How to Sprout Aloe

Aloe plants serve many medicinal purposes. The plant is easy to grow: It thrives on little water and lots of sun. The easiest way to sprout new aloe is with a mature aloe plant. Growing from seeds can take months, and the aloe isn't very potent when the plant is new. A mature aloe plant will have multiple offshoots in no time; these can then be repotted.

Things You'll Need

• 1 mature aloe plant
• Terra cotta pot (with hole for drainage)
• Potting mix
• Cacti mix
• Spade
• 1/2 cup granite grit
• 1/2 cup of coarse sand
• 1/2 cup of pumice
• Water

Instructions

1. Pour the potting and cacti mixes in the terra cotta pot. Pour until the mixes reach halfway up the pot. Use a spade to mix the soils together.

2. Add the granite grit, coarse sand and pumice to the mixes. Again, use the spade to integrate all the mixes.

3. Put the mature aloe into the pot. Fill up the rest of the pot with the potting and cacti mixes.

4. Water the aloe plant, but do not water it for three weeks after the first watering. Place the pot in direct sunlight. In no time, the "mother plant" will have new shoots sprouting from the aloe.

5. Use the spade to dig around the new shoot. Gently pull the new shoot out of the dirt.

6. Shave the root stem with the spade until all that is left is the green, solid root from the baby shoot.

7. Repeat Steps 1 through 4 for the new shoot.

References

• The Garden Helper
• Gardenersnet