Question
I was given a large aloe vera plant. She repotted it in a deep large pot. I read at beginning of your site that a pot too big will not work.  Is that correct?  Also she said the plant keeps having lots of babies. How does the plant grow baby plants and when they do, should I take them out and put them in there own pot?  thank you  DRule

Answer
A happy, healthy Aloe will sprout more leaves off the main stem and grow all over the place, Deborah.  A big pot can be good, and it can be bad.

Good because Aloes don't respond in a positive way to being pog-bound.  A cramped root system is not their cup of tea.  That may sound obvious, but there are a lot of plants that actually do respond positively to being squeezed at the roots.  I won't list them right now, but Aloe is not on that list.

A Big pot can be Bad in this case because all that soil can take way, way too long to dry out.  That's a recipe for trouble.  When roots don't dry out, they rot, and then you have a real problem on your hands.  Add high-moisture-holding soil (such as peat moss) to that and you can kiss your Aloe plant goodbye.

Aloes have to dry out.  They need sandy, highly porous soil.  And less water than a lot of things, because they are part of the plant kingdom we call "succulents".

These plants grew in the desert for millions of years and adapted to it.

Like camels.

Their leathery stems don't lose water like, say, a Hydrangea or a Lantana.  They keep all that moisture locked up and stored for future use.  Which is why there's so much of it oozing around in there when you slice it open for a burn.

And it really works, by the way.

Get used to growing your Aloe.  Fiddle less, observe more.  Get to know the light it likes the most, the soil, the watering routine.  When the baby Aloes have a few roots, slice them off and put them in new pots, and give them to your favorite people.

Any questions?