So, you’ve got your first cute baby aloe vera baby plant and want to make sure you do everything correctly to help it grow healthy and beautiful.
Over the years, my aloes have produced many babies, most of which I’ve given away and even sold some.
Here’s how to raise and care for your aloe vera babies.
The first thing in getting your baby aloe vera to grow healthy and beautiful is making sure you choose a pot with good drainage, avoid overwatering, provide bright and warm indirect sunlight, and fertilize sparingly.
The other most important thing to do would be to assess the leaves frequently, which I will explain more in the article.
Table of Contents
When to Remove Aloe Pups from Mother Plant?
Once an aloe vera plant is mature and healthy, miniature baby aloe vera plants will start forming at its base.
Most of them will be firmly attached to the base of the parent aloe, but they will also have their own roots.
You may separate the babies once they are three to four inches tall. Larger aloe babies are more accessible to pull away than smaller ones, so it’s best to give them some time to grow.
There are some pointers you should know before you start separating the babies.
- Take the parent out of the pot and brush away the soil from its roots as much as possible.
- Do not separate the babies if they do not have visible roots.
- If simply pulling is not enough to separate the babies with their roots, don’t hesitate to separate it with a small cut.
Make sure the parent is healthy because it’s unlikely that it will produce babies if the plant isn’t healthy, and even if they do reproduce, there’s a great chance the babies won’t be of good quality.
Does Baby Aloe Require a Lot of Care After Repotting?
Aloe plants, in general, don’t require much attention once you have covered the basics and followed the proper process of repotting and placing them.
It’s not like you pot it and forget it, but you don’t have to constantly look after them daily.
Having said that, assessing them once a week will be a good thing since you will start noticing some changes in the leaves if they are not doing well.
A healthy aloe plant should have vibrant green leaves and may have a few yellow spots. The leaf should be plump and firm.
Additionally, the leaf should be growing in an upward direction rather than growing horizontally or leaning downwards.
Pro Tip: If the leaves appear thin and curly, feed them. It is a sign that the plant is dehydrated and needs more watering or fertilizer.
Baby Aloe Vera Plant Care
Below is a quick table on how you can take proper care of baby aloe vera plants grown indoors and outdoors.
| Indoors | Outdoors |
|---|---|
| Place them in a bright location but out of any direct sunlight. | Place them somewhere you have a shade but it isn’t dark so that the aloe babies get enough light. |
| Water them every 5-10 days depending on how warm your house gets while they are still rooting. | Let them settle in the soil for about two days before you start watering them. |
| After they’ve firmly rooted in, watering every 10-14 days will suffice. | As they are outdoors, water them twice a week if the climate is warm. Watering every 7-14 days will be enough once the days get cooler. |
And now, I will share the best baby aloe vera plant care tips I have to offer. Follow them to have a healthy-looking aloe baby.
1. Water Appropriate Amount
Even though aloe vera is accustomed to arid environments, its thick leaves need sufficient water to remain healthy. Water enough to make the soil moist but let it dry out before you water again.
The soil or compost on the top should turn flaky before you water the plant. If the soil stays overly wet for long, the plant’s roots may start rotting.
To avoid overwatering your aloe, use your fingers to test the dryness of the soil. Always allow the top third of the potting soil to dry out before watering.
Water your aloe once every two weeks, which might be extended to three weeks if the climate is not too warm.
Note: A rule of thumb is to roughly double the amount of time between the watering in the winter as compared to your summer watering schedule.
Let the excess water run out the bottom of the pot but let the pot sit in the excess water for about 8 – 10 minutes so that the soil absorbs the required amount of water. Then dump the remaining water.
2. Ideal Temperature
The best temperature for an aloe vera to thrive would be slightly warmer at around 55 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit (13 to 27 degrees Celsius).
You could keep your plants outdoors during the day in the winter, but keeping it out at night may not be a good idea since aloe vera plants don’t do well in the cold.
3. Proper Soil Mix
It is advised against using gardening soil for aloe vera plants. Since they are also succulents, using a potting mix designed for cactus and succulents that drain well should be better.
The roots might rot out rapidly when overwatered or if the soil mix is too heavy and doesn’t drain well.
The soil mix should contain lava rock, perlite, tree barks, or a mixture of all three. If you are using regular potting soil, mix it with some perlite or just building sand.
It is not required to add a layer of gravel, clay balls, or any other “drainage” material to the bottom of the pot. This takes up space that the roots could otherwise use. It’s enough to have a drainage hole.
Dust the stem of your aloe plant with a rooting hormone powder after planting to stimulate it to produce new roots. Rooting hormones can be purchased online or at a local garden center or hardware store.
4. Find the Best Container
Aloe may be planted in various containers, with the only need being that it has drainage.
Unglazed terracotta is excellent since it is more porous and allows for better airflow to allow the soil to dry thoroughly between every watering schedule. It will also be heavy enough to keep the plant from tipping over.
Resin pots also aid in the plant’s appearance and vitality.
5. Fertilizer Requirements
You might be better off fertilizing your baby aloes once a year in the spring if you decide to make fertilization a part of your aloe vera plant care regimen.
