Aloe polyphylla, Sowing
birdsnblooms
13 years ago
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cactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
13 years agobirdsnblooms
13 years agoRelated Discussions
Have Aloe polyphylla/Spiral aloe.
Comments (3)Hi-I notice that you're both in zones 8 and 9, so just a word of caution here: a.polyphylla is completely intolerant of temperatures >85° inside the pot--cool roots are a must. Speaking from personal experience, keep the pots themselves shaded completely from direct sun. You might even put a few ice cubes around the edges of the pots if it gets very warm. Here are a few of mine just a couple of hours ago. I don't worry unless the temp goes below 25°, and mild snow is a relief to them: The 2 largest pots are 22", and the other 2 are 17", and in need of larger pots. As a rule of thumb, the pot should be at least 2" wider than the leaf span. Happy growing! Rick in CT...See MoreFirst year growing spiral aloe polyphylla
Comments (30)Hi Jools, Those seeds I started 3 weeks ago are doing pretty well. I took 10 seeds, gave them (2) cycles of freeze/thaw, then chipped them as I described earlier. Of the 10 seeds, 2 germinated within 72 hours, and by day 10 there was a total of 7 germinated. Maybe the others were duds, or maybe they weren't chipped right. Who knows? In answer to your question, I use a gritty mix for the seedlings too, and planted the germinated seeds 1/4" deep, including extra perlite to cover the seeds to help retain moisture, in a terra cotta community pot. A total of 6 finally made it (pictured). I put a maximum of 5 seedlings in a pot. In a few days these will go individually into 4" pots, and after a couple weeks of recovery, I'll start acclimating them to outdoors. From here on, I'll overpot, just to save time. Community pot==> 4" pot==> 8" pot==> ?? When my larger seedlings (4" -- 8") first went outdoors, I was more than a little concerned bc all the plants developed tiny brownish freckles, which I thought was either fungal or bacterial, and I was all set to treat these when they spontaneously cleared up, with no damage to the leaves. So far, the temperature here has stayed below 85ðF, and I have each terra cotta pot sitting in a dish which serves as a water reservoir, with that whole setup sitting in a larger container to shade the clay pot from direct sun. Remember, if the roots hit 85ð, the plant is toast. So far, this setup creates evaporative cooling, and I'm pretty compulsive about checking the pot temps, especially on the warmer days. I don't have a good spot to plunge these in the ground. As long as there's water in the dish, the unglazed pot will provide root cooling, and the plant can have its full sun. If the local temperature ever gets too high though, I won't hesitate to put the plants in the basement for a few days. I hope this helps. These are methods that seem to work so far for me, but I'm still experimenting.... Rick in coastal Connecticut...See MoreSo you say you like Aloe polyphylla?
Comments (13)All, believe me, it was my pleasure. As Gail too notes later, I too could never keep this one alive in San Diego. To have seen Brad's blooming ones here was wonderful - this picture's a bases-clearing triple, at least. It can be grown, albeit reluctantly, in a hot climate, it just needs to always have its roots cool. I saw one grown in eastern San Diego that was mostly shaded and on a drip line. Interestingly enough, the Aloe that many of us grow fairly easily, Aloe aristata, grows quite near this one....See MoreNeed positive ID for Aloe polyphylla
Comments (1)yes...See Morecactusmcharris, interior BC Z4/5
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