Growing aloe...

[DeeAnna]

So I live in Iowa, USA, where the climate is too cold to grow aloe as an outdoor plant. I have several potted aloe plants, but the leaves are small. It would be difficult to harvest larger amounts of gel from these plants to get enough to make a decent batch of soap or other aloe-based product.

Fast forward to last week... I saw a ginormous aloe leaf for sale in the local "whole foods" grocery store the other day ... I had no idea they could get that big!

So my questions -- What aloe plant variety would you grow to get these monster leaves? And is it reasonable goal for me to grow this type of aloe, given it's got to be a houseplant?

 

[SaltedFig]

Aloe's are part of a very large family of plants, and some get spectacularly big. Non-medicinal varieties can be huge, but some of the medicinal varieties, like the spotted true Aloe (Aloe vera var. chinensis) has leaves that can grow over a foot long and nearly an inch thick at the base.

This Aloe vera variety likes bright shade (if that makes sense), and not too much water - it will go pink when it is either over-watered or getting too much sunlight. It grows very happily in a pot and could still be put outside (in dappled light) during the day in warmer months (where you are). It will even survive a bit of frost once established - these plants are tough.

 

[soapmaker]

Aloe's are part of a very large family of plants, and some get spectacularly big. Non-medicinal varieties can be huge, but some of the medicinal varieties, like the spotted true Aloe (Aloe vera var. chinensis) has leaves that can grow over a foot long and nearly an inch thick at the base.

This Aloe vera variety likes bright shade (if that makes sense), and not too much water - it will go pink when it is either over-watered or getting too much sunlight. It grows very happily in a pot and could still be put outside (in dappled light) during the day in warmer months (where you are). It will even survive a bit of frost once established - these plants are tough.

This must have been the variety I had. The leaves were as you describe. I got it at the local garden center because I didn't like the small variety. It continued to sprout from the roots which I cut off except for 3. I had a 16" pot filled with these huge plants. It became large enough that it needed to be staked.

 

[amd]

We have one in the office (I should note that I am NOT in charge of the care and feeding otherwise it would not be with us), so I popped over to the plant lady's office quick. She doesn't know the type, but she put it in a bigger pot than it needed to be and it grew. Sorry I can't be more helpful than that, but we're a bit further north than you and have a lovely indoor aloe plant so I know it can be done. (and now I'm wondering if I could start harvesting it without anyone noticing...) Ours is in a north facing window.

 

[DeeAnna]

Mine spend the winter in a bright east-facing window and seem to be pretty happy there -- they don't lean to seek more light and aren't spindly or weak looking. They spend their summers on a shady northwest-facing deck that has bright, dappled shade.

The plants have grown a fair bit in the one or two years I've had them, but their leaves aren't anywhere close to ginormous size. I don't think my plants are Aloe vera var. chinensis (thanks for the botanical name, @SaltedFig!) The leaves are plain medium green with no spots. They have many backward-curving soft spines along the edges.

One leaf or part of a leaf is enough for a burn or other owie, but I'd probably have to pluck a plant entirely bare to get enough gel to make my usual size soap batch (1600 g fats). Not to mention how tedious and inefficient it's going to be to fillet a bunch of smallish leaves.

Most of the garden centers around here just sell generic aloe. There's no way to know what the baby plants in those nursery pots will be like when they grow up. I know there are online specialty growers who sell specific named types, and I'd probably order from one of them.

 

[NsMar42111]

I have several of the tiny ones and a few big ones growing. The big ones tend to look plumper and don't have fancy markings and weird bumps etc...the small ones are all funky looking. I can usually tell how big it'll get by what it looks like...my bigger one , all of the offshoots have almost round leaves as babies and they flatten out when bigger.

 

[DeeAnna]

Oh, that's an interesting point about the bigger plants having rounded leaves as babies. Just to make sure I understand -- You mean rounded like a mouse ear is round vs like a cat ear that is pointed? I'll have to take a look at the aloe sold around here and see if I can see any differences.

 

[Relle]

This is the one I have - Aloevera Barbedensis, mine grows outside, I just let it go, it's not big by any means, but there's enough leaves on it for soap.

 

[DeeAnna]

My aloe plants look a little different. The receipt I found for them says they're "Hedgehog" aloe, Aloe humulis. They look exactly like this plant in an eBay listing. The spines look quite fierce, but they're actually rather soft and don't hurt.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hedgehog-A...LARGE-SIZE-MEDICINAL-PLANT-vera-/131981251558

After reading a little more about this particular variety, I've moved the plants to a south facing window and I'll see what they have to say about that. They seem fine in the eastern window, but perhaps a little more light, especially now that it's full winter, might make them happier yet.

