Aloe Vera has been one of the most widely used medicinal plants on this planet. Aloe Vera plant is one of the simplest and least demanding plants to grow but still, it does require the right conditions to thrive. There are many factors responsible for the growth of Aloe Vera plants but the most important factor is Sunlight.
how much sunlight is essential for the Aloe Vera plant or the amount of sunlight needed by Aloe Vera plants are some of the important parameters that have to be kept in mind before planting it.
In this article, we make you aware of how to take care of Aloe vera plants<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> and also about the factors responsible for their growth.
Read on to know in detail. But before it, let’s know about Aloe vera in brief.
What is Aloe Vera?
Aloe Vera is basically a succulent plant and a species of the section Aloe. Aloe Vera, sometimes referred to as “wonder plant”, is a short-stemmed plant having thick, greenish, fleshy leaves that came out from the plant’s middle stem. People are using and growing aloe vera plants (Aloe Barbadensis) for actually thousands of years.
So if you want to buy aloe, the first thing you have to keep in mind is the location in your house that offers bright, indirect sunlight or sometimes artificial sunlight.
How Much Sunlight Does Aloe Vera Need?
Sunlight for Aloe Vera plant is mandatory because it plays an important role in the overall long-term health and well-being of the plant. Many of our readers now scratch their heads and think about the amount of sunlight required by Aloe Vera.
An Aloe Vera plant grows best when given lots of light or bright light. Because lack of sunlight results in tall and long-limbed plants. These problems occur when growing Aloe Vera plants indoors. For an indoor aloe vera plant, a south-facing window is ideal. But if you have a lack of sunlight in your house then aloe vera can also grow under artificial light. For an outdoor aloe vera plant, full sunlight is the best. But if you are in an extremely hot climate, then your aloe plant can thrive best in partial shade.
Apart from sunlight, there are other factors also that are responsible for the growth of Aloe Vera plants. Let’s discuss them all in detail. But before that let’s learn how to grow aloe vera plants in pot?
How to Grow Aloe Vera Plants in Pot?
Growing aloe vera plants in a pot can be quite easy as it is a healthy outdoor and indoor plant that takes 3 to 4 long years to mature fully.
You can easily grow aloe vera by following simple steps:
- Take a Terracotta pot with potting soil mix and fill till there will a gap of 3/4th inches left between the top of the soil and the rim of the pot.
- Now plant your plant leaves in the soil. Never water your plant just after planting. After planting your plant, do not water it for a week. This will help the plant in putting new roots.
- Now place your pot in a bright sunny place where it can easily get enough indirect sunlight.
- After getting fixed, water your plants once every two weeks. Always ensure that your pot has enough drainage holes in order to wipe out extra water.
How to Take Care of Aloe Vera Plants?
Aloe Vera plants are easy to care for and maintain as compared to other succulent plants. If looked after properly then aloe plants make wonderful houseplants. Now many of you think that the aloe vera plant is very difficult to grow, but the key to its proper growth is to just neglect it. Because sometimes giving too much attention may harm your plant or you can say that “killing your plant with kindness”. Hence, with proper lenient care, aloe plants can grow and furnish for even decades.
In this ultimate guide, we make you aware of everything that you must know about how to take care of your aloe vera, like watering, light, and soil, to do pest control, fertilizers, and much more!
So the tips to care for your aloe plants are as follows:
# Tips
Tip 1: How Often to Water Aloe Vera Plant
The first step to being kept in mind while planting aloe vera plant is overwatering. You must know how often you have to water your houseplant. Succulent plants<span style=”font-weight: 400;”> need less water as compared to any other houseplant. Therefore overwatering can destroy the whole plant from the bottom up because of stem or root rot. Aloe Vera should be watered only when the soil must be dried completely at least 1 to 2 inches. In terms of days, aloe vera should be watered for 7 to 14 days in the spring season or summer. And in winter, it extends up to 3 weeks.
Because it doesn’t require too much water but when it’s time to water them, the right process should be applied to make it more beneficial. While watering Aloe Vera, just keep in mind how to water your Aloe Vera plant. Always water the Aloe Vera plant from the bottom means you have to pour in the water till it starts emerging from the drainage holes below the pot.
Tip 2: How Much Sunlight Does Aloe Vera Need
While talking about the tips related to taking care of Aloe Vera plants, the foremost thing that is important is sunlight. As discussed earlier, Aloe Vera grows best in direct sun but the light tolerance of Aloe Vera totally depends on the place or location where it has to be planted. It can be planted indoors, outdoors.
So let’s discuss in detail the conditions of sunlight both indoors and outdoors:
Need for Sunlight for Indoor Aloe Vera Plant
If you are going to plant aloe vera in your house (indoor), then the lack of appropriate amount of sunlight may lead to suffer your Aloe Vera plant. How you can handle this situation. Let’s discuss-
- Aloe Vera plants need high intensity light, but in house to meet its light requirements you can easily place your plant within 3 feet of an unshadow south or west – facing window.
- But in colder or cloudier climates or in houses having north or east- facing window, the need of light for Aloe Vera plants can be fulfilled by implementing artificial lights.
