How often do you water an Aloe Vera Plant?

Watering Your Aloe Vera Plant?

This is a question our team gets asked on quite a regular basis. How often should you water an Aloe Vera Plant? It seems the popularity of owning an Aloe Vera plant today has become more popular than ever, which we think is totally awesome!

The amount of people turning to natural remedies for better health is incredible and we love to encourage it as much as possible.

Owning an Aloe plant is one great way to start you on your journey to a natural way of helping to heal our bodies from certain conditions.

We will break down the advice on how to water your Aloe plant into different sections to cover all the basics.

Some people will be lucky enough to grow their own Aloe Vera plant outside. If they live in the right climate and growing zone. 

Some people will grow their plants inside their homes. If they don’t have the right temperatures outside for their plant to survive. This is the first point that we will touch on.

Also in this article, we will answer some other questions about watering your plant. In the winter months versus the summer months.

Here is a short video about how often to water your Aloe Vera plant

Can I grow Aloe Vera Outside?

To be able to grow an Aloe Plant outside. You must first look at what type of plant Aloe actually is.

The Aloe species belongs to the Asphodeloideae family. This is a succulent type of plant or sometimes called a fat plant. Meaning some parts of the plant are thicker than other parts and usually retain a lot of water.

Succulent plants are usually found in hot dry arid desert climates. The Latin meaning of the word succulent or (“succus” in Latin) means juice or sap.

The leaves of the Aloe plant are thick and very fleshy or meaty and hold a lot of water and gel. This makes up approx 99% of the fillet inside the leaf.

We won’t go into too much detail about what types of Aloes are out there to try to answer the questions of maintenance and watering here.

But if you wish to go into more details about growing your own Aloe Vera plant check out our Ultimate Guide Here.

Where is the best place for Aloe Vera to Grow?

Now we know what type of plant we are dealing with. Now let’s take a look at what parts of the world Aloe Vera will grow.

Aloe is thought to have come from the region of the North African continent and Arabian Peninsula. Two places are known for their hot dry desert climates.

So it is no surprise that the Aloe plant will need a lot of heat to survive. The plant does not do well in cold or frosty conditions.

As we mentioned earlier the plant’s leaves are made up of approx 99% water. So if the Aloe plant is exposed to any type of frost the leaves will freeze and the plant will begin to die.

The Aloe plant can survive in growth zones 9 – 10. This means anywhere close to the equator with as dry heat as possible.

In the U.S this means living in Southern Florida, Southern Texas, or Southern California for optimal growth. And to enable the plant to thrive as close as the climate to where the plant originates from.

Now don’t despair if you don’t live in any of these areas! There is still good news!

You can still grow and keep an Aloe plant! It just means that you can’t plant one outside for the aforementioned reasons.

​You can however grow a potted Aloe Vera. But you must bring it indoors to avoid frost and cold ruining it’s chances of flourishing.

Here is an image of the optimal growth zones for the U.S

How to keep Aloe Vera happy and Alive?

The trick to keeping your Aloe plant alive is not only got to do with watering your plant as most people would think. It also has got to do with a couple of different factors that you should keep in mind.

Succulent plants all tend to like dry quick draining soil. Because most succulents are used to dry arid climates. They have their own store of water in their leaves to keep them moist. And draw from this water supply when they are in need of water.

Most garden centers carry a special type of soil perfect for succulent plants to help them thrive and can be purchased quite readily.  

Watering Aloe Vera Indoors?

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when you are looking after your indoor Aloe Plant.

• Choose a decent-sized pot with a drainage hole at the bottom
• Choose quick draining soil suitable for succulent plants
• Never overwater your Aloe, remember less is more!
• Aloes love a lot of sunlight, about 6-8 hours a day, indirect sunlight is best

Indoor Watering Instructions

Water your Aloe Plant every 2 – 3 weeks. Always making sure the soil is fully dried out before watering again.

Watering Aloe Vera Outdoors?

Here are a couple of tips to keep in mind when you are looking after your outdoor Aloe Plant.

• ​Choose a nice sunny location for planting
• Choose good cacti or succulent planting soil
• Choose an area with good drainage, preferably in a raised bed
• Give plants enough space to propagate, as Aloes like to reproduce often

Outdoor Watering Instructions

When growing an Aloe Vera plant outdoors watering your plant should be a lot less than an indoor plant.

Natural rain and outside dew should be enough to keep your plant moist enough to survive and flourish without having to water at all in most cases.

See below for watering during the summer and winter months.

​

How often to water Aloe Vera in Summer?

Another popular question we get asked is: How about watering my Aloe plant in the summer months? Should I water it more?

There are also two different answers here as it also depends on whether you are growing your plant indoors or outdoors.

They differ only slightly but we’ve listed them both for you.

Indoor Watering Summer Months

Water your Aloe plant every 2-3 weeks as usual depending on how hot it is and how much sunlight you are giving to your plant. A good tip is to watch the rate at which the soil drys out. Don’t be tempted to overwater your plant in fear of it drying out, as the Aloe plant is very resilient to drought and will still thrive. Remember less is more here!

Outdoor WateringSummer Months

Watering your Aloe plant outdoors is slightly different in the summer months and depends on the region in which you live and weather conditions. As mentioned before you barely need to water your plant outside at all and it will thrive, but if there hasn’t been raining in 3-4 weeks straight it is advised to water your Aloe plant.

How often to water Aloe Vera in Winter?

In winter months the Aloe plant should be watered less than in summer months as the temperatures naturally drop.

We would like to mention again if you do not live in growth zones 9-10 and you have a potted Aloe Vera plant please don’t forget to take it inside.

The plant should be kept inside during the whole of the winter and protected from frost at all costs or you could lose your plant.

Indoor WateringWinter Months

Water your Aloe Vera plant about once every 4 – 5 weeks. Remembering to allow the soil to fully dry out between watering, and gauge it from there.

Outdoor WateringWinter Months

Watering your Aloe plant outside will not really be needed, natural rainfall during the winter months should be sufficient to keep it happy and thriving.

Over-watered Aloe Vera

Overwatered Aloe Vera will most certainly lead to the root system rotting away and your plant will most likely die if left untreated.

If you have overwatered and your plant starts to wilt you could try saving it by repotting it in dry soil suitable for a succulent plant. 

Put it in the sun to dry out, there is no guarantee that the plant will come back to life.

So please take care with watering your Aloe Vera plant and always air on the side of caution.

Water it less, as the mantra through this article repeats “Less Is More”!!!

The Aloe plant will let you know if it is not getting enough water.

A top tip here is if the leaves are starting to thin out and start to curl your plant is not storing enough water.

It needs more to survive keeping in mind to only water again after the soil has fully dried out from the previous watering.  

​Conclusion on how often to water an Aloe Vera Plant

Owning and growing your own Aloe Vera plant is a very rewarding and satisfying healthy hobby to have and start.

There are many health benefits that we have listed in our other articles here on our site.

If you have not started growing your own plant yet why not check out our product page where we have a small selection of Aloe Vera plants for sale​? To start you off in the right direction on a healthy path to natural health.

We hope that these tips for watering your Aloe Vera plant have helped you and answered most of your questions regarding the maintenance of the Aloe Vera plant.

If you have any other questions or comments please fill them out below. As always we look forward to reading them and answering them for you.

Also if you would like to share this article with your friends who own or would like to own an Aloe Vera plant please use the social share buttons underneath this post.

Stay Health Folks :)