At half intensity, a phosphorus-rich, water-based fertilizer or a simple worm compost can be used. However, be sure to pick the fertilizer with an NPK value of 0.5-1-1.
This is optional extra care, so if your plant is looking healthy without the fertilizer, you can let it be.
Fertilize sparingly – just a light sprinkle of vermicompost on top of the soil is enough if you want to use fertilizers and repot when required.
6. Proper Sunlight and Ideal Location
Place the baby aloe plant where it’s bright and warm but make sure they do not get any direct sunlight.
While excessive direct sunlight is harmful to the baby plant, inadequate light may cause the leaves to grow flat and dreary.
If you plan to keep your aloe vera plants outdoors, keeping the aloe in a container or in the ground requires south or west-facing space.
When moving indoor aloe vera plants to a bright, sunny spot outside, sunburn is a problem.
Before planting or leaving the plant outside, gradually acclimatize it to outdoor circumstances.
Do so by exposing it to sunlight for extended periods each day for one to two weeks. The aloe will be less stressed as a result of this.
Note: Indoor aloe vera plants can suffer if they do not receive enough light.
They demand a lot of light. You may achieve this by placing the plant within 3 feet of a south or west-facing window that isn’t shaded.
Light levels should be improved with artificial grow lights in colder, cloudier areas. And, the same goes for residences with north or east-facing windows.
Even in gloomy interiors, a fluorescent bulb placed 1 to 2 feet above the aloe vera plant during daytime hours, or around 16 hours per day, will offer enough light for good growth.
Just keep an eye out for indicators of too much light, such as washed-out leaves or minimal new growth.
7. Pest Infestation
Several pests and diseases can attack and damage these plants. Aloe beetle, scale, aphids, snout beetle, and red spider mites are some insects that find aloe vera delectable.
A significant pest, the snout beetle, punctures an aloe plant to drink the leaf sap. Larval beetles bore into stems causes rot that can kill the plant.
If your plant is infested with spider mites, you’ll see little, pale spots on the surface of the aloe leaves. These mites irritate aloe vera plants greatly.
As the mites assault the growing flower stems, even blossoms may be deformed. A dusting of pesticide powder in the cores of the plant will easily keep visible mites like these at bay.
Most insecticidal spray chemicals are also effective against mites.
There is one more mite called gall mites that cause a condition called gall cancer.
The first sign of gall cancer is that new flowers will get crooked and develop clusters. Huge galls can form on old flower stalks and can spread rapidly.
To treat this, immediately cut away the affected tissue and treat the cut with strong aphicide or other insecticides.
If you are looking for a natural remedy to get rid of insects and pests, go ahead and get yourself a bottle of neem oil.
Neem oil acts as a great insecticide and doesn’t harm the baby aloe. You can also lay a few citrus peels on top of the potting soil to make sure the pests remain far from your beloved aloes.
8. Treat Diseases
One of the most prominent diseases in aloe vera is basal stem rot. This is just the result of cold and wet conditions that leads to the rotting of the stem.
The tissues affected by this disease turn black or reddish-brown. The rot travels up the stem, so this should be detected early. And, stem cutting should be performed above the rotten portion to save the plant.
Another disease on the list is aloe rust. This condition is caused by the fungi phakospora pachyfhiza and causes black or brown circular spots on the leaves.
The best part is that the plant will not die due to this disease, and new growth will not exhibit indications of rust. The majority of aloes lose their leaves as they mature. Throw them away once they’ve fallen off.
But worry not as there are a few things you can do to avoid aloe rust.
The first rule is to avoid allowing water to remain on the leaves. Leaves may be kept dry with good air movement.
Every one to two weeks, dust the plants with sulfur powder. This will not kill the rust, but it will stop new spores from germinating.
To help against rust, spray a solution of one teaspoon baking soda in one quart of water.
9. Timely Repotting
Repotting is a must if the plant is getting big for the container or starting to develop aloe pups.
If your main aloe vera plant is starting to look droopy and has been surrounded by numerous pups, it’s better to get it repotted.
To start repotting, carefully remove it from the pot, brush away the soil from the roots. If there are pups attached, you should be able to pull them apart if the pups have their roots.
However, if the pups aren’t separated simply by pulling, don’t be afraid to make a small clean cut with a knife.
Once the aloe is out and divides, leave them out for at least one night in a dry and warm place.
More than one night also won’t be an issue, as aloe plants can easily survive 5 to 7 days without being planted. This is needed to help any wounds heal.
The plant is ready to be repotted in another container now.
Conclusion
So, to wrap things up, make sure your aloe vera pot has good drainage and water the baby aloe vera plant only when the soil seems dry and flaky on the top.
There are tons of succulent soil mixes available in the market which provide ample drainage to prevent root rot.
I hope by now you have some idea regarding how you can take care of your lovely aloe vera babies. And on top of that, essential factors for unhampered growth, things to be careful about, and how to take care of the plant once it starts getting bigger.
Have fun growing beautiful aloe babies!
