Aloe

Xanthorrhoea family. The genus has about 340 species distributed in tropical areas of Africa, on the island of Madagascar and the Arabian Peninsula. Many are accustomed to the fact that aloe is such a prickly shrub on grandmother's windowsill or a miraculous plant, the juice of which is part of each cosmetic product. But among aloe there are many decorative species - large and miniature, certainly cute and unpretentious.

Most aloe species have rosettes of leaves that are fleshy and thick. They wrap tightly around the stem, which can be very short or long. The leaves, as a rule, are lanceolate with a sharp apex, and their color is from light green, bluish, to dark green , monochromatic or variegated, blush in bright sunlight.

Types of aloe

Tree aloe Aloe arborescens or Stoletnik is the most widespread in our country, a medicinal plant. Homeland - Cape of Good Hope, South Africa. At home, this plant blooms extremely rarely and it is with this feature that its folk name is associated - a centenarian, as if blooming once a hundred years, but with good care it can bloom every year. In a pot of aloe, the treelike produces numerous lateral shoots and grows well in height and width. The leaves are narrow, juicy up to 20-30 cm long with spikes at the edges. Aloe grows very quickly, reaching a height of up to 30-100 cm (in nature about 3 m). Scarlet tree is very decorative, and easily propagated by cuttings.

The folded aloe, "Aloe plicatilis," is a small tree with a short, branching trunk. 10-16 sizo-green leaves, belt-shaped, dulled at the end, sit on branches in two rows, as if in the same plane.

Fearsome aloe Aloe ferox - has thick, fleshy leaves, with reddish-brown small spikes all over that make it warty. It grows up to 45 cm. When flowering, it forms a branched spike-shaped inflorescence with red flowers.

Aloe aristata has numerous thick leaves, whitish-transparent tubercles on the lower surface, and soft spines on the tips. The leaves are arranged as a basal rosette - 8-10 cm in diameter. A white serrated border runs along the edge of the leaf. It blooms easily in spring and summer at home. This type of aloe is very often confused with another succulent - havortia.

Aloe variegated Aloe variegata is a low plant, up to 30 cm high. The underside of the leaf is scaphoid, dark green with transverse broad and light stripes-spots. A light thin strip stretches along the edges of the sheet.

Other types of aloe are beautiful and suitable for breeding at home: Aloe real Aloe vera, Aloe descoingsii Aloe descoingsi - with triangular variegated leaves; Aloe polyphylla Aloe multi-leafed - with an almost round rosette of pointed triangular leaves of greenish-bluish color and others.

Aloe care

Temperature

In summer, normal, if possible, put pots in the open air (balcony, veranda). In winter, a slight decrease in temperature is required. Ideally, aloe should be kept in a bright and cool room at 12-13 ° C in winter, with very rare watering. But at home it is quite difficult, and aloes grow at normal room temperature. If it is light enough, then there will be no problems, and if there is little light, the succulents begin to stretch, the leaves become narrow, not juicy, begin to acquire a pale, light green tint, and if you increase watering, the roots rot. Therefore, if there is little light during the heating season, organize additional lighting.

Lighting

All types of aloe love a sunny place, but in spring it is necessary to accustom to the sun gradually, shading on especially hot days. In strong sun, some aloes (tree-like, aloe vera) can burn out a lot - the leaves become thinner at the tips, turn red. Aloe at home grows better on the east or west windowsill, on the south from 11 to 15 hours light shade. But in autumn and winter, aloes often suffer from a lack of light, especially if there is no decrease in temperature, they need to be illuminated with fluorescent or LED lamps.

Watering

Moderate watering, especially in winter. The soil should have time to dry well for the next watering - after the soil dries on the surface, wait with watering for another 3-4 days, if the temperature is not higher than 24 ° С and 1-2 days, if the temperature is about 25-28 ° С. Aloe is a stem succulent, it is typical for it to store water in juicy leaves, so waterlogging, prolonged drying of the earth, aloe tolerates worse than prolonged drying.

Fertilizer

From May to August, aloe is fed every two weeks with complex mineral fertilizer for cacti and other succulents.

Flight connections

The soil for aloe consists of 2 parts of clay sod, 1 part of sheet, 1 part of humus and 1 part of coarse sand. 1/5 part of vermiculite is added to the substrate, and several crumbs of birch coals are added to one pot. Vermiculite and sand can be replaced with well-washed zeolite pellets (from cat filler such as "Barsik"). Transplantation is carried out in the spring. Young plants are transplanted annually, old once every 2-3 years. If you plant in a purchased soil mixture, then use the one that is intended for cacti and other succulents.

Breeding aloe

Seeds, cuttings, basal branches and individual whole leaves. In summer, most aloes give daughter rosettes, if separated, then the plant can be especially large and have wide fleshy leaves.

Cuttings succeed almost all year round, but better in spring and summer (in winter with additional light). Cut cuttings must be dried: in summer for 5 days, in winter for a week or more.

The experience of growing aloe from seeds from Irina Bagdasarova: Sowing Aloe broma Aloe broomii. Seeding February 3, first shoots February 8, seeds Koehres Kakteen. The soil is standard for sprouting all cacti and succulents: I interfere with half the sand and peat "Violet," which is in briquettes. Peat, of course, is taken soaked for proportion. In the first photo, the deadline is two weeks from sowing. The seeds did not soak, the seed husk is kept only from below, does not interfere with growing. Sits tight, fell off herself a month later. In the second photo, the seedlings are one month old - the second leaf appears .

Growing problems

Aloe tree, or centenarian, unfortunately, often suffers in our apartments. Rather, it is grown for medicinal purposes, regularly plucked and care little for care. But if you grow this plant correctly, and do not cut off its leaves, then you can get very beautiful specimens.

Most often, aloe suffer from excess moisture, if watering is too frequent, the roots rot, the plant dies. Aloes also often suffer from a lack of sunlight, especially in winter. Their stems are stretched, the leaves are smaller and sit on the trunk less often. On the contrary, on the western or southwestern windowsills, aloe may lose its decorativeness - the leaves turn red and thin, but it is worth rearranging to a more gentle sun (east side or northwest), the bush turns green again.

It does not benefit from this plant and planting in heavy clay soil. Moisture evaporates poorly in it, and there is no aeration, and the long-drying soil inevitably leads to the formation of rot.

If you ask about pests, any grandmother who grows a centenarian will be surprised - most likely, she has not heard that he has pests. And if something melts, so root the twig and grow a beautiful bush again. In fact, pests can appear on aloe - mealybugs and scale insects. Both are easy to spot. Worms are similar to white cotton lumps in the axils of leaves, under the husk from old dead leaves on the trunk, and scutes are noticeable on leaves shrunken from lack of moisture and nutrition as brownish pimples, sometimes translucent. If you notice something similar in aloe, you need to thoroughly rinse the plant, wipe with a soap sponge. Then rinse, spray and water with actara solution. Repeat treatment in a week.