What to Do With an Overgrown Aloe Plant
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When healthy, aloe vera plants grow abundantly, forming new leaves, blossoms, and even new plants. Because of this, these plants require frequent attention. While an aloe constitute requires more delicate trimming than other plants, post-obit pruning methods will aid you maintain your plant. By removing damaged and excess parts, yous can promote health and growth in your plant and go far a proud role of your room.
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1
Get a cutting utensil. You'll demand something that tin cut through small foliage stems and roots, such as a knife from your kitchen. Scissors can too be used, and if you've let a big plant go for a while, you many need shears to tame it.
- Sterilize kitchen knives before using them on your plant. You can exercise this past rubbing alcohol on the blade, and letting it dry.
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Trim damaged leaves. Tackle the bad leaves first. Carefully motility the branches and leaves if you take to in order to find any leaves that are dried, dark-brown, or expressionless. Unhealthy leaves that are highly discolored can likewise be removed. Employ your pocketknife or scissors to cut them at the stalk.[one]
- Be gentle as y'all do this and then that you practice not accidentally break healthy leaves.
- Pests or disease on these leaves tin can infect the plant, so these leaves must be removed.
- Poor lighting, too little h2o, or besides much water are causes for dying leaves.
- Aesthetically, it's best to harvest a whole foliage at a time, rather than cutting it in one-half.[two]
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Cut excess outer leaves. Use your knife or shears to remove enough healthy leaves to make the found fit in the pot. Bring the cutting tool to the base of the stalk and piece through cleanly. These leaves are the oldest and incorporate the nearly aloe vera gel.[three]
- The gel has many medicinal purposes. If yous desire to use these leaves, cut the thorny edges on the leaves and store the leaves in the refrigerator until you desire to extract the gel.
- Avert cutting leaves closest to the establish'due south main stem. These leaves are young and are needed to replace the former leaves.
- Typically, an aloe vera plant volition shed its lower leaves over time anyway, so these are the ideal leaves to trim when y'all want to prune your plant.[4]
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Remove old stems and blossoms. Cut these at the stem the same way y'all cut leaves. One time the flowers on the constitute blossom, they soon driblet seeds. While they die, they use nutrients that the plant could exist putting towards new, good for you leaves. Since flowers rarely occur on aloe grown equally a houseplant, if you grow your aloe vera indoors, you will likely not have to deal with blossoms.[v]
- Expressionless flowers attract bugs and can drop into the found's pot, absorbing water and creating a mess.
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Remove suckers. Also chosen pups, suckers are offshoot plants. These new growths accept free energy away from your plant and crowd the pot. Nigh of the fourth dimension, you can pull the shoots upwards out of the dirt with no harm to the plants. Apply your cutting tool to cut the shoot off of your plant.[6]
- Some suckers may go buried and tangled under the soil, and so you'll take to take the plant out of the pot, carefully remove the clay from the root ball, and untangle the roots.
- If you'd like, you lot can constitute the pups in their own containers to grow them into a whole new found.[7]
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Remove the plant from its pot. Make sure the soil is slightly damp before you remove the plant; this will help prevent impairment to the roots. Gently hold the stem of the plant as you tilt the pot to the side. The plant should come up out if you pull on information technology. If it doesn't, try squeezing the pot or tapping it against a solid surface. Deal with any suckers you couldn't get before.[8]
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Prune the roots. If you demand to repot the plant, you lot may need to exercise this. Get-go, shake the dirt off the found. Trim the long root and remove some side roots. The amount that you go out should be plenty to take up about 2/iii of its new pot. This makes the aloe vera easier to ship merely also allows it to regrow a stronger root system in new soil. Water lightly until the plant has adjusted.[9]
- Allow the plant air out for a 24-hour interval subsequently pruning the roots. This will let any cuts on the roots heal into callouses and prevent long-term harm to the plant.
- Look out for root rot. Find whatever damaged areas and slice them off, being careful not to damage the healthy root. Sprinkle powdered sulfur or charcoal on the pruned areas if you can.[x]
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Add New Question
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Question
My institute was only watered for every vi months. At present, I have started watering it every ii weeks of when it needs it. It has green growing out of the brown. What should I practise? Should I cut off both the dark-green and the brown parts?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional Gardener in Texas. She has been a abode gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Proficient Respond
Sounds like your institute died back to the roots, and is at present growing again. Your watering schedule sounds about right- I water my aloe every few weeks. Go alee and remove the dark-brown parts- they aren't coming dorsum. Exit anything that's green. Hopefully your aloe will regrow itself completely!
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Question
Practise the leaves abound back once I cut them? Or exercise I take to repot it to grow an entirely unlike plant?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional Gardener in Texas. She has been a home gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Expert Answer
The leaves that you lot cut off won't grow dorsum, but the plant volition supervene upon them past growing new ones at the acme. Your constitute should exist fine if y'all cut off a leaf now and and then.
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Question
My aloe vera constitute has a broken leaf. Should I cut the whole leaf off?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional Gardener in Texas. She has been a home gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional person Gardener
Proficient Answer
It's up to you whether or not to cut the leaf - the plant itself should be fine either way.
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Question
I repotted my plant. First I took off pups and bad leaves. I repotted only didn't cutting the roots. Will information technology still grow?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional Gardener in Texas. She has been a home gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Practiced Answer
Yep, the plant should be fine. It is not necessary to trim the roots when yous repot.
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Question
I bought a single rather large aloe leaf and for the heck of it I stuck it in the pot and it is doing well. It has been 7 weeks. Will it produce shoots?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional person Gardener in Texas. She has been a domicile gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Expert Answer
Perhaps! If it's doing well, go on doing whatever you're doing and promise for the best!
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Question
I have what seems like a healthy plant, and it has developed a very alpine single stem growing from the middle of institute with orangish buds/flowers. What should I practise with this?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional person Gardener in Texas. She has been a home gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Expert Answer
Congrats! Your aloe bloomed. Subsequently the flowers start to autumn, and the stalk looks ragged, but trim it off at the base where it comes out of the stem and discard. Your aloe should continue to abound.
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Question
How do you kill an aloe vera plant?
Katherine Gohmann is a Professional Gardener in Texas. She has been a habitation gardener and professional gardener since 2008.
Professional Gardener
Expert Reply
You tin can kill a aloe vera institute by neglecting information technology, for example leaving it out in the cold or the dark. Overwatering the institute volition also kill information technology.
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Question
How do I cut back an overgrown aloe establish?
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Expert Answer
Usually information technology'due south best to harvest an outer or bottom leafage. The establish naturally sheds lower leaves over time anyway, and so it makes the most sense to have the leaves from there. Besides, aesthetically, information technology looks best to have i entire leafage at a time.
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Commodity Summary X
If y'all demand to trim an overgrown aloe vera plant, rub alcohol on a sharp knife or scissors to sterilize the blades. Remove damaged, discolored, or dried leaves commencement, cutting close to the stem. Next, cut away excess outer leaves until the plant fits in the pot, then cut abroad whatever quondam stems and blossoms from the centre of the plant. If you want to relieve the leaves to employ them for their medicinal benefits, trim away the thorny edges and store the leaves in the refrigerator until you want to extract the gel. To larn more from our Horticulturist co-writer, like how to clip the roots on your aloe vera, keep reading the article!
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