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How to trim aloe plant


How to Grow and Trim Your Aloe Vera Plant

Aloe VeraDarren I

Aloe Vera succulents are a great addition to any succulent collection, or just on their own in your garden or kitchen countertop.  This short blog will not go in to all the interesting uses of Aloe Vera, as ALL of our succulents and cacti are sold simply as ornamental specimens, but instead focus on growing them and trimming them.

The pictured Aloe Vera is in a 4" container, the leaves are approx. 8-12" long.  Definitely ready for a larger container but no rush, it will just keep filling out this container until it gets too top heavy and falls over.   Naturally, Aloes and succulents, and plants will have tips and ends and branches and leaves etc. that get damaged or just die off.  Notice the brown tip on the upper left.  This is not the end of the world, and no your Aloe is not dying!  You have three choices. 1. Leave it alone and get on with life.  2.  Cut off the brown piece and get on with life. 3.  Or cut farther down the leaf and do whatever you want with that cutting of Aloe Vera. 

I chose to simply cut the brown tip off.  You can either cut really close to the brown edge, or cut into the good flesh but you'll still have a slight brown edge later.

That's better.   Now I'm going to cut a piece on the outside, older growth of the plant.  Always cut the older, outer leaves  when trimming, never from the middle/fresher growth.  When trimming your Aloe I recommend cutting as close to the base as you can.

 

As you can see this piece also had a brown edge, likely got bumped or something earlier in life.

Notice all the clear gel inside of the leaf.  Do a Google search for info on Aloe Vera Gel if you don't already know about this fascinating succulent!

Here's a Test for you.  Is it ok to trim the center leaves on Aloes?  The answer again is NO.  The fresh new growth, the center growth is often the best indicator of the overall health of your Aloes and other similar shaped succulents.   What you don't ever want to see is rot or mold or fungus growing in the center as it has likely entered the main part of your plant and will now likely die.  The outer leaves you can actually gently pull away completely from the main stem without damaging it's center.  Cutting or breaking off these center/middle pieces is only inviting problems.  Stick with your outer, older leaves, this will also trigger new growth from the center and thus more outer leaves!  I also don't recommend cutting more than a few pieces at a time.  Always leave at 5-6 leaves so it has plenty of  life to photosynthesize.

Key to growing these guys is watering, never water if soil is wet!!!!  Water only when soil is DRY!!!!  Keep away from humidity and Freezing temps!!!!!   Full sun is ok, they will grow duller and get some reds in their coloring, full shade will cause a darker green color, experiment with their location and find the coloring you like best!

I hope you learned a little about Growing and Trimming your Aloe Vera succulents,  so much more can be said about these guys, maybe next time.

Tags: Aloe vera, Aloe vera care, Aloe vera for sale, Trimming aloe vera

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Why, When, and How to Prune Aloe Plants [ Easy 3-Step Guide ]

Aloe plants have a ton of benefits and their leaves can be used in many ways. Even if you don’t plan on using aloe leaves, pruning them will help the plant grow bigger faster.

Here’s everything you need to know on why, when, and how to prune aloe plants.

Related Post:
40+ Interesting Types of Aloe Plants with Pictures

Contents

Should You Trim Aloe Plants?

Aloe plants have a better than average growth rate than most succulents. Most people grow aloe vera to harvest the gel in their leaves. If you want to grow tall, juicy leaves, pruning your aloe plant from time to time will help you achieve faster growth.

Even if your aloe plants are purely decorative, pruning them will help keep them healthy. Cutting away the mature and dying leaves will make way for healthy, fresh growth.

When there are a lot of leaves, the aloe plant uses up a lot of energy in maintaining them. Especially the old leaves, as they take up more energy while trying to survive. Pruning them helps direct energy towards growing young leaves.

You should be careful while pruning aloe plants because every leaf is chock full of nutrients that the plant needs to survive. Pruning it too much or too often will be harmful to your aloe plant.

When to Prune Aloe Plants?

The beginning of spring is the best time to prune aloe plants. Pruning your aloe plant once or twice a year is sufficient unless you’re trying to harvest the gel from aloe vera leaves.

You should prune your aloe plant whenever you see any dry or damaged leaves. If pests or diseases have damaged leaves, it is best to prune them immediately to project the rest of the plant.

If the leaves turn yellow or brown and develop blemishes, you should prune them away. It is a result of either overwatering or prolonged exposure to sunlight. There is no way to revive these leaves, so it is best to prune them before they start rotting.

Removing the damaged leaves will help revive the aloe plant while you adjust its environment to help it thrive again.

How to Prune Aloe Plants

Aloe plants are fast-growing succulents, but that doesn’t mean that they grow fast. Their growth rate is fats only when compared to other succulents. If you compare them to herbs or other potted plants, they grow quite slowly.

