How to Grow Aloe - a Complete Growing Guide 

I found one of ours in a pot with a lid on it 3 YEARS after my wife passed (no telling how long it was there before she passed. Shriveled and dried up, put it in soil and watered. That was 8 years ago and it is still booming. It's gotta rank up there with yucca and and cockroaches for hardiness

Literally JUST bought a new aloe plant this past weekend. Fun fact about Aloe, Ancient Egyptians (Kemetians) used to put it on the resting place of loved ones to encourage peaceful transition to the afterlife.

Hey Luke! I have been growing aloe vera for more than 50 years. We found our first plant out in the trash on the roadside and wondered what the heck it was. We stuck it in a pot and in 6 months it went from 4 inches to 12 inches and had a dozen little sprouts around it. When I grew up and left the house Mom took over and they kept going. When Mom moved I found the plants kind of skinny and I took one home to plant. That was 11 or 12 years ago and the plant has 30 shoots and is nearly 3 feet tall. Last year in early spring I got the surprise of my life when the plant sent up a flower spike which I had nver seen in my life. No gorgeous color, mostly the same as the plant but this is how you find miracles. My only tip is you need a big heavy pot for a large heavy plant so it won't tip over. I had to get a metal plant stand and wrap plastic grocery bags around and tie then to the plant stand to keep the planter from tipping over. I love aloe too because having 25 plants I often miss watering as the other plants need so much attention and the aloe still thrives. Love you and yours Luke. God bless you and yours.

How to Grow Aloe: Step 1: Put in pot. Step 2: Ignore it.

That is awesome timing! I have some Aloe I need to get into pots (been putting it off for a bit...) and this is a sign from Abba, telling me “girl, take care of those plants!!!” Thank you Lord for using Luke to help all of us grow better in our stewardship of plants! 🙌🏼

@MIGardener I really loved this video. My aloe's had been looking very sad so I changed their soil. About a month ago I changed their soil to exactly what you had said - 1/2 potting soil, 1/2 sand. Within a few days, maybe a week they really started looking better. I'm so glad that I had done right, to MIGardener standards. You are always the 1st place I go to for plant info. Please keep up all the amazing videos!

I've had an aloe plant for 5 years on my window sill. The plant will tell you when to water. If leaves are slightly soft I'll water. The leaves actually will get noticeably plump & bigger after a watering. Bought it half off with missing & bruised leaves! Best plant purchase to date 😄

Great video and thank you for sharing your knowledge. I will tell you my experience with Aloe. About 6-8 years ago I rescued a very small Aloe plant that was on a ledge just before you exit the grocery store. Tag only stated "Aloe". I bought it and repotted it. Now, I am known as The Plant Whisperer because I have great luck with plants (and, yes, I do kill my share.) I left it alone and watered only as needed. The secret to successful growing is to look up what type of plant you have and use this as a guideline because all plants tend to not read the instructions and do what they want lol. Anyway, the Aloe kept getting bigger and putting out pups. I replanted the pups and they grew and put out pups. I was working at the time but then retired and became a Snowbird. I left the potted Aloes outside in the summer to gather rain and sun. When I left for Florida they were put in my "solar" room for six months without water. Only cool temperatures and sun. I came back to see the largest one in full bloom with a three foot tall flower spike with yellow flowers. These plants are HUGE so maybe I did not get your average Aloe. But, trust me, just leave it alone, water if necessary or let Mother Nature do it for you and talk to it. They like to be petted.

I'm in east Texas - zone 8B -- I literally plant my aloe outside and even if it freezes back it always comes back from the roots or produces sideshoots. I've had them bloom regularly... all since I started basically ignoring them! You're right... these are great plants. I used to agonize over them. Since I've been pretty much ignoring them they are doing great and multiplying. Thanks for your videos... I always enjoy them and learn something. Blessings...

Good timing! I just bought an aloe!

i have had 4 aloe plants & killed 3...the leaves fell flat & then rotted out of the pot. i quit watering the last one & now it is growing some new leaves. i was about to give up lol

I bought my first aloe last year in December in the Clearance section at home Dept for about a dollar. I named him Alejandro the aloe, he overgrew his tiny plastic container, he was shriveling up and his soil was almost completely gone so I bought him cause he needed help. Took him home and BOI! I had a learning curve since I didn’t do any research on them! I wish I had this when I first got Alejandro. Anyways went through a lot of trial and error but now that I have done my research he has grown 3x the original size and he’s happy. I’m still waiting for him to give me babies but he’s happy and I talk to him constantly. Great video and very informative! Seriously great video!

Thanks for this! Just bought an aloe and I’m so excited you made this!!

Excellent timing! I just bought one too! I don’t have a green thumb, so I’m hoping I can keep it alive!

