Hi, pirate_girl! I'm certain that you know what you are talking about -- you sound like you do, and you did mention that you hang out on the C&S forum, so I have no reasons to doubt your knowledge!. What I was suggesting is to pick a rooting method that will most certainly work on aloes, another method that will absolutely certainly fail on them, and then, say, one more that is in between, that may give mixed results. Cory said that the class project requires an experiment -- so this could be one thing to try. If (or, rather, when :) ) a pup fails in water, that's an experimental result too -- it simply gives extra proof that water is not a right medium here. And if another pup is potted, say, in some gravel (would that be a good medium? Not sure, that's just the one I'd go with, but I grow only a few succulents, so I'm no expert), and not watered till there are roots, and if that pup does well -- then that's evidence that this is a good method. You know what I mean? This experiment would merely produce some more evidence that some rooting methods do indeed work much better than others. Kind of like verifying the knowledge that already exists in the community. That's why I said in my post, "You could ask on cactus & succulent forum, I'm sure they could tell you some good and bad ways to root aloes, and you could then try both the good and the bad methods for your experiments, and see if your results are consistent with what people on C&S forum would predict." But if Cory wants to make sure that no aloe pup is harmed in the conduction of the experiment :) , then this is definitely not the right experiment to try, you are absolutely right! And, well, there are definitely many many interesting experiments to try. I guess what I'm trying to say is, in the timeline of one semester, aloe pups won't do much more than hopefully grow a few roots. So if one is to stick with aloe pups for an experiment like this, it probably would have to be a rooting experiment. That's all. But maybe I'm wrong, like I said, I'm no expert. And there are certainly other awesome plants to use for a project!

Hi & Yes, You can save them, you can leave them out another day or 2. Then Pot them up DRY in the smallest clay pot you can find & then don't water for at least a week. I'd suggest some cactus & succulent mix & 30-50% extra perlite. They should grow roots from the bottom under the mix as if they were little pups, at least that's what I'd expect.

The Cacti and Succulent Forum may be the best place to ask your aloe questions. The search function on this forum may answer a lot of questions, too. Folks on the C&S forum recommend a gritty mix and it has worked for me. My pots (I have 12 different aloes) stayed out in the rainy summer and did well - no rotting. MG cactus soil tends to get dried out and rock hard around the roots if not amended with perlite (at least). I have never been successful at rooting an aloe leaf, but that's just me. I have trouble rooting a lot of things. These folks have helped save a lot of my succulent plants. They welcome questions and like pictures! Good luck everyone! Happy gardening!

carefully remove several of the lower "leaves" allow to air dry then apply 0.1% IBA (Rooting hormone)to "stem" stick in well drained soil & keep soil damp not wet..... the Leaves should be air dried & IF have a small cut area then also apply the same rooting hormone & stick in the soil There is a good chance it will also root. but both will be slow to root