My 14 Aloe Vera Babies - Separating and Planting
I purchased an aloe vera plant from a nursery about 4 years ago. I didn't know how to use aloe or what it was good for. I only purchased the plant because every gardener I knew had an aloe plant. I thought if I wanted to be a true gardener, I better get an aloe plant so I could at least say I had one. I planted the purchased aloe plant in a five gallon pot and pretty much forgot about it for the next two years. My husband brought it indoors whenever the temperature got down below freezing. We have even left it outside a few nights when it got to around 30 degrees F, but it always survived. I watered the aloe plant maybe 6 times during those two years. Like I said, I pretty much forgot about it.
This aloe plant needed hardly any care from me. It grew and sent out babies. As the time went on, the five gallon pot became really full, full of aloe babies. My husband continued to bring the five gallon pot indoors in the colder months. Not knowing how to use the plant, I continued to ignore it. It has even sent out a beautiful bloom, but I continued to ignore it. Spider webs started to cover the plant. I cleaned it off a couple of times then I gave up and just let nature take care of this aloe vera plant that I had no idea what to do with.
Unfortunately, some severe eczema started showing up on my skin around September of 2017. Going to dermatologists did not help me at all. I realized months down the road what was causing my misery ( I will have a separate post on this one in the future). The only thing that was helping to ease the symptoms was aloe gel applied to my skin from a fresh plant. I was so happy to find a use for my aloe plant and so glad to find a plant I have on hand was helping to make me feel better naturally.
At about the same time, I found out how beneficial aloe water is from the Medical Medium blog and started drinking aloe water almost daily. I was cutting the leaves of my huge aloe plant every week. Now that I have found great ways to eat and use fresh aloe vera leaves and have experienced the many benefits personally, I was in desperate need of learning how to grow more of this miracle plant. After talking to a gardener friend to get some pointers, I put on my thorn-proof leather gloves & long sleeve garden shirt and got to work. I started digging the aloe babies out one by one and planted each one in it's own pot. I ended up with 14 aloe babies from one hard working mother! Now, the original five gallon pot is cleared of most of the cramped up babies. Maybe this mother will continue to work and produce more little ones for me. I promise to never ignore you again my healing aloe vera plants!
The leaves of my poor mother aloe plant shown in the picture above have been cut by me so many times. I want to take the time to thank you for your sacrifice and contribution to my health and well being! I truly appreciate you.
I bought two aloe plants just over 2 years ago. I've kept them indoors as the climate here is a bit unpredictable for them. They've had babies also and I recently split them up too. Some of them didn't take but both mother plants are doing well. I used a mix of coconut fibre and organic compost when I reported them. The ones that are struggling are in soil from my garden which I think doesn't have enough drainage. Our household uses aloe for most things. It's even my shampoo and conditioner replacement.
What! I have never heard of using aloe for shampoo and conditioner replacement. Is this something you came up with or would I be able to search for it online? I hate all the chemicals in the products we use daily. I have pretty much switched to using only aloe for my skin care routine.
Yes! I found out about it online when researching the no poo method. I nearly destroyed my hair doing the baking soda and ACV thing, normal hair Care products irritate my head even the ones without the nasty chemicals. What I do is take one leaf, scrape out the inside after slicing it down the middle and puree with a hand blender. I add a few drops of tea tree (and sometimes rosemary) and massage it into my scalp prior to taking a shower. I massage again with water in the shower and that's pretty much it. 😊hmmm I think I need to write a post about this haha. Its definitely worth a try. Let me know if you decide to try it too. 💖