made in Africa tips and advice in cultivating aloes from seeds

The tips below reflects years of experience in cultivating aloes in many diverse conditions. Obviously we have not planted aloes in all the corners of the earth and we rely on your judgement whether the conditions and remedies described apply to your situation.

Most aloes are easy to care for. All the aloe species in this web site are very easy going.

Few aloe species needs acid soil, and most aloes will make do with what they get, if the soil is near to, or basic.

Aloes with a tilted crown should be planted with their rosettes sideways or they will rot. The same for aloes with a decumbent growth pattern.

Many aloe plants occur on slopes or ridges. Give the plants plenty stones around the roots for drainage.

Aloes grow fairly easy from seed, even if a few aloe plants are very slow growers.

read:- soil conditions - fertilizer - watering - frost - sun described below.

Tips for germinating the seeds are below at the bottom of this page. It is not possible to give hard and fast rules for cultivating aloes from seeds (-e.g. climate, soil differ for each aloe species -). Please contact me if you need more help

We do not have much knowledge of pests and diseases. There is one very important pest you should look out for, all the time and that is ants.

They carry the aphids into the crevices of the rosette and that is a very quick way to loose an aloe to rot.

Aphids/ants:- Wash the plants with a dish washing liquid that contains lemon, but in the case damage, where there are already a lot of aphids, it will be necessary to use a powder. The danger of rot is high, keep the plant dry.

For more information on pests and diseases you may go to this site,

Soil Conditions

Good drainage is essential; Add humus and plenty stones around the roots - especially dolomite stones. Most South African aloes prefer basic soil.

Fertilizers

Aloes thrive on mature manure. If manure is not available then use any of the artificial fertilizers on the market during the growing season. It is better to use too little artificial fertilizer than too much.. Epsom salts crystals (magnesium-sulfate) can be sprinkled on the ground round the plants. One teaspoonful during the start and middle of the growing season. Do not sprinkle the salt or any fertilizer on the plants.

Watering

When in doubt leave the plant dry. If a plant starts to fold or shrivel it's leaves, check the roots. If the plant is large dig carefully on one side and see if the roots are healthy. Do not add extra water before you are not sure that the roots healthy. A dry plant will make new roots, a wet plant will rot.
If you go on leave, even if it is more than a month, leave the aloes dry, rather than to get some-one to water them.

Frost

There are aloes which can take a lot of frost. Others will loose the flowers but survive the frost. One tip I can give here is to keep aloes dry during winter if you are in a summer rainfall area with winter frost. I have no experience with frost in wet climates, but do contact me and I will put you into touch with people who can help. We have winter rain, but no frost. Which is tricky in itself without the frost.

Sun

The seeds of aloes will be blown by the wind and get stuck under stones or other plants It is interesting that the aloe seeds of very dry climates have large wings to travel further and they will need a rather large boulder to catch them. Small aloes are usually mainly in shade, larger plants outgrow their shade. However there are aloes which would thrive better on the shade side of a hill/mountain and in shrubs or bushes. It will be necessary to provide shade for young aloes. Once past the young stage most aloes needs sun to flower.
Aloe variegata is a small aloe from a very dry climate area in SA, and it grows mainly in the shade of other bushes or boulders. This aloe grows very well as an indoor pot plant in Europe. tip; If your A.variegata does not bloom, give more sun/light.

Germination differ for the seed - even seed from the same pod. This enhances the chances for survival. The seed of some Aloe species does not have dormancy and should be sown in 1-3 years depending how the seed was stored. (store without air, cool and dry) Some seed will not germinate until the inhibitor is removed. Aloe vera (barbadensis) has dormancy. It germinates best in light at 21C and may take from 30 to 180 days to germinate.

Use a loose neutral medium about 3 cm deep (little over an inch)- we use crushed palm. Place the seeds on top and cover with a layer of course sand. Place the seedling tray into a larger tray with water to wet the medium. Remove the seedling tray from the water and let the surplus water drip out. Place in a clear plastic bag and keep in a shaded warm place. Not a dark place.

As soon as the seedlings start to appear the bag must be kept open or fungus will damage the seedlings

It can be days weeks, months. Do not give up on the seeds unless fungus has obviously taken over, and it may be a good idea to keep the medium in the seedling tray slightly moist after the seedlings were transplanted for those late developers.

It happens often that some seedlings will appear after a discarded seed tray that has been standing dry for months is watered.

Seedlings can be crowded without ill effects. It is better to leave them crowded and wait until they have at least three leaves before transplanting.

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