GRow in moist, well draining soil or even moistened pumice and perlite will work. Only bury seed a few milimetters. I cover mine with a fine layer of large-grain sand (#12 silica) to keep them from blowing away or from washing away when I water them. Keep somewhat warm if there is a big cold spell. Some who grow aloes from seed use no bottom heat, but I use a little. Most aloes grow easily from seed... but you need to be careful about them rotting when they are small. Keep out of full sun. Keep moist and keep the fungus away.

It doesn't look like my A. marlothii (sp.check) nor my A. ferox, I have them standing side by side. I'm not good with pictures. Both of these plants mentioned has a branched infl. does yours, this is very important for identification and spikes on the keel side of the leaves, again it could be a hybrid. I can't give you a name if I don't know what it is and I can't change the name for you. See if you can find Renyolds book on Aloe. I haven't seen every Aloe sp. that there is. Is the infl. branched? Branched tree like aloe Aloe: barberae, dichotoma, pillansii, plicatilis, A. ramossima, which it is none of these Single-stemmed Aloe: it could be one of these is it is a true species Aloe: africana, alooides, angelica, comosa, excelsa, ferox, lineata, littoralis, marlothii, pluridens, pretoriensis, rupestirs, speciosa, traskii, vryheidensis. I still have the feeling it might be A. arborescens, but feelings don't count on scientic matters. it does have some harmless teeth on the leaves that really are not lethal. These are the few in So Afica that may apply. There are Aloe in other countries in Africa as well, So. West Africa and Madagascar just to mention a few. Did you ask Palm Bob in the other forum. He is really the one that can help you. I'm not proofing this, ask Jeff to do that, I need some sleep. Norma

"My instinct is to do this next spring, right when the plants get into active growth mode." I think your instinct is correct. I know that aloes are sending out new roots in the spring as older roots die back just as their haworthia cousins. I have recently been re-potting some aloes and clearly observed this. Although admittedly I am dealing with much smaller hybrids.

Some fantastic shots of various shrubby Aloes. I don't know that I would consider all of them within the "tree aloe" category from a landscape design point of view, but it is an arbitrary division in any case. Are most of these photos from plants at the Huntington or LA County Botanic Gardens? Some truly incredible photos, and few of these would ever be seen in such vigor and size up here, with the exception of the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek and the UC Berkeley Botanic Garden. I still suspect that the cuttings taken back to Texas are mostly likely smaller leaved side shoots from Aloe arborescens, unless your son had access to a collector's garden. A. arborescens is THE most common larger aloe here in the SF Bay Area. While the species grows over much of South Africa and no doubt has wide tolerance for different conditions, I don't think it is likely successful anywhere it regularly drops below 25F each winter for several days, or where the summer nights are hot and steamy and don't cool off. Is anyone here growing this successfully in Texas or south Florida? Also, being a winter bloomer, flowers can freeze even when the foliage resists; and this isn't a particularly attractive foliage aloe to grow for form/texture alone. Of the other Aloes in the photos, the ones I've seen most commonly and/or grown in gardens include speciosa, pluridens, ferox, castanea, africana, arborescens, thraskii, marlothii, x spinossimus to list a few. Here's some photos of them in SF Bay Area gardens: Here is a link that might be useful: Aloes in the East Bay Area