I've looked at the book. I think he's in somewhere like Manitoba, and he's playing games. He's planting very, very deep and covering with a very, very loose soil mixture. I plant 2 inches down, and have never had a problem with either being too deep or not deep enough. For a long time, at least 150 years, and possibly much longer, it's been understood that a viable way of zone pushing is to keep things dry. A lot of what he's talking about, I interpret as water management in a fairly dry climate. There hasn't been a lot of feedback about his methods, however it didn't strike me as something where you can take a piece and ignore the rest.

I have tried hydroculture with a few of my AV's and it was never successful. The leaves that were not long enough to go over the side of the pot would always rot....and if I moved to a smaller pot, I couldnt fit the AV in comfortably. I went back to using coir and perlite for them, which they seem to like.

Yeah, my neigbhors asked me how I was able to achieve that many plants. They saw me working on the garden around early March. They were curious about the garden beds I was making. They saw the milk jugs. I explained to them what it was and also gave them the Wintersown site. I actually watched their reactions when they saw it. They didn't pay much attention to it kinda like "oh, ok". However, when plants started to come out/bloom, they went back to me and asked, "was that from the tiny greenhouse". :) I'm going to make more beds maybe by fall once my knee gets better. :D Thanks mnwsgal! :)

Tym, As Pirate Girl said, you're too concerned about watering these. They'll be fine. They are drawing resources from their lower leaves in order to live, but this takes months. As the resources are depleted, the lower leaves dry up. You can remove or not. This is a natural process, especially when they're in growth - as new growth appears, old growth dies. As you note, until there are roots there is no reason to water them. The only condition where you would is one you can't supply right now - lots of sun and warmth, a broad expanse of sidewalk or a heating mat, and the plant sitting in pure pumice in a pot that will warm easily. Until you have those conditions when an Aloe is rootless, watering is fruitless - or rather it's worse than fruitless, because it will kill the plant. Just be kickin' it with the Aloe - stand it up in a nice sturdy vase/container (a 155mm shell casing works great), or leave it potted in dry soil, and spritz as needed. It will be fine until growing time. I hope this has convinced you, because frankly I'm out of words.