Second Transplant of Class One Aloe Clusters

Before Transplant

After Transplant

Figure 1.

These class one clusters of nine premature Aloe were transplanted into individual containers today. I used a mixture of perlite and sandy soil favorable to cacti and succulents (perlite improves drainage as well as sand). It is always best to give each plant its own container when transplanting to avoid root damage and to promote optimum health. Due to my limited resources at the time I had to group several Aloe pups together into one container until I was able to find more nursery pots. First I separated each cluster by pressing my thumb and forefinger gently in between each plant. As I loosened up the soil in this manner I was careful not to smash the roots; instead untangling them by hand. Shaking the roots loose was avoided to prevent tearing and breaking of root fibers. Figure 1 depicts the cluster that was most difficult to separate. Their roots had become densely intertwined; minimal damage was done to the root mass of the plants. The clusters should have been transplanted much earlier to avoid this problem. I then dug a hole wide enough for the root ball and deep enough so that longer roots had more room to grow and were not packed near the surface. While holding the plant in place I gently covered the roots, being sure not to pull and tear the longer roots at the bottom. I cover most of the white, fleshy bottom of the plant base with soil, making sure the plant was fully covered yet not set too deep  After re-potting each pup I packed in the soil, especially around the base to stabilize the plant (some were more prone to being top-heavy than others due to restricted room for root development). Since the perlite soil mixture was moist they will not be watered for another day or two.

Seperated Aloe clusters; minimal root damage

                                                                                          ~Gabby

                                                                             The Green Project 2013