Aloe Vera have a tough skin that is easy to wash, just like your apples, oranges, cucumbers etc. If you leave them outside in the rain most of the year then anything that was ever on them has been rinsed away. The greater concern is for scraping or cutting out those yellow veins of latex on the inside surface of the leaves while you're trying to get the gel out. That stuff can be a very powerful, even painful, laxative (but it'll sure detox your a$$ if you're worried about something you et). To remove the gel I split the leaf open lengthwise and scrape the gel out gently with a table spoon, being careful not to get into the yellow veins. I find it's easy to drink if I mix it with citrus juice. Most citrus juice, including lemonade and certainly all those so-called "sports drinks", are too acidic for my stomache so mixing in aloe juice cuts the acidity and make the aloe drinkable. I always use aloe juice when making lemonade. My Aloe-ade recipe 1/2Q (16oz) Lemon Juice 2Q (1/2Gal or 64Oz) Aloe juice 1 cup sugar 1-1/2Q (approx) water to make up to 1 Gallon Aloe/Lemonade

When Hurrican Rita hitting us was a definite and the whole city was evacuating (for no reason at all apparently) I put my aloe (in soil) in a closed garage. That was in September 05. Oops, I sort of forgot about it -- until March of 06. I swear to you, it was pitiful. I brought it out, gave it a drink and left it alone to see if it would come back. Guess what. A year later and the thing is 16" tall with a diameter across the top of about the same, and it just finished flowering. They can withstand a LONG drought! ;0) As for soil, the stuff you have is junk by itself. It is loaded with peat which becomes hydrophobic when left to dry between waterings. I would only use it for about a quarter of my mix. Get some landscapers mix which is pine bark well decomposed (but still piecy, if that makes sense), and some grit of some kind. I use this stuff called OilDri which I get from Sam's for about $4.84 for a 25# bag. It is med-high fired clay and will hold it's structure for up to a year or more (that I know of). I also use decomposed granite or chicken grit. The feed stores sale it as Chicken Grit, but Home Depot sales decomposed granite as well - I think it was $3 something for a pretty good sized bag. You can also use unpainted fish tank gravel. I personally am getting ready to repot all of mine again without any peat. I am using coir instead. I bought it in the form of Bed a Beast at Petsmart in the lizard/iguana section for $5.99 for a block when hydrated makes 7 liters. I am going to mix 1 part coir, 1 part landscapers mix, 1 part OilDri, and 1 part decomposed granite. This makes it about 50% grit and very free draining-- good for where I am as constant rain is a high probability during the summer. I don't like perlite as it floats to the top. A lot of people like it because it is lighter than the stuff I've listed above, but other than my huge aloe and stuff in situ, my pots are only 3" to 8" so it's a non-issue. If your roots aren't white that is okay. A lot of succulents' roots turn a reddish tan color as they mature. As long as they are not mushy and/or dark brown, you should be good to go. Don't wait too long to pot up though. It can handle it, but why stress it. Happy gardening.

Fertilization will depend a lot of whether you are growing Indoors or out. Outside during the growing season I usually use about a half mix of the recommended dose with an all-purpose fertilizer every 4 watering or so... If I remember to do so, that is. I have grown Sanseveria in a number of places and atm I have three doing well in a not too well lit southish window In my bedroom. Honestly, these really only seem to need watering maybe once a month. They look nicer with more neglect for some reason. The aloe you should judge based on how the leaves look and feel. A happy aloe will be plump and green, with its leaves standing up or out. Floppiness, turning red or yellow can be a sign of underwatering or too much light. Turning brown can be overwatering, frost or sun burn and should he approached with caution. Both can and will grow back from healthy roots in case of a freeze.

Okay, I understand. I'm going to keep these two in pretty small pots until they have more roots established. I don't mean tiny pots- just like medium sized I would say. And I will add some small rocks to the top in order to stabilize the plants. Today I unpotted both of my aloes to see how much damage there could be and if any, it would allow me to remove the damage and let them callus over before repotting this weekend or so. The roots of the smaller aloe look pretty good to me- there is plenty of new growth (including new baby roots and additional growth on the longer, older ones). This was the aloe with the two leaves on the bottom that turned yellow and shriveled up- which I was told was normal and the plant was just shedding the older leaves. These leaves were easily removed from the base with gentle pulling. Just wondering if you guys agree with me and the roots look good and this one can be planted as normal in the new gritty soil. Two pictures of the smaller aloe: Next, was the bigger aloe which I wasn't happy with. As can be expected, it's roots did suffer. So I trimmed off the dying roots and was left with barely anything. But I was happy to see it has one new root growing! So there is something left there (: My question with this one is should I remove the dark part of old stem that is under the baby root? I don't know if this is rotten or not, it's soft and dark but not mushy or smelly. I'm thinking I should remove it because it's not doing any good but will that much trauma to the plant cause more suffering? Bigger aloe: One more thing, I read about putting cinnamon on any cuts or damage upon transplanting in order to prevent infection. Should this be done immediately or after the plant has had some time to callus? Thanks in advance for any help (: