Aloe - a useful plant in your home

To me the house arm of aloe vera was accidentally a few years ago. I do not like succulents and, to be honest, putting aloe in the farthest corner of the house, I thought of its existence is not even every month. To my surprise, the aloe kill this 'caring' I have failed over the years. On the contrary, my aloe grew luxuriantly. In the end, I put up with the existence of aloe vera in our house, I learned to take care of it and even use a juicy green leaves for burns. Here I will talk about the care of aloe and what you can do with its leaves, filled with gel / juice and who, many believe, has valuable properties. If you have a successful experience with aloe home, it would be interesting to hear your feedback.


Aloe home:
care Containing Aloe house is not easy, but very simple. The word 'care' is not even quite appropriate, in my opinion, because the intensive care aloe just does not like. This plant is actually indestructibility, if you remember (especially lovers always something to replant, fertilize, cut, tie and spray :-) that aloe likes to be just left alone!

An important requirement of aloe to care in our latitudes is not the hottest - bright lighting. Put aloe in a pot on the south window or the brightest place in your home.

Watering aloe convenient to do out of the shower: a shower is not only uniformly wets the soil in the pot, but also washes away the dust from the leaves of aloe. No need to be watered frequently Aloe Vera - this plant accustomed to periods of drying in its natural environment (the south of the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa). At home, it is necessary to give the soil to dry out with aloe before watering. I water the aloe winter somewhere once a month, and in the summer - once every 2 weeks. the frequency of watering depends on the temperature and humidity. Fleshy and firm leaves of aloe vera, suffused with juice / gel, a sign that the plant enough water. Dried lower leaves as strings, and brown dry ends of green aloe leaves indicate that the water is not enough.

Soil for aloe to be poor. Use a substrate for cacti, but in the absence of such - the usual mix for house plants with coarse sand in the ratio 1: 1. Good permeability of the soil - an important condition for the cultivation of aloe, so it is good to put a drainage layer on the bottom of the pot with aloe

. I personally have never fertilized their aloe, but if you frequently cut away the leaves for use, it is better to once a month to feed a plant fertilizer for home flowers to Aloe Vera is quickly restored.

If you have provided your aloe proper care, it inevitably will grow in breadth over time. Therefore, for the cultivation of aloe perfect broader and deeper pots. So, my home aloe vera for a couple of years from a small shoots turned into what you see in the photo on the top of the page. Now I give sprouts of aloe vera for everyone, simply separating the root sprout from a large parent plant. By the way, this is the best method of propagation of aloe. To pull out the entire plant out of the pot does not even need to, you can simply lift one side and carefully separate the root process. Leave the root process Aloe lie down in the room a few days before planting (nothing will happen to them, do not worry). Aloe Plant in dry soil and do not water for a few days.

Aloe home: properties

If you believe all sorts of folk and alternative healers, the aloe has the incredible properties that treats everything from burns, acne, fungal, alopecia, herpes and frostbite to gastrointestinal disease, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, and even cancer! By themselves, these claims sound suspiciously (not one plant to treat all!), And no wonder: until a few medical studies plants do not confirm specific healing properties of the gel / aloe juice or show conflicting results. Such disappointments have happened to the beautiful but useless for immunity Echinacea purpurea, with the equally beautiful but poisonous hellebore, which some reason, use a 'slimming' and to other plants.

Spent National Toxicology Program (NTP) US MOH year study in rats and mice has registered the occurrence of cancer in the intestines of rats after regular ingestion of whole extract of aloe leaves with water. Recently, the Office of the US FDA (FDA) banned the sale of funds from the aloe juice, claim to help sufferers of glaucoma and multiple sclerosis, for unfounded these claims. Thanks aloin contained in it, aloe vera is a laxative. However, in 2002 the US FDA decision were withdrawn from public sale laxatives aloe because 'Their safety is not proven'.

At the same time I know that there are people who regularly come together and take into the fresh juice of aloe leaves home, relying on its special characteristics, and furthermore, other agitating and do it!

On the possible positive properties of aloe true and aloe tree shows a small study that showed the potential of plants to lower blood glucose levels and, consequently, facilitate the symptoms of diabetes type 2. Tests of the properties of aloe has not yet been completed in humans. There is still hope for the healing properties of aloe for burns of 1st and 2nd degree, wound healing, as well as the suppression of harmful bacteria.

The most interesting, however, that two recent studies have not confirmed any useful properties of aloe for sunburn, and in fact on this promise in the world each year are sold tons of aloe gel!

How do I apply aloe
Of course, having a home luxuriant plant aloe and knowing its potential medicinal properties, it would be a sin not to try them myself within reason. The photo shows how to extract the gel / aloe juice, cut the sheet along the knife. My most successful experience with the use of aloe vera was then hand skin burn on the hot oven. Holding the burned area under cold water, I wiped it and put sliced ​​aloe leaf inner side to burn for several hours. Aloe really soothed the pain and the burn is completely healed without a trace in just a couple of days.

Everything else that I've done with the juice / aloe vera gel turned out, alas, completely useless. On the advice of friend, I tried to use fresh aloe juice as a hair gel, I smeared it on the skin, after reading about the 'softening and moisturizing properties of aloe juice', and dabbed the cut sheet to cuts and sores on the hands. All this does not give any noticeable effect. However, I remain open to new and I'd be happy to hear from you about the successful (or unsuccessful - the same result!) External application of aloe home. Please tell us under what circumstances you are using aloe vera and with what effect.