You can’t play fast and loose with the pruning shears because the leaves of the aloe plants store the water and nutrients required by the plants.

Each leaf you snip off means loss of nutrition for the plant, so you need to be careful to prune only when the plant needs it.

Follow the steps below to prune your aloe plant the right way:

Step1: Identify the Leaves

If you haven’t pruned your aloe plant in a while, it is possible that your aloe plant is overgrown and has a lot of overlapping growth. It can be difficult to determine where to start.

The leaves on the outside of the aloe plant are the oldest. However, there can be dead or dying leaves on the inside too, so you’ll need to work your way in.

There are 3 kinds of leaves you should be looking for—dead or dying leaves, dry or shriveling leaves and yellowing or blemished leaves.

These leaves are using up the energy that should go towards fresh and healthy growth, so they need to be pruned away.

Step 2: Gather Your Tools

You can use scissors or pruning shears to prune your aloe plant. Using a knife or blade is not wise as the leaves will be quite thick and you might hurt yourself in the process.

Stay away from serrated scissors. You need a sharp blade that makes a clean cut. It is also a good idea to wear a clean pair of gloves since the leaves might be leaking gel.

Once you have the right tools, you need to sterilize the equipment. One of the biggest reasons for the spread of diseases in plants is using unsterilized equipment for pruning and transplanting.

If you plan on harvesting the gel from the aloe vera leaves, it is even more important that all your equipment is clean.

Step 3: Prune Away

Now carefully cut away all the leaves you identified. You have also picked out the leaves that are not viable anymore, so you don’t need to worry about where you make the cut.

Just cut as close to the base as possible. The part that is left over will wither away on its own. If you want to harvest the aloe from the leaves later, let the yellowish liquid drip out of the leaves first before you cut them open to access the aloe gel.

FAQs

Does cutting aloe hurt the plant?

It depends on the number and quality of the leaves you cut. Cutting away dying, withering or yellowing leaves will help with robust and faster growth of the aloe plant.

However, the leaves are where the plant stores water and nutrients. Cutting or pruning too many healthy leaves will damage the plant.

Do aloe plants grow back after you cut them?

Ideally, you should cut aloe leaves as close to the base as possible. They will not regenerate, rather they will wilt away.

Aloe leaves cut at the middle or close to the tip will heal and form calluses within 3-4 days. These leaves also do not grow back. However, the plant will grow new leaves as long as you continue to care for it.

How to keep Aloe arborescens in shape? Methods of pruning and rejuvenation of the agave. Photo - Botanichka

The leader in the healing properties of aloe vera is still inferior in popularity to the simple, almost invulnerable aloe tree. Even its popular name "agave" indicates that the plant can withstand almost any kind of care and is very durable. But aloe tree is rarely found in the list of the most decorative species for a reason. To keep it in shape and not grow huge prickly giants, you need to know some secrets. Basically, it all comes down to a certain formation of the plant. nine0003 How to keep Aloe arborescens in shape?

Aloe arborescens is not the most ornamental of the genus

Aloe arborescens is hard to miss. It got its name for its straight, strong, woody shoots, on which oppositely narrow fleshy leaves are located. Their xiphoid shape is somewhat masked by an arcuate bend, fleshiness, cartilaginous teeth with spikes. Leaves do not die off until 4 years old.

Aloe vera arborescens at the end of winter in a room is rare. Reddish, drooping flowers in racemes at the top of the shoots bloom only in ideal conditions and at a considerable age. But just the ideal conditions are that the aloe tree in the room, as a rule, is unattainable. nine0003

Read also our material How to make aloe bloom?

Most often, Aloe arborescens is grown without any control until it becomes a disheveled, neglected, strange giant. Then, propagating it, replace it with a young plant.

Without restraint, the stems easily rise to a height of more than a meter, do not branch, giving the appearance of a neglected, unattractive savage. It is very easy to prevent loss of compactness. This does not even require efforts, but only the desire to make care even more minimal, on the verge of negligence. At the same time, it is necessary to take measures for the formation. nine0003 Aloe is light-requiring, it should be kept only in scattered-sunny and sunny places. © JamJams

Aloe Arborescens Basic Requirements

Aloe arborescens, which can withstand almost any stress, has a modest environmental requirement. Manipulating with care, you should still adhere to the minimum requirements for the plant:

Aloe arborescens soil should never be nutritious. © trevenacross

Aloe's patience is worth testing more often

Aloe was not accidentally considered a symbol of patience in the ancient Arab countries. The enviable vitality, unpretentiousness and ability to withstand drought in Aloe arborescens are truly legendary. And it is precisely these qualities of it, if you do not want aloe to grow rapidly and always remain under control, it is better to experience it. nine0003

Of course, there is no question of not taking care of the plant at all or keeping it in extreme conditions. But some tricks in care will reduce growth rates and make plants easier to form.

