The Wonders of Aloe Vera for Cannabis
Many growers don’t know this trick… Aloe Vera can work wonders to foliar feed and clone your marijuana plants organically and at almost no cost! Therefore, Aloe Vera for cannabis could be the way to go when it comes to growing delicious organic buds.
Why use Aloe Vera for Cannabis?
Using Aloe Vera gel for cloning your cannabis plants will certainly greatly enhance your rooting percentages.
By doing a little side-by-side comparison between Aloe Vera gel and a fancy rooting gel, chances are, the Aloe Vera gel will turn out to be just as effective. At the same time, it is very cheap and 100% natural!
With it, you can even foliar feed your plants to increase their natural resistance and provide them with a lot of essential micro-nutrients.
As a little added bonus: Aloe Vera is packed with health benefits,you could even use it to treat skin conditions or reduce constipation.
How does that work?
Aloe Vera gel contains two major hormones: Auxins which are a powerful growth hormone and Gibberellins which help regulate many plant developmental processes such as stem growth and flower development. It is also packed with Amino Acids, Salicylic acid, enzymes and micro-nutrients.
Furthermore, its nutritious gel holds high amounts of saponins. Saponins are wetting agents that help increase the absorption of all the goodies mentioned above.
The Salicylic acid functions as a plant hormone. It is very useful when rooting clones because it strengthens the plant’s defense against pathogens. Cuttings are particularly vulnerable to pathogens. Therefore, the Salicylic acid from the Aloe Vera gel will increase your chances of success.
Which Aloe variety works best?
Aloe Barbadensis is the most widely available Aloe Vera on the market. In additition to that, it is also the most famous for all the medicinal benefits it offers. Aloe Barbadensis is the best Aloe for cannabis plants.
cloning with Aloe Vera
Equipment For Cloning
The process is fairly straight-forward but you will still need some tools as you would when cloning with cloning gel/cloning powder.
You will need:
- Sharp scalpel, razor blade or utility knife.
- Clean gloves.
- Cutting Board.
- Water Glass full of clean water.
- Some starter cubes.
- Propagation dome.
- A Killer strain you want to take cuttings off of.
First of all: Cleanliness. Because cuttings are very prone to pathogens, you have to make the cloning process as clean as possible. Make sure to use clean gloves and sanitize your glass, cutting board and scalpel or Utility Knife.
You will get better results when using a water that is relatively clean. Either use some rain Water or, if you want to use tap water, let the water sit overnight so the chlorine can evaporate. The pH of that water has to be between 6 and 6.7. You could use some pH down of Lemon juice to lower the pH value.
Day 1
1) Cut off a piece of Aloe Vera leaf about a couple of inches/ 5cm long.
2) Squeeze out the gel contained in that piece of leaf into the glass of water and stir the water.
3) Slice off some new branches from your mother plant at a 45 degree angle. The cuttings should be 5 to 8 inches/ 12 to 20cm long.
4) Place the cutting into the glass of Aloe juice as soon as they are cut and let them soak in it overnight.
Day 2
5) Snap another 3 to 4 inches/ 7 to 10 cm piece of Aloe Vera leaf and stick each cutting into the Aloe gel to cover the stems with goo.
6) Stick the cuttings into the starter cubes and place under the propagation dome.
7) Make sure the starter cubes are moist but not overly wet and spray a mix of 1 table spoon of Aloe gel per gallon of water to keep it moist.
You are almost there! Now just keep and eye on those little cuttings and take off the dome once a day for a few seconds to let in some fresh air. Your clones should root in only 6 to 12 days.
foliar feeding with Aloe Vera
Foliar feeding with Aloe Vera is extremely simple. It will provide your plants with essential nutrients, enzymes and amino acids to help them thrive and increase their natural resistance.
To make some Aloe juice for your cannabis:
1) Cut a filet off the Aloe plant and squeeze out the gel.
2) Mix of 1 table spoon of Aloe gel per gallon of water (About 1 table spoon of Aloe goo per 4 liters of water.).
3) Poor into a garden Sprayer and shake well.
For optimum effectiveness, spray the Aloe juice onto your cannabis leaves within 20 minutes as the Aloe gel will start fermenting and quickly become less nutritious.
Since foliar feeding with Aloe Vera is very unlikely to burn your plants, you can repeat the process as much as 3 times a week.
How to care for your Aloe Vera?
Aloe Vera is cheap, low maintenance, doesn’t need much water or nutrients. Nonetheless, when you do feed your Aloe, use an organic fertilizer since everything you feed it ends up in the gel contained in the leaves. Finally, plant it in a well-drained soil such as a cactus potting soil and voila!! It will provide you with the best organic gel to foliar feed and clone your cannabis plants for years to come. Now, are you ready to enjoy the benefits of Aloe Vera for cannabis plants?
Looking forward ,and love to read more about this
Thank you for the feedback Ebrahim!
Yes indeed, Aloe is both very cheap and very effective.
Have a great day,
The Khalifa team
Thank you so much for this guide on cloning! I really didn’t want to spend a bunch of money on special cloning equipment. I just grabbed some soil from my garden bed, grabbed a cheap dome from a garden store. Then i used the aloe in my garden because it grows natively here. 15/18 clones survived!
Hello Yaba,
You’re very welcome 🙂
Aloe gel can be just as effective as expensive store bought rooting gel.
15/18 is great for a first time! well done.
Cheers,
The Khalifa team