- At last, you can position a fluorescent lamp just above 1 to 2 feet above Aloe Vera plant for roughly 16 hours a day.
The above steps will definitely help you to meet the daily light needs of your Aloe Vera plant.
Need of Sunlight for Outdoor Aloe Vera Plant
Bright, direct sunlight of 6 to 8 hours is highly recommendable for your Aloe Vera plant if you are going to keep your Aloe vera plant outdoor, despite the fact that some aloe vera plants need light shade or filtered sunlight at mid-noon. Apart from this aloe vera performs well in full sun, especially in cold areas. Things to be kept in mind for outdoor aloe vera plants-
- If you are going to grow your aloe vera plant in a pot or in the ground, then south- or west-facing outdoor area with some sandy soil proved to be the best condition.
- If you are going to move your aloe plant from indoor to outdoor, then here sunburn may be a problem.
- To make your indoor aloe vera plant easily accept the outdoor conditions then expose it to the sun daily for an increasing span of time each day for one or two weeks before leaving it outside permanently.
Keeping the above-mentioned points in mind will help your aloe vera plant to thrive well.
Tip 3: Best Potting Soil for Aloe Vera Plants
Another factor that influences the growth of Aloe Vera plants is soil. If you are a beginner and want to know about the best potting soil for your aloe vera plant then keep reading.
The soil that suits best for the growth of aloe vera must drain very quickly and doesn’t hold water in it. For this, use a well-draining potting mix, like that is made especially for cacti and succulents. Please avoid the use of gardening soil here. Or you can make your own potting soil by mixing perlite or pumice; coarse sand and regular potting soil which costs you cheaper than the commercial soil. With the use of potting soil, if you use terracotta or clay planters then it will be the best combination for the growth of your Aloe Vera plants because these planters help to kick water out of the soil and help to dry the soil faster.
Tip 4: Best Fertilizer for Aloe Vera Plants
Aloe vera never asks you if it wants to be fed or fertilized. But if you fertilized it once during their active growing season in spring or summer, then it will be beneficial for the plant. To grow your Aloe vera plant effectively organic succulent fertilizer is the best for it. If you want to use aloe vera gel for yourself then we will advise you to use organic fertilizers in place of chemical fertilizers. Also fertilizing an aloe vera plant for some time during the growing season helps the plants to bloom flowers, even if the flowers are rare to see on Aloe vera plants that are indoors.
Tip 5: How much Time Will it Take to Grow Aloe Vera
If taken care of properly then the aloe vera plant indoors gets matured within 3 to 4 years. And its leaves can go up to 8 to 10 inches long.
Benefits of Aloe Vera
Aloe Vera is always known for its medicinal and healing properties. Its gel proved to be a boon to the humans. Read on to know more about the benefits of Aloe Vera plant –
- Aloe vera is widely used as skin care ingredient, as haircare items, in drinks, supplements and many food products.
- Aloe vera gel has many bioactive compounds including vitamins, minerals, amino acids and antioxidants which help it to keep skin hydrated.
- Aloe vera gel is having anti-bacterial, antiseptic and anti-viral properties. Therefore it helps in treating skin problems and helps in healing wounds.
- Aloe vera gel helps in killing the plaque-producing bacterium in the mouth, thus helps in tooth decay.
- Aloe vera gel is beneficial in treating mouth ulcers.
- Aloe vera in juice form helps in removing constipation.
- Aloe vera gel helps in improving skin and prevents wrinkles.
- Aloe Vera helps in lowering blood sugar.
- Aloe Vera as houseplants helps in purifying air in our homes.
- Aloe vera can be used on minor burns and cuts and you make your own soaps, lotions and other skin care products from it.
Aloe Vera Plant Care Problems and Troubleshooting
The main problems arise while taking care of Aloe Vera plants are overwatering or lack of sunlight. But to avoid it just follow all the care tips that are mentioned above.
Apart from these problems, there are some other problems that may occur in any plant.
Let’s learn how to debug it.
- Spongy or Mushy Stem: If you notice that the stem of your aloe plant gets spongy; it means the plant gets overwatered and it starts rotting from the base. Make sure to cut the entire stem above the rotted section and try to root it again so it won’t spread.
- Brown Mushy Leaves- The main thing is to check the stem of your aloe vera plant is fixed and healthy. If the stem of your plant looks good but its leaf is getting brown and rotting then do trim it off from that point.
- Dried brown leaves- if the leaves of your aloe vera plant are getting dry then you could give more moisture to your plant. Dried leaves can be trimmed from your aloe vera plant very easily.
- The plant is very tall and thin- the reason for this can be that plant is not getting adequate sunlight. For this move your aloe vera plant to a sunny window or you can give exposure to your plant by artificial light as mentioned above in the section how much sunlight do aloe vera plant need.
- Brown leaf tips: This problem can be caused by underwatering or by sun scorch. Water your plant a little bit more to prevent brown tips.
Final Thoughts
Aloe vera plant is very easy to grow if taken care of properly. Sunlight plays an important role in the overall development of Aloe Vera plant. If you are going to plant it in your home then you must know how much sunlight Aloe vera plant needs. According to it you can easily plant your Aloe Vera and make your home greener.