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the cultivation of aloe plants in containers and pots |
| The cultivation of aloes in pots or containers are easy, here are some general tips. | |
| The types of pot to use is mainly a matter of personal preference. Plastic pots are lighter, cheaper, require less watering and are easy to keep clean. Clay pots can help to lessen the effects of over-watering, but they become unsightly with stains and water marks. Then they need to be inside another container which does not help with their advantage to dry out. | |
| aloes in pots and containers in the garden | aloe hobby in pots and containers |
| container size. | |
| The rosette of an aloe is heavy. Choose a wide pot high enough to leave space for a layer of relative large stones without soil in the bottom of the container for weight and drainage. Small or young aloes should not have a lot of unused soil in the pot. In nature aloes can grow on a rock or in a crack with a minimum soil. | |
| soil or growing medium | |
| Crushed dolomite or limestone should be added to the cacti mix (normal potting soil is also fine) sold in nurseries. Except for Aloe plicatillis - this aloe grows in a slightly acid to neutral soil. | |
| Garden copost can be used (bake it to remove insects, seeds and so on) mix in the crushed dolomite or limestone. Never use garden lime it is too strong for pots. | |
| Mix stones/pebbles or crushed pottery into the potting mix for
drainage. Crushed Dolomite is recommended as it keeps the soil neutral to
basic. The plants need roughly 50% crushed dolomite, stones/pebbles/pottery and 50% (or less) potplant soil. Finer stones for smaller pots. |
| Feed the potted aloe plants with a good liquid fertilizer at 1/4 the strength given for other plants . |
| See our tips page |
| light |
| Aloes need as much light as possible.. A lot of sunshine is essential to prevent the leaves to soften, stretch out and become prone to infection. Most important, sun or strong light is needed to promote flowering. However, beware of scorching through a glass window. The plant will not die, but it will have ugly burn marks. |
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