Aloe vera

Aloe vera has been carried around the world for so long that its wild origin is argued over, with the Arabian peninsula the likeliest home. What is not in doubt is the kind of place it evolved for: hot, bright, stony ground where rain arrives rarely and drains away at once. Every part of the plant is built for that. The leaves are water tanks with a waxy skin, the roots are shallow and spread sideways to catch a brief shower, and the whole thing would rather be baked than kept comfortable. Almost every aloe that dies indoors dies of kindness.

Light

Give it the brightest windowsill in the house, with several hours of direct sun. A south facing window in the northern hemisphere or a north facing one in the southern is ideal, and a spot outdoors in summer is better still. In a dim room the plant does not die, it deforms: the leaves stretch, lean outwards and lose the strength to hold themselves upright, and that shape never recovers. If you are moving one from a dark corner into full sun, do it over about two weeks, because leaves grown soft in shade scorch in a single bright afternoon.

Water

Soak and dry, and nothing in between. Water thoroughly until it runs from the drainage hole, then leave the pot completely alone until the compost is dry all the way to the bottom. In a warm bright room that is around a fortnight in summer; in winter, with the plant barely growing, it can be four or five weeks. Lifting the pot teaches you more than any schedule, because a watered pot is obviously heavy and a dry one is obviously light.

The classic mistake is a small drink every few days. It keeps the surface damp, the deep roots never get a proper soak, and the crown sits wet. A soft, darkening base is the result, and by the time you can see it the rot is already through the stem.

Feeding and repotting

Feed is close to optional. Two or three weak doses of a cactus feed across spring and summer is generous, and nothing at all after late summer. An overfed aloe grows fast, soft leaves that flop.

Repot every third year at most, in spring, into a pot barely wider than the plant. Terracotta is worth the weight: it wicks moisture out of the compost and it stops a top heavy plant tipping over. Use a gritty cactus mix, or ordinary compost cut half and half with coarse sand or perlite, and do not water for a week after repotting so any damaged roots can seal.

Pruning and propagation

There is little to prune. Take off the lowest leaves once they shrivel, cutting close to the stem, and remove any flower stalk once it has faded. Propagation is by offsets, the small plants that appear around the base. Wait until one is about a third the height of the parent and has roots of its own, then work it free at repotting time. If it comes away with no roots, leave the cut to dry and callus for two or three days before potting it into dry mix, and wait another week before the first watering. Cut succulent tissue that goes straight into damp compost rots almost every time.

Ailments

Wrinkled leaves mean the reserve is spent, and a proper soak fixes them within days. A soft or darkening base means the opposite and is far more serious. Stretched, pale, outward leaning growth is a light problem, not a water one. The ledger below has the rest, and the honest summary is that an aloe kept dry, bright and slightly neglected has almost nothing wrong with it.