Start by choosing a container: to contain the above-ground part, you need to choose a pot that is commensurate with the size of the roots, giving them a little space to grow. The maximum diameter of pots for adult aloe is 18 cm.

Aloe arborescens soil should never be nutritious and “normal”: the poorer the soil, the slower the aloe will develop. Even the substrate for succulents and cacti is not the best option. nine0003

To further reduce the fertility of an already fairly temperate soil, add inert additives to the soil - from brick chips, expanded clay to perlite and vermiculite. And be sure to add a serving of charcoal. The drainage level for Aloe arborescens should be at least 6 cm.

Aloe arborescens should be watered to a minimum. Even in summer, when the plant is actively growing, watering should remain moderate. But constant stress and prolonged drought in the summer can both hold back growth and lead to a loss of rosette attractiveness. nine0003

Therefore, it is better to use a different strategy - let the soil dry out almost completely or completely, but not more than a few days, and irrigate with a small amount of water. In winter, watering is carried out very rarely - once a month - or it is generally abandoned.

In the first year after planting or transplanting Aloe arborescens, it is better not to feed at all. In the future, limited to minimal procedures. It is enough to carry out 2 or 3 top dressings in the summer with fertilizers for succulents and cacti. nine0003

It is not worth replanting aloe every year. The soil is changed only when there is no other way out and the roots appear in large numbers from the drainage holes.

Aloe arborescens can remain attractive for more than 10 years as a "group of palms". © work-of-art

Formation is the key to the decorative effect of aloe

If you do not take additional measures for regular pruning and containment, aloe arborescens, even with the recommended care measures, will grow up to 1.5 m in 3 years, not pleasing with the appearance of long, leafy bottom , gradually losing the attractiveness of the shoots. And then there will be only one way out - rejuvenation or replacement. nine0003

Fortunately, pruning on aloe is a kind of harvesting of medicinal leaves:

If you remove the most medicinal lower leaves, you can make room for the development of side shoots from the axils, which instead of boring "sticks" will form interesting bushes.

Aloe arborescens with a bare lower part of the shoot looks like a kind of succulent "palm", and the development of new branches slows down the growth of the main ones. It is worth starting to remove the lower leaves and form the trunk as soon as the main shoot rises to a height close to optimal - from 15 to 30 cm.

With side rosettes, you can do something more radical - they should be “cleaned” already at the level of 5-10 cm. Of course, side shoots harm their healing properties. But not so much as to sacrifice the decorativeness of the plant and remove them immediately, as some reference books advise.

Read also our article Aloe - medicinal types and effective recipes for use.

If a central or large lateral shoot begins to appear too massive, it can be safely cut back to the first branch or removed completely, allowing the rest of the branches to develop freely. nine0003

Aloe arborescens can remain attractive for more than 10 years as a "group of palms".

The main method of propagating Aloe arborescens is cuttings

If the old Aloe has lost its shape

A neglected, overgrown, disheveled Aloe that has not been helped to keep its compactness in a timely manner should not be given a second chance: plants that have already lost their shape are really easier to replace. Aloe arborescens is one of the easiest succulent offspring to grow.

The main method of reproduction and the easiest option for restoring a bush that has been damaged from a decorative point of view is cuttings. The tops of the lateral straight or central shoots are cut from the plant, not too old, with a branch diameter of about 1 cm.

The choice of thin young twigs is not the best solution, because in a tree-like aloe, surprisingly, the power of the original shoot is directly proportional to the strength, beauty and rate of tillering of the new plant.

Cuttings should be cut according to the general rules - with a sharp, clean blade, in one motion, removing leaves from 5-6 cm of the lower part of the stem and drying the cuttings for 1 to 2 weeks. The rest of the leaves should not be injured.

Dried cuttings are planted immediately in individual containers: the pots are filled with soil, it is slightly shed and the entire bare part of the stem is immersed in a small hole, filling the cuttings with sand. nine0003

The lower leaves are used as a guide and support, planting plants securely on them. But if the cuttings are asymmetrical, you can install small props.

It is better to root cuttings of aloe under a hood, with regular ventilation. For rooting aloe enough heat and diffused light. As soon as young leaves begin to grow, the plants are transferred to a permanent place.

how to properly prepare leaves at home for treatment purposes and get raw materials for medicine, how to help the plant after the procedure? Selo.Guru - web portal about agriculture

Aloe is a perennial herb that can be found in almost every home. But just like any other tree, it needs pruning.

How to trim an overgrown scarlet tree without harming it? And also our article will tell about the care of the plant after pruning.

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  • Why should I prune my plants?