Aloe was my first plant. My mom gave me one when I was 7 years old. They are so hardy and easy to take care of, as long as you don't overwater them. These make great plants for beginners and anyone who has a hard time remembering to water house plants.

As he said, very easy to keep. I have a fifty ft long row at about two foot wide of these that came from just one plant over a couple years. I keep bees and this is great for stings if I get one. Soak in water, Rinse, and use in a smoothie.

You did an excellent job explaining! Remembering a beautiful indoor aloe plant from 4-5 years ago, I now know exactly what caused my “crown and root rot” that led to its demise. After watching your video, I now think I can try again.

The yellow stuff in the aloe is toxic if ingested, that is why your stomach gets upset and you get diarrhea. Always discard the yellow stuff from the milky clear jelly before eating. Loved this video, thanks for making it.

There are several good aloe videos, BUT yours answered every question possible, I found it the most usable. I have killed every aloe, thus when you described how the leaves would look then I knew I was over watering. I was, as you say, saw the leaves dropping so I watered more, and now I know not to do that. Thanks for this happy and thorough video!

This is totally fine for kids ... the spines hurt less than a rose or raspberry and they have fun learning to respect while growing funny looking plants! We love your videos!

I have several pots of aloe vera here in my home in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I started from just one small tiny plant, it grew big, it produced several little plants at it base. I pulled those little plants off, and planted them each in their own pots, and they are all big now. My daughter uses the jelly for skin skin care. I use the jelly to eat it (I blend the jelly with lemon and few herbs and drink the filtered juice)..yes, so easy to grow.

You're adorbs. Thanks for the tips. I was over-loving my aloe plant and killed it. I got a new one and it's doing much better

Perfect timing, I am repotting my mother’s Aloe plant.

I've got several sick looking aloe plants that were my mom's before she died. I'm so glad I watched this video. I'm going out to get sand and smaller pots today. Thanks!!!!

Thanks for the information. My 16 yr old daughter just bought one last week. 👍🏻

Perfect timing just bought an aloe plant this week.

Aloe is hard to kill. I inherited a 40 year old aloe from my uncle when he passed 4 years ago! It went thru some hard times of neglect freezing temps to 110+ random watering. 2 years ago I decided to see if I could finally do right by this matriarch. She is doing amazing and so many babies crowd the pot! My goal is to get her to bloom again. She hasn’t bloomed since uncle passed.

My x and I, started out with a tiny one, can't remember when we replanted it, but it ended up in a 3ft deep and 2ft wide flower pot, and fed it miracle grow, it was 1yr old and 3ft tall and 2ft wide. It was mostly an outside plant by then. And we live in Western PA

This is the nest video on aloe basics! Thank you.

Thank you for the soil/sand $$ saving tip! Very helpful information.

I left my aloe plant in my office during this pandemic and haven't watered it for two months. I picked it up today and it was extremely dry. I watered it, but I'm wondering if it will come back to life. I sure hope so! Thanks for the video.

Great, i have aloes and i grow them like a succulent for the most part, this will very helpfull to me :3 thanks

Great info. The gel inside is really healing for acid reflux. Love your channel.

there's a secret to keeping aloe plants alive..... never water them :P.

Everyone should have a Aloe Vera plant. Great for cut, burns and Aloe water. They need very little water too. Great video.

I have 2 that I bought at a big box store, they were very small.Now they are 3 ft tall. love them.

I have had an aloe for about 5 years, although it is not very big but trying some of these things I have learned!

Great info Luke!

It was amazing in stopping the expansion of a bruise, and speeding its healing too.

Thank you for your tips on growing Aloe. My sister left her Aloe at my house and it became top haevy and tipped over. Long story it's not doing well. My fault I have been over watering it. I will start neglecting it so it will thrive...lol Thank You!

I just acquired an arm of a family aloe plant that has been growing for about 20 years! Perfect timing for this video because I know I would have killed it.

Perfect timing!

MI Gardener Thank you good Sir I'm definitely going to try this. Also your advice saved my decrepit pineapple!

Thanks for the education on aloe

I needed this. Aloe is my black thumb plant.

How to grow aloe? Well, if you live anywhere hot, like the South West, you plant it in the ground and ignore it. when you eventually come back to it, you'll have way more of it than you know what to do with... so you start giving it away, and then it grows back, and you don't know any more people to give it away to, and the people you gave the last batch to are also begging you to take some off their hands.

Thank you for sharing this I have been having a hard time replanting them I'm just about ready to give up on them Amen Thanks so very much for sharing Amen God bless ya all

Wow, good information, thrilled to discover your channel!

My grandmother grew aloe and would put it on our scrapes and burns. I got one years ago and killed it pretty quickly. (It was definitely over watering) Thanks for the video. I'll have to try again.

