Avoiding the aloe vera flop

Creeping aloes are a lot like puppies. They're really cute when young, but aging can spoil their appeal if not well-tended, or trained. Not long after it's sold they start growing, and the creeping species spread while the uprights flop. Often their beauty can be lost to neglect and a general failure to understand any other species than aloe vera.

Most original aloes don't hold this tidy garden center form for long The more vigorous ones change quickly into a tangled mess if you don't tend them over time. Tending ensures a dense attractive landscape plant that does not exceed its space and blooms nicely far into the future. Fail to do so and you have a patch of unruly disorganized succulent foliage with bare spots and irregular angles of growth that spoil what flowers do occur.

In general, the original stem, the one you bought in the nursery can, is a rooted cutting.  From it will emerge many "pups" or offsets the first and second year. This is when they go from a tidy form to a clump because original stem often rots out, weakens and flops. Solve the problem by cutting off the main stem and any pups growing in the wrong direction. Removal of the main stem sends all growth energy to the remaining pups so maturity comes more quickly.

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If you don't correct it before your aloe flops, the failed stem will crush the pups and block light to them. This results in irregular future growth, asymmetrical form, gaps in foliage and bare spots. Cut the stem low and pups will flourish. and bloom nicely. In time the pups will overgrow too, leaving longer bare stems behind as they travel. Prune when they become too rangy this fall in order to force basal growth from the root crown, not extending the stem tips.

When you prune your creeping aloes, remember the cuttings might be useful to someone else. Each one can be rooted in damp dune sand to start a new aloe elsewhere. Transplant into pots after roots emerge to give to friends or to gather enough of them to create a new mass planting. Plant the larger stems directly into a moist, shady area in the garden and they'll root quickly in the heat, then transplant if necessary. 

Rank growth will be more of a problem when rains return. The accumulated weight of the water inside your plants will be the catalyst that causes excessive flopping. For this reason, the time to thin your creeping aloes and propagate them is in the fall.  That leaves behind nice solid stems to maintain proper for more prolific spring bloom.

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All your other aloe species and hybrids can benefit from similar tending as well. Taller upright aloes are carefree except for removing spent flower stalks before summer. To make more, gently sever new "pups" to propagate more to spread around the garden.  Pups come out cleanly without damage when the earth is moist. If the ground is hardpan or just dense, water deeply the night before to soften the ground so roots slide out without damage or breaking. Another tip is to use a garden fork to loosen the soil around the root zone from underneath and pop pups out of the ground. 

Since they are newly severed, protect these aloe cuttings from dehydration in the shade. The injuries and cut wounds must heal in the open air for a week or two depending on humidity levels. Failing to dry the wounds offers pathogens a direct port of entry into sterile internal tissues to start the rot process. Once dry and calloused off, replant into pots if unrooted, and directly into moist ground if roots are present.

The beauty of all succulents is their ease of propagation. For those in love with the beautiful reds and corals and pinks of these famous African flowers, and the hummingbirds that claim them, start collecting new species in your garden. Test their tolerance of our desert and tend them properly. One day your efforts to tend and propagate the aloes that perform well here will pay off in a beautiful garden and a stunning display every spring.

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