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

Hi. I'm located near Stanford University. Here is my poly that lives in a pot. This picture is a couple of years old. But I did notice recently that the tips of mine are brown just as you describe. Don't know what it means. I don't water mine but once a month, but mine is not in a hot, sunny location. It is in a sun/shade area. Mine is about 18 inches around and probably 8 to 10 years old. Yep, that is a big pot. I think the flash went off for this picture hence the lighter color around the crown. I killed a couple before I got it right, too. I remember when these first appeared at a nursery. They were like 25 bucks for a small one. Much more available and much cheaper now.

Soil: 50-50 turface + perlite + slow release fertilizers. I bury the pot in the ground to keep the roots cool. Plant is at an angle to prevent water from pooling in the center. Full sun. Watered daily in the summer. Stays in that spot unprotected except when nights are regularly below freezing (December to March). January and February it sits in my garage - cool, dry, no light. December and March, if there is a prolonged very cold and wet period, I will move it under cover. It needs a wide pot, but the root system is not deep. The absolute most important factor, in my opinion, is that the root zone must be kept cool. A potted plant exposed to typical ambient summer air temperatures (80+ F) will lead to failure unless your climate is cool i.e. Pacific NW. These are alpine plants, not "desert" plants. They like strong sun, cool and damp soil, and good air flow. x

I had two tissue-culture plants Aloe Polyphylla ("AP") that I ordered from a nursery in California. Both were approximately the same size when they arrived. After a couple of months the one in the second photo was growing well. The one in the first photo had remained about the same size. About a week ago I was checking a leaf on the smaller one and the whole plant tipped over -- the roots had rotted off. I emailed the nursery and the owner said that this was due to overwatering. I had overpotted the plants to deal with the heat problem (saw that on another forum someplace) and was watering daily. I made sure that no water collected in the crown or leaves of either plant and they were kept in the exact same conditions. I also recently ordered a year-old plant from an eBay seller. Her listing stated, Needs full sun and infrequent water. Seriously, INFREQUENT water ... No returns if it comes back waterlogged! All of the literature I've read, including Alan Beverly and Clark Brunte, states that the AP should be well-watered and Beverly says that this is one way to avoid root damage from high temperatures. As long as the soil drains well, over-watering doesn't seem to be an issue. Obviously people like Rick who have success growing AP can't be wrong, so I would advise you to follow his advice. The temperature where I live only rarely reaches 90 degrees and my plants receive only morning and late afternoon sun, so I don't have to worry about extra high temperatures. One suggestion is to change the plants into a ceramic or terra cotta pot. I think those materials are better at diffusing heat. Here's the link to Alan Beverly's advice on raising AP, including advice on dealing with areas with higher temperatures. http://www.ecotree.net/Care&Cultivation.pdf