Aloe seeds: do you need treatment before sowing, how to grow a flower at home, how to plant properly, what to do if it does not take root?

Aloe has long been a favorite indoor plant of many gardeners. This beautiful succulent with fleshy leaves is appreciated for its decorative qualities, and for the fact that it is a real "home pharmacy" due to a number of useful properties.

The genus of this unique plant unites about 300 species of shrubs growing in Africa. Among them there are creeping, and tree-like species up to several meters high. Most of the varieties of flower growers are grown from seeds. We will talk about this method in this article.

Advantages and disadvantages of seed cultivation

Now breeders are breeding new varieties that are far superior in their decorative qualities to their wild predecessors. But the price of new products is very high, so in recent years there has been an increasing interest in seed propagation of aloe. Numerous publications indicate that the agave grown from a seed has a much greater chance to please its owner with flowering than a plant grown from a propagated non-flowering specimen.

Buying a bag of seeds has become quite simple, and the percentage of plant survival during seed planting is much higher than when grafted or grown by sprouts or children.

But the seed method also has disadvantages:

The main one is that two years pass from the moment of planting to the acquisition of decorativeness, and not everyone is able to wait so long.
Some gardeners complain that the purchased aloe seeds either do not germinate at all, or germinate poorly, not evenly.
Also, when sowing a mixture of different varieties only in the fourth or even in the sixth month, their distinctive varietal characteristics become clear.

When is it better to plant?

The best time for planting the agave coincides with its moments of germination in the natural environment. Therefore, aloe is planted in the second half of winter, from late January to early March.

Soil preparation

To grow a plant from seeds, you cannot use heavy, clay soils. It is advisable to use a ready-made soil mixture. There are no special soils for aloe on sale, but you can buy land for succulents or cacti.

When there is no ready substrate at hand, you need to prepare the soil yourself. To do this, before planting, a certain amount of river sand is calcined in a water bath. Sand is thoroughly mixed with well-rotted sheet soil in a 2: 1 ratio.

How to plant at home?

For planting, it is best to choose fresh seeds that have a shelf life of one or two years. It should be remembered that in different varieties of aloe, germination is different. Often it takes from two days to two months.
Before sowing the seeds must undergo a special treatment. Seeds must be scarified, that is, slightly damaged their protective shell to accelerate the rate of germination. Used for this sandpaper "0" or "1".
Scarified planting material is placed on a cloth and poured with water. Usually seedlings do not keep themselves waiting for more than a week.Experienced British flower growers, who have made great strides in growing aloe seeds by seed, recommend germinating in warm rain or melt water.
When the roots appear, containers are prepared where the seeds will be planted.
For planting seeds, it is advisable to use a special greenhouse with bottom heating. If not, you can choose a shallow, clean container of small size. You can immediately plant in separate pots with a height of not more than 5 cm.
At the bottom of the container prepared for landing, drainage from expanded clay should be laid. It must be heat-treated before laying: calcine in the oven or just scald with boiling water.
When the expanded clay cools slightly, it is required to lay the prepared soil mixture on it with an even layer. After that, the ground is leveled and evenly moistened.
When the roots appear, the seeds are laid out on the prepared soil, carefully sprinkled on top with a thin layer of prepared river sand or earth 0.5-0.7 mm high. After that, the entire surface is carefully moistened from the spray gun.
Prepared containers are covered with glass or transparent polyethylene. In this state, the mini-greenhouse holds until the first true leaves of the seedlings appear.
A seed container is placed in a warm, well-lit place. You can use light window sills or additional illumination with fluorescent lamps. In order for the seed to start growing together, the temperature should be from + 21 to + 25 degrees.
Do not allow overdrying of the soil, as seedlings can die. Water stagnation is also harmful. Young stubborn seedlings are sprayed only from the spray gun
Glass or polyethylene is removed from the container when one or two true leaves appear on the seedlings
If the seedlings are in the same container, their first pick occurs when 3-4 true leaves appear. Pots are selected small, not more than 5-7 cm in height.

Is it possible and how to grow in open ground?

Despite the fact that adults, strong ages feel good in the fresh air, The seed method for growing aloe in the open field does not have positive reviews from gardeners. You can only experiment with planting in the south of our country, but it is highly likely that the plant will die. Therefore, it is better to use the proven method of home growing agave.

First care after sowing

A young plant needs frequent watering, but stagnation of moisture can cause the roots to rot in this succulent. Therefore, watering should be private, but moderate. Agave is very sensitive to cold and must be protected from drafts or cold places.

If the agave has been planted with seeds in the winter, by the next fall it will get strong enough. In this case, watering is reduced to once a week. In winter, you can water aloe once or twice a month.

What to do if the flower does not take root?

If a flower grown from seeds does not show signs of growth, despite watering, you must carefully examine the plant. Perhaps the plant was attacked by pests. If they are identified, any suitable preparation for spraying indoor plants will help.

But if it is not a question of harmful insects, there is a chance that the plant's roots rot. Excessive watering, as well as hypothermia can lead to this. The centenar may die if quick measures are not taken to save him. To prevent the death of aloe, you must:

Carefully remove it from the pot.
After rinsing the root system with warm water.
If there are signs of decay, the affected areas should be cut with a sharp knife, and the sections should be powdered with powdered charcoal or sulfur.
After slightly drying healthy roots after the procedure, aloe is again planted in a pot. It is only important to replace the soil in the pot.

If the roots could not be saved at all, you can try to propagate the agave with a leaf, top or cuttings (how to propagate aloe without roots, read here). If you want to get a guaranteed result and grow a century from a seed, you need to use proven methods. In this case, the seedlings will be friendly, and aloe will be a real pride of the grower who raised him.