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Aloe Vera is a variety of succulent plant that grows in dry climates such as Africa and India. It is chiefly recognized as a medicinal plant and is used to treat burns, soothe sunburns and is sometimes rubbed on the face for cleaner skin. Aloe Vera by itself is a beautiful plant to have in your house. Learn how to grow aloe vera in your home; but the added medicinal uses make it an even more helpful plant to have around. As such here are a couple tips to help you grow and maintain a healthy Aloe Vera plant for yourself.

How To Grow Aloe Vera

Required Tools
Sunny window
Required Materials
Aloe Vera plant
Potting mix
Pot with drainage hole
Pebbles
Fertilizer
Instructions
First choose a location for your aloe plant that has rich soil, good drainage and full sunlight coverage. If you are planting your aloe in a pot, combine the potting mix, pebbles, and fertilizer to make rich soil for the plant. Cover the floor of the pot with pebbles or gravel to give drainage for the plant. Put the potting mix into a pot about 18 inches in diameter so that the aloe can grow to its maximum size and place the aloe plant into it.
Your aloe plant should be watered at least one time each week with one or two cups of water. During hot months though, you can soak the aloe thoroughly as long as it has good drainage to keep the roots from rotting.
Other than water and sunlight aloe plants are fairly easy to care for. It is recommended that you remove all weeds from around the plant as weeds may upset the pH balance of the soil and affect the aloe plant. Adding ammonium nitrate to the soil yearly will be of great use to the aloe plant.
To utilize the medicinal properties of Aloe Vera, cut a leaf near the base of the plant and peel away the outer layer of the leaf to get to the gel inside. While persons believe that the whole aloe leaf is medicinal, the outer layer possesses almost no nutrients and it is the gel inside that is vital. So in the case of burns or insect stings, rub the gel onto the area to relieve the pain or stinging.
Tips and Warnings
Aloe Vera is really frost tender as it is 95% water, so in cold climates aloe ought to be planted in a greenhouse and put under a glass to protect it from the cold. If possible keep the aloe plant indoors in cold weather.
Aloe Vera is one of those plants which benefits from foliage feeding and not just root feeding, so when watering or fertilizing the plant, wet the leaves along with the roots.
If you want suckers from your aloe plant, aloe plants can be grown from seeds but are more often grown by planting the offspring that are produced around the base of the plant.
If your aloe plant begins to die, or brown at the tips, increase watering regularity to 2-3 times per day until the plant is restored.