I plant my all my aloe in regular house plant soil only. They are fine in it. I have like 20 different aloe plants. I love aloe! There are so many different kinds! Pink flamingo aloe is beautiful, etc.

I giggled with you on the plant protective services. Nice humor 😂

Thanks SO MUCH FOR YOUR KNOWLEDGE 👍👍👍👍

I started out with one twig of an aloe plant. Let me tell you, I thought Watermelon took over my yard! Yikes, they were everywhere.

Love aloe!

Great idea with the play sand!

So glad for this. I have an aloe that I think it’s sick

Thank for the video! I killed my aleo overwatering. Plus my soil was straight promix without any sand mixed in

Good job 👍👍

Thank you gor tutorial. I want to use it on my scalp for dryness. Trying to have enough gel in my leaves for this.

I have aloe and love the uses. Thanks for the video. I found tiny ants in it last month somehow in my house. Had to put an ant trap in it. I guess they were after the liquid. It was sticky from them chewing on it.

Have a cute little aloe I repotted and the put in the backyard because I figured it needed some real sun. A couple days later it looked fine, but almost burned-like. I was so sad- my cute little greeny turned a brown purple. I brought him back inside and it’s been a week and that nicer green is back. So if anyone burns it like I did, bring it in for a few days. Looks good as new! And I live in Arizona so that wasn’t “a little heat” it got scorched. Hearty little guys!

Great video!!!! And great information I have a question. Do you know of a camp any that have rare old seeds? That I can bring back

Thanks for the information.. Very nice video. 😊😇😍

Hi Luke, So glad to find this video. I bought an aloe vera plant at Homedepot. Was a gorgeous looking one. I brought it home, Its dirt was so dried so I water it down. Took it to the garden and set it on the north wall with plenty of sun. BUT the leaves had turned from green to a brownish color. I hadn't watered it since I got it (10 days ago). I took it to my greenhouse out of the sun. It is bright in the greenhouse but not as sun direct. The dirt still is not dry and Im scared to do more damage to it. It isn't large like the one you are holding but might be 1/3 of it. But also brought to my attention that said on the instruction that this aloe wasn't to be ingested nor to be used as med aid. and it looks just like yours. with small spikes but smaller. I'm totally clueless regarding aloe vera plants, Always wanted to have them but now I'm worried that I could do more harm to it. What can I do to help the plant and help it to bring up the green color back to it?. The leaves are straight-up plush not dried at all just brownish. Help me, please!! I don't want to be the first Aloe vera killer. 😞

My daughter picked up some aloe a few days ago from a plant stand. I didn’t realize that it had been sitting in a cup of water this whole time. It was absolutely dying. She kept putting off replanting it because she wanted to go get potting soil to put it in the container. I made her go out and dig some holes by the cacti and put it in the ground. That’s it natural environment. I’ve got my fingers crossed now.

Great video. My goals are to grow aloe vera plant and natural seaweed

i really love it

I killed my aloe. 😭 I’m thankful that you posted this video. I will have to try again. 🙂

We live in North Florida. Weather wise, ours are too big to take in. When we get down freezing, it usually doesn’t go below 28. I put a blanket over them. As for burns, many years ago, my mom took a flaming skillet of oil out back. It ran all over her hand when she tried to pour it out. She immediately cut a big aloe leaf, cut it open and slathered it all over her hand, then a neighbor took her to the ER. The plastic surgeon told her that her fingers would be webbed and he’d have to do surgery. But he didn’t. They had to debride as the skin died, and she never had pigment again where the burns were deepest, but her hand healed completely. The surgeon couldn’t believe it, and said he guessed it was the aloe after all.

I always enjoy your videos and have been a subscriber and customer for years. Does it take a long time for aloe to grow from seed? Also, can you plant one of the leaves to grow another plant? Thank you.

Plant protective services ! Lol ! Love it :)

Thanks for the video you crack me up you got tickled at your own funny comment re calling pps plant protective service you cracked me up cuz you kept laughing at something you said and then you would think about It again and start laughing I enjoy your humor. I thought I knew pretty much about Alo plants and still learned a bunch ✌🏻 out

The ones growing in the backyard seem to do just fine here. We can get into the 20’s on rare occasions but we will definitely get into the 30s. Also we get a ton of rain here and pretty much every day from may to September. I guess those plants have accommodated themselves to a subtropical wet climate. I have had this place for 9 years and not sure how long they were there before I bought this place.

So goofy fun to watch thanka

Thank you🌵🤩😘

My aloe plant is turning brown. Thanks for the tips I'm going to try some

Hi! Love your show! Please tell me what that fertilizer you use again?? Thank you!

