Rotting Leaves On Aloe Plant

In the post about Aloe Vera Houseplant Care a visitor by the name of Bridget posed the following question:

"I have been having trouble with my aloe lately, usually it loves me, it even bloomed for me over the summer and gave me about 15 little ones I've been having to give to people because I don't know where I can put them. Unfortunately  I accidentally let it freeze, it summers outside, and a sudden freeze came up before I could move it inside. When I did get it inside, it was frozen, and after it thawed it became very wilted, and now it is giving off a smell of rotting, and oozing a dark brown liquid from the tips of it's leaves. There are still viable leaves in the very middle of the plant, but I'm concerned with trimming off the bad leaves and shocking it too much. Should I just give it up and let it go? I would like to try to get it healthy because I've had this one aloe for over 7 years."

Growing Aloe Vera From Cuttings

A visitor to this gardening blog e-mailed me to ask if it was possible to propagate and grow Aloe vera from cuttings. Honestly, I've never tried it but everything I've read about Aloes indicates that they can't be propagated through leaf cuttings. But it is possible to propagate an Aloe vegetatively by removing a pup or by rhizome cuttings though.

But there are the Aloe vera hybrids that have been crossed with related succulents like my xGasteraloe 'Green Ice' which is reported to be a cross between a Gasteria 'Old Man Silver' x Aloe variegata. When I bought that plant there was one leaf that was much larger than the whole plant and has now died, that's a big clue that it was propagated by a leaf cutting.

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Aloe Vera Houseplant Care

Aloe vera or what is commonly cared "burn plant" is one of the easiest succulents to grow. I consider it the Ficus of the succulent world because it's grown everywhere. I'm never surprised to see it sitting in windows of homes, restaurants and shops near me. From my readings of various gardening forums and results that bring people to my gardening blog I am surprised just how much trouble people have growing it. It's an easy houseplant.

"Why is my Aloe Vera dying?"

Caring for your Aloe vera houseplant can be very easy if you take into consideration where the plant comes from and what the conditions are that will make this houseplant thrive. This plant is native to the Mediterranean and that's an important clue to successfully grow this houseplant. It comes from a hot, dry and sunny area-so give it heat, sun and don't water it so much. Resist the urge to water it every time you walk past your Aloe vera-your plant will thank you.

GasterAloe

So picking up this plant was my Christmas Present to myself. I had seen one before that was mostly white and stalled and when I did someone else bought it out from under me. When I saw this little guy in the greenhouse of Home Depot I couldn't pass it up again.
 
Especially since I'm a sucker for plants already blooming and plants that come with offsets. You can't see the offset in these pics because it's on the opposite side but it's there. I've been looking around the net trying to get an id but the closest I got was to a pick of a similar looking plant on the Lapshin site labeled "GasterAloe Spirit of 88."