Aloe vera, how to grow it at home to always have juice and gel available

How to grow, reproduce and care for aloe vera? And how to use it starting from the leaves? A resistant plant, which does not need too much care, but with a thousand uses for both health and beauty.

Aloe vera is an ornamental and curative plant with succulent leaves that produces a juice and a gel with therapeutic and cosmetic properties. Let's see how.

Characteristics of Aloe vera

Aloe vera ( Aloe barbadensis ) is a shrubby plant that belongs to the family Aloaceae . Aloe is native to the hot and desert regions of Africa and today it is grown for ornamental purposes and to obtain products for the cosmetics and health and wellness products market.

Aloe plants have fleshy leaves characterized by the presence of a thick cuticle and small thorns along the margin. The inflorescent axis is of considerable size and bears flowers gathered in clusters, hanging and of a yellow color. From the flower develops the fruit, a capsule.

The aloe drug, that is the part of the plant with the highest content of active ingredients, is represented by the concentrated and dried juice obtained from the leaves and the gel. From the anatomical point of view, aloe leaves are made up of chlorophyll and amyliferous parenchyma tissue and cells containing mucilage. (Read also: Aloe vera: the benefits, contraindications and all the USES of the gel and juice)

The juice of the aloe comes from all the internal tissues of the leaves and, once collected by incision of the leaves, is concentrated by boiling, thus obtaining dark masses. The juice is used to obtain the titrated dry extract, with laxative properties given by the presence of anthraquinones .

The aloe gel instead derives only from the mucilage cells present in the innermost part of the leaf. Aloe gel is widely used in the cosmetic industry and it is attributed with healing properties for the skin.

Index    

·        Cultivation and care of Aloe vera

·        Reproduction of Aloe vera

·        Use aloe vera leaves

Cultivation and care of Aloe vera

Aloe vera can be grown in pots or in the garden without any particular difficulty, by paying attention to the placement, to temperature and watering.

Aloe display

As for where to place the aloe , it must be taken into account that this plant loves direct sunlight and heat. Being a plant native to areas where the climate is dry and hot, the cultivation of aloe will give its best at temperatures between 18 and 30 ° C and in non-humid environments.

Like all plants, aloe also grows optimally when grown in the open ground outdoors, but if winter temperatures are too low it is preferable to grow aloe in a large pot that can be placed in a sheltered place during the cold months: aloe in fact could perish at temperatures below 5 ° C. Temperatures that are too low cause a brown coloring of the leaves : beware of sudden changes in temperature as well.

Water the aloe

Aloe is not afraid of drought and needs sporadic watering and it will be sufficient to wet the plant every fortnight, without exaggerating the quantity of water and avoiding stagnation in the saucer. Excessive watering can cause the plant to die in a short time, anticipated by a softening of the leaves.

Ideal terrain

The best soil for the best cultivation of aloe is given by universal soil mixed with sand. When aloe is grown in pots, it is preferable to add small stones mixed with the earth to ensure proper water drainage.

Reproduction of Aloe vera

To reproduce the aloe plant it is not recommended to proceed with the cutting of the leaves without roots as they will die in a short period of time.

Over time, the aloe plant develops daughter seedlings, called suckers . To reproduce the aloe plant it is sufficient to take the small plants grown at the base of the mother plant. The operation must be carried out in spring when the plants have reached a height of about ten centimeters.

To obtain new aloe plants, it is sufficient to divide the roots of the young plants from those of the main plant delicately and carefully, avoiding cutting them. The seedlings can then be placed in a new pot or directly on the ground, taking care not to expose them to direct sunlight for the first few hours. Once the new plants have been buried, the bare minimum will be wet: the presence of water will favor the adhesion of the roots to the soil, allowing the plant to derive nourishment from it, but you must not overdo it as excess water could cause stress. water and plant death.

Use aloe vera leaves

Both the juice and the aloe gel can be obtained from the leaves of Aloe vera . As we have seen previously, the aloe juice is obtained from the cells of the whole leaf excluding the epidermis, while the aloe gel is obtained from the mucilage cells present in the innermost part of the leaf.

The main components of aloe leaves are represented for about 30% of mucilage which are added lipids, anthraquinones, polysaccharides, tannins, glycoproteins, saponins, vitamins, minerals and the cyclooxygenase enzyme. Anthraquinones are present only in aloe vera juice and not in the gel.

The anthraquinones are molecules that act as laxatives in the intestine thanks to their irritating action on the mucous membrane. The aloe juice is one of the herbal remedies used for treating constipation but it is important that it is taken at the right dosage and advised by your doctor, pharmacist or of the herbalist.

The aloe gel contains anthraquinones and has antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, immunostimulant, anesthetic and healing. It is used above all for the care of the skin and mucous membranes, in particular in case of burns, sunburn, sunburn and wounds as well as to soothe itching in case of hives and insect bites and inflammation of the oral cavity.

Aloe gel can also be extracted from the leaves in the home. To obtain the aloe gel it is sufficient to remove the cuticle of the leaf and blend the internal tissue: the gel must be used immediately and only for external use. It is strongly not recommended to take the contents of aloe leaves orally due to the purgative effect given by the presence of anthraquinones, which cannot be separated from the aloe gel in a homemade way.

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