 

[cmzaha]

The Aloe you purchased DeeAnna most likely came out of Mexico, here, we can purchase them at almost any Hispanic market. Although Mexico is certainly not the only supplier of Aloe Vera. It is so cheap here, I do not bother climbing down my bank to cut my own Aloe. Three of those large leaves will get almost a quart of pureed aloe.

What I have growing in the yard looks like yours, but it still does not grow huge leaves. I think it gets a tad to much shade even on our south bank, but I do not have a green thumb..

 

[yeshuurao]

Aloe is natural ingredient and must have beauty product for winters I say!

 

[cmzaha]

Aloe is natural ingredient and must have beauty product for winters I say!

If not allergic to it!

 

[Obsidian]

My grandma has a Aloe (I think its a barbedensis) that is absolutely huge, some of the leaves are close to 2 feet long and its grown indoors. She keeps it in a south facing window in heavy compost soil and waters it way more than you'd think a aloe would like.

Its gotten so big, she has to keep it propped up. The very bottom leaves aren't dying back like normal either, I want one for my hair but she won't part with any.

I got a baby from it last year. I tried to grow it like I normally would a succulent, in light soil ad infrequent waterings, it didn't do well. I put it in a larger pot with a heavier but still well draining soil and keep it damp almost all the time. Its gotten quite big the last few months.

 

[Obsidian]

Oh, that's an interesting point about the bigger plants having rounded leaves as babies. Just to make sure I understand -- You mean rounded like a mouse ear is round vs like a cat ear that is pointed? I'll have to take a look at the aloe sold around here and see if I can see any differences.

flat and round refer to how thick or thin the leaves are. My plant had very thick, almost round leaves as a baby. If you want to grow aloe for soap, you should try and find a barbedensis, they are juicy. lowes or home depot usually have them.

 

[IrishLass]

I have aloe barbedensis- the same kind as Relle and Obsidian. I have one growing indoors in a pot next to a south-facing window, and one in a larger pot in our backyard, which is also south-facing. They can grow like weeds out here if you let them. I'm surprised that the one that I have indoors is not dead yet for as much as I often neglect it. lol It's in a pot with light soil with a few river rocks on top of the soil. I've had it for at least 10- years or so and it's quite the survivor. It's been near as good as dead a handful of times through neglect with maybe one leaf still hanging on, and it always comes back like gangbusters when I pay more attention to it, which means watering it about once every 2 to 3 weeks. The one in the backyard has now outgrown it's 3-gallon pot and needs dividing badly.


IrishLass

 

[DeeAnna]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I really appreciate the help.

@cmzaha -- I don't remember the cost for those huge aloe leaves I saw in the grocery recently, Carolyn, but I'm sure they were more $$ than yours! I'd say only 2-3 would produce enough gel for several batches of soap (I'd do the split method using enough 50% NaOH masterbatch to make up half the liquid and the aloe as the other half.)

@Obsidian and @NsMar42111 -- I'll keep my eyes open when I go to the big box stores for aloe and see what I can find in the way of "fat leaved" aloe. I'm sure I saw tiny aloe plants in Home Depot a few weeks ago along with other succulents, but I didn't give them more than a quick glance.

@IrishLass @Relle @amd and all -- I'll keep playing around with the amount of watering and light to see if "nurture" has as much effect as "nature."

 

[SaltedFig]

I have the yellow flowering form of Aloe vera (L.) Burm.f.

DeeAnna, the names of the plants get a bit confusing with Aloe - there are multiple names (even latin names, with this one!).
It also doesn't help that they cross-breed in the right conditions, so the plant I have may be slightly different to the one that you will end up with, even if it carries the same name.

Some things to look for, to get Aloe barbadensis Mill. (another name for the same plant), is that the leaves grow in a whirl from the base when they are older, but can be slightly flatter in appearance when they are younger. The plant does not have a trunk when it's young, only developing a very short one as it matures (a 5yo in my garden has a trunk that is about an inch tall). These two details should put you in the right ball-park for getting the medicinal Aloe Vera. Spots are optional, but usually show up on the young leaves (at 5yo's mine have some spots, at 10yo there are no spots, but the surrounding pups are fully spotted).

The photo Relle showed you is what the young plants classically look like

@NsMar42111 - Thanks for that observation! I went and had a look at mine. My very old plant has only one rounded leaf, right in the middle, and the rest are concave, whereas it's pups have got varying stages of roundness (more like Relle's plant), with the smallest being very rounded. So the young leaves are rounded and spotty, and the mature leaves are concave and a deep blue-green with no spots.

My old plant looks a bit like the one in this photo:
Aloe vera (L) Burm. f. (Liliaceae)
http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:530017-1

Found it! I was looking for the synonym list with links ... here it is

From: http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/record/kew-298116?ref=tpl1