This next plant of the week hardly needs an introduction. If you’ve ever experienced sunburn, you are probably familiar with the gel-like salves often made from the aloe vera plant. Aloe grows naturally in arid climates and is suspected to have originated from the Sudan. Not to mention, it’s cool green color and spiky appearance is easy to love!
Occasionally, we will hear at Retreat that people have trouble with their aloe plants. One common area people can go wrong with aloe vera is over-watering this plant. You want to look for the soil to be dry at the first 3 inches or so in-between watering. You also don’t want to expose your aloe to too much direct sunlight. This is especially true if you have your aloe right in front of a window where the light through the glass can magnify and scorch the leaves. You’ll see the plant will actually develop an orange/red hue, which is sunburn! If your aloe is mushy it is likely getting over watered, if it is shriveling, it’s probably under-watered. Also important is to use a well-aerated, well-draining soil mixture for your aloe!
Scoop up any size aloe vera plant for 20% off all this week (July14 – July 21). You can also enter to win one this week in store, or online through our Instagram and Facebook accounts. Winner must be able to pick up in store.
Quick Tips and Tricks for Aloe Vera:
- Water once the first 3 or so inches of soil has dried
- Over watering is common with this plant. Think of it’s watering needs a little like a succulent
- How often you water is going to depend a lot on the environment it is in and how much light it is getting
- A sign of over watering is the bottom of the leaves become mushy
- A sign of under watering is the plant shriveling up
- Your very brightest indirect sunlight is best
- Some direct sunlight for this plant is fine, but be mindful not to put it right in a window where it can get sunburn—a orange/red coloring on the skin of your aloe
- Use a well draining soil like a succulent or cacti mix
- Consider periodically turning your plant to get it to grow uniformly
- This plant is considered toxic to pets, so keep out of reach
Feel free to ask us more questions about aloe vera in the comments below!
Looking for more? Check out some of our other plant posts on our blog.