I got two tiny ones, there so cute and easy plants

Been Watering my aloe plants every day and they are doing just fine they look great they are huge. 9 California Coastal My cousin’s is 7’ tall. But, I’ll save the water now

I use it as a rooting compound

That aloe has some big leaves! I wish I could get my aloe plant to grow big leaves like that.

Best tip: use inside goo on skin before, during & after Radiation Therapy- ok so i used Aloe for all 16 Cancer Radiation Treatments. Swath onto affected area 3-5x daily. I cut off 2” sections and slid the inside of aloe plant over skin that is to be expected to be touched by Radiation. I turned a little pink, but did not burn at all! ❤️❤️

I was always told that aloe like partial sun. I use to have mine in direct sun for a while and it didn't seem to be doing so hot but I plan on re-potting mine soon (I think mine is smaller than yours in a larger pot 😒 i didn't realize) so maybe I'll try it outside again.

I love aloe but I’m one of those that find it hard to keep alive or looking good and healthy if it doesn’t die. I have them outside this year and after watching this I think I may be over watering. Thanks for the video

Your sunflowers look gorgeous

Awesome topic on Aloe........How do you harvest the leaf and prepare for using it in cooking?

I left my aloe outside this year in 8b we got a huge snow (snowmegedon) and multiple freezes. I brought it inside in March or so during the night when I realized. The aloe that I broke off was frozen on the inside. It honestly didn't even seem to bat an eye. It wasn't a large plant but since it's gotten much bigger and produced babies outside and they also survived. They are HARDY!!!!

In FL zone 9b, my aloe in full sun were turning brown and not thriving. After I moved to partial sun, they fully recovered.

What leaves should you cut for recipes or skin uses? Smaller inside top leaves or large outside bottom leaves?

Luke sounds like a great plant to grow can you grow It from seed or does It have to be a cutting

Whats your thoughts on a no dig garden? Charles Dowding inspired question.

I have alot cause of the babies. Lol I live in d Caribbean..it's hot.. the yellow part is a laxative type.. I use it in my hair once a month.. and my hair gets shiny and soft..

Liked and subscribed.

Well, I came across aloe plants at Menard's. I've always wanted one, but never jumped in because I seem to kill all of my houseplants. I'm in my 4th year of gardening and still have no houseplants 🤔. Anyway, I have this aloe plant, but no clue how to grow it. So here you are! So glad that you've covered this plant in your care guide. Hmmmm, Is it possible that our tinted house windows don't let enough light in for plants? 💚🌞

@migardener i had an indoor aloe plant that multiplied into 50 plus plants. I wanted to divide and repot. Any tips besides soil on how deep to place the plant into the soil? Some of the smaller aloe offshoots don’t even show signs of roots. Thanks!

Maybe you could tell us how to propigate? Learned a lot from this video,TY!

We had a 40°+ heatwave here and my aloe went kinda brown, im trying so hard to save this little guy.. 😨 thankyou for the awesom advice!!😃 also, afids swarmd my alloe plant during the winter, it was a nightmair to get rid of them!😓

Unfortunately I have severe problems with pests on my Aloes! I am a long time plant lover and am currently living with over 220 plants, many of them propagated, of which about 17 are Aloes which I have had for many years, without any problems. For some time now, a few of the younger ones started to get "dirty" and their leaves dried up after getting darker and "dirtier". After my big ones also started to look dirty, I thought I might have lost sight of proper watering. Please note that I have been wrecking my brain for months and have been looking for hints and advices by searching the internet, without finding any pictures that looked similar to the damages on the Aloes. (I found this channel because this is our first year planting vegetables in our garden...) I was so confused and watered my Aloes more which only seemed to make it worse, then watered less, which didn't help either. I bought earth and sand and mixed a new well draining soil and they still kept getting worse. Some more, some less. The process of course is slow and so, in between the different steps I took, I had to be patient before expecting results. I have dealt with mealy bugs, fungus gnats and scale on other plants before and have had success in removing or managing them and it is only recently that I started noticing different shapes of discolouring on some of my other plants... Last week I finally reckognized the culprit: THRIPS!!! They are all over my plants, mostly on my 17 Aloes which they seem to favour. I have heard and seen videos about thrips and had some two years ago on my monstera. But before I could do something about it, I noticed a lady-bug nymph sitting on a leaf, munching away the intruders and it did a thorough job. I would never have expected thrips on my Aloes and with the "dirty stains" they were invisible to my confused eyes. We bought blue sticky paper, the nematodes are already at work in the soils of all plants and on Tuesday the special delivery of hungry lacewing-larvae is supposed to arrive. And I finally bought a magnifying glass! Wish me luck!

Thank you for your video. Would you recommend clay or plastic pot.

I bought an aloe plant for 47 cents in Home Depot that was on the clearance rack 4 years ago. It is huge now and I've made 3 other plants out of it. They are great plants.