Question

aloe vera   QUESTION: I have an over grown aloe vera plant (see attached picture). It's in a 12" pot. As you can see, it has grown over the side of the pot, is large and heavy.

It's kept indoors (in the Chicago area) and it has eastern exposure.

Is there anything I can do with this plant, other than let it grow wild as it is?

Thank you.

Jim

ANSWER: There are a few choices.  You could leave it as is.  That's not what I'd do.  First, I bet it's been in the same soil for quite awhile and needs repotting if nothing else.  If you had a sunnier window that would also help.

Have you heard of pups?  There are a bunch of little aloes in that pot.  I'd take the whole plant out of the pot, separate the small pups and plant them in smaller pots (give some to your friends).  I'd then repot the mother plant (if there's a pup or two that's ok)  in a pot that leaves about 1-2 in. of soil around the edges (cacti and succulents like to be root bound).  The soil should be well draining.  If you're not fussy you can use 1/2 perlite and 1/2 potting soil.  You may need to stake it till it reestablishes itself. Water sparingly till established and then water only when the soil is dry. The leaves are long and thin which just means it needs more sun.  It's called etiolation.  More sun would let your plants stay more compact and manageable, but even if you can't provide more light this plant will keep sending out pups. It really should be given fresh soil every couple of years.

Turn the poor thing from time to time!  That's part of why it's flopped over to one side.  it's looking for sun. Aloe Vera are very tolerate and forgiving plants.  With a bit of management it will look like a million bucks.

If you have any more questions please let me know.

Maureen

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: The "mother" part is my problem. It's large, crooked and is so top-heavy that it'll never stand up alone.

That's my major problem. Can the "trunk" of the "mother" be cut back to start smaller plants, giving it the chance to grow straight again? If so, what about the rest of the mother that's been cut?

Answer
You could cut off the lower leaves of the mother plant, dust them and wait for them to callous and then  either cut that off and when calloused, pot it separately. The plant would need to planted more deeply so the places where the old leaves were removed are below the soil line. That would mean a deeper, narrower pot. Or, you could cut the whole thing back to where the trunk is manageable,(even cutting all the leaves off or keeping  the top for the first suggestion) dust and callous if you've cut off side leaves, water very sparingly till you see new shoots. In that case, you are more likely to get pups around the base and sides of the trunk than out of the top of it.  You'd need to put it in a smaller pot. The 3rd option is chuck it (did I say that?), pot up the largest pups (that have some roots) and start all over again.
The fourth, and most interesting option -at least for me - is try more than one option and see how each does. Individual aloe leaves don't root very well and I don't think it's worth your time trying that.

If you would like to do something with the discarded leaves Google aloe recipes and homeopathic uses for aloe.

Have I driven you completely crazy?

It's not as hard as it sounds.  Write again if you have more questions and let me know how you make out if you remember.
Maureen