the roots remain attached to the bottom of the pot, use a scraper, trying to damage them as little as possible;
- Once the plant has been removed, clean it by removing all dead leaves;
- At this point, fill the new pot with soil, dig a hole as big as the roots of the plant and bury it;
- If you have a huge pot, you can plant several aloes together, but you will have to transplant them after a few months.
Suppose you have an orchard or garden instead of putting the cutting-propagated aloe plants in a pot. In that case, you can also consider transplanting them directly into a flower bed, provided they have grown sufficiently.
However, if you choose this route, you will have to prepare the soil with the proper nutrition and constantly defend the new plants against the aggression of pests and insects.
