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!

No, leaf starts will not work for the genus Aloe. You need an entire cross section of stem to root. Propagate by removing offsets (pups). There are two forms of Aloe vera. One makes orange flowers, the other yellow. The latter is sometimes called Aloe barbadensis, and is thought to be the original form of the species before domestication. It is relatively rare.

It probably will work great if each of us has an Aloe Vera, if that is so, and you only start a few plants at a time, I'm all for it. For my purpose I wouldn't have time for the extra step. I start my cuts about 100 at a time onto a flat and put it in the shade, I do set it on a bench what has an open slated bottom or wire bottom so the air can circulate I can flat them three hours later, Or I just just use my benches which are open on the bottom. The most important thing that air must circulate and not seal the wound, bacteria can get underneath the gel, and for me I must have time to use it. I also have a product made by Green Light Rooting Homone that would do the job if I had the time to use the product. I rather use the natural way. I have experimented with three different products in a controlled situatiion it didn't compare with the natural way. Norma

You know, the more I find images of gasteria, the more I feel lied to by the plant tag that came with it. I think you might be right, it is probably not an aloe at all. (I feel kind of stupid now). Here is the "mother" plant the leaf came off of. Even if it isn't an species of aloe - what would be the next step of propagation I should see? Leaves coming up out of the soil, eventually?