Best Fertilizers for Aloe Vera Plant

Usage of natural plant food and packaged options

Best Aloe Vera Fertilizer

Aloe vera is a popular household plant that is known for its low-maintenance nature. It is one of the succulent species that is not only beautiful but offers innumerable uses. Some people recognize it for offering various skin benefits. While some of you may know it for keeping good digestive health.

The list of benefits offered by this succulent goes on and on. There is no doubt why aloe vera is famous as a wonder plant.

If you too have an aloe plant, choose a fertilizer for aloe vera that your plant loves. Most importantly you must know which fertilizers are best for your aloe growth and how often they should be fertilized. With our thorough research, we have come up with this helpful guide that talks about fertilizers to promote healthy aloe growth.

Do Aloe Vera Plants Need Extra Fertilizer?

Since aloe plants belong to the category of succulents they don’t need much attention to grow well. This means you don’t need to follow any daily care routine for your aloe plant like watering it frequently in a week. It will not do any good but instead lead to wilting and decaying of your succulent.

Likewise, you don’t need to regularly add any additional fertilizers to your aloe vera. Just choose a good grade aloe fertilizer and apply it occasionally. As these succulents are adapted to survive with little nutrients and even in dry environmental conditions.

Best Aloe Vera Fertilizer Options

Here we have discussed a few best fertilizers for the aloe vera plant variety.

1. Miracle-Gro Indoor Plant Food (Liquid)

Miracle-Gro is a go-to option when people look for feeding their aloe plants with fertilizers. It is best known for its ideal NPK ratio of 0.5-1-1, which rapidly result in boosting the plant growth rate. You can use it in two ways, either directly apply it to the soil or mix it with water before using.

If you are planning to use this product for your succulent growth, make sure to use it once or twice a month.

2. Schultz Cactus Plus 2-7-7 liquid Plant Food

It is another popular fertilizer known for its effective liquid formula. You will also find a dropper with this product that easily measures the amount of fertilizer required to be used. According to the brand, you should use its seven drops to feed your plant around 2 times in one month.

The liquid formula of this product directly reaches its roots when you water your succulent. The product has an NPK ratio of 10-15-10 which makes it the best fertilizer for aloe vera plants.

3. Jobe’s 06703 Succulent Fertilizer Spikes

If you want an effective succulent fertilizer but are worried about its impact on your pets, don’t worry anymore. You can freely go for this product that slowly releases fertilizer in the succulents and last all year round.

It comes in the form of spikes that can be placed under the soil. It will directly provide the necessary nutrients to the roots of a plant. The NPK ratio of this fertilizer is 10-10-4.

4. Leaves and Soul Succulent Fertilizer Pellets

It offers a perfect mixture of nutrients to aloe plants helping them to grow happy and healthy. You just need to use it once and it will last for about 6 months. With an NPK ratio of 13-11-11, it is a slow-release pellet that improves the growth of all succulents like aloe plants.

How Often to Fertilize Aloe Vera?

If you have placed a wonderful aloe plant in your garden or backyard, you don’t need to fertilize it every day or week. Just fertilize it once in the spring season and it will be enough to help it thrive throughout the year.

On the other hand, if you have an aloe plant in a container, make sure to fertilize it on a monthly basis during the growth season.

What Is The Best Time To Fertilize Aloe Vera?

Just like most other succulents and plants, aloe vera too experiences a state of dormancy and growth. Starting from spring to summer season, the aloe plant sees a great period of growth. While in the fall and winter seasons, this houseplant enters a period of dormancy.

It is best to use the best natural fertilizer for aloe vera plant two times during the growing period. Make sure to apply fertilizers in the starting so your plant can utilize the nutrients to improve its growth.

How To Fertilize Your Aloe Plants?

We have already discussed the fertilizers that are good for aloe vera. Also, it is not necessary to fertilize your aloe plant on regular basis. So, it is wise to understand when and how to use them. Generally, it is best to apply fertilizers in the spring and summers season, which is also known as the growing period for aloe vera.

If you have put your plant in a container, don’t go for frequent use of plant food for aloe vera. Normally, it is best to fertilize your aloe plant once a time in a month for houseplants. The best fertilizer mixes for these succulents are 10-40-10 liquid houseplant mixes.

You can also feed other mixes to your plant, that are particularly made to boost the growth of succulents. Remember not to apply granular fertilizer. Also, take care to deeply water your potted aloe plant before fertilizing. It will wash away any salt.

Things To Consider While Fertilizing Aloe

We all know that plants require nutrients and energy to thrive properly. This can be done easily if you have good knowledge about choosing the best fertilizer for aloe vera. However, people often practice wrong fertilizing practices which can damage their aloe plants.

So, there are some cautionary things that you must follow while fertilizing your aloe vera plant. Here check it out.

Don’t fertilize your plant during the state of dormancy (fall and winter), i.e. when your plant rests. At that time plants don’t use fertilizers for growth. As a result, the soil gets loaded with excess fertilizers and becomes highly acidic. You can thoroughly wash away the excess fertilizer from the plant.
Use sufficient fertilizers during the growing period, that is, the spring and summer seasons.
Make sure to deeply water your plant at least 12 hours before you add fertilizer to it once a month.
Water the plant until you see it dripping out of the drainage holes of the pot. It means the potting soil has been thoroughly wet. It helps in leaving a thin film of moisture around the root network of the aloe vera plant.
When using liquid fertilizer on the bottom of the aloe vera plant, take care to leave the stems and foliage. As it can cause severe damage to your plant health. Once you have used the fertilizers, water it again.

Check this out to select the right aloe pot for your home and garden.

Signs of Over-Fertilization & Ways To Fix It

If you are eager to learn about the best fertilizer for aloe vera plant, it’s equally important to be aware of the signs of over-fertilization as well. You do not want to severely damage your aloe plant by adding excessive fertilizers to it. So, here we discussed some common signs of fertilizing your plant too much.

Falling of Leaves- Defoliation or removal of leaves from plants can be a prominent sign of over-fertilization. It is more often caused when you irregularly water your aloe plant.
Yellowing of leaves- Wilting or yellowing of the bottom leaves of your plant is caused when it does not receive sufficient light. Another common sign of this problem can be the frequent watering of plants. So, make sure to look out for these signs when you think you are using excessive plant fertilizers.
Build-up of fertilizer on the surface of the soil– It is another common indication that your plant is being over-fertilized. It’s when your plant stops absorbing minerals because of the formation of the crust of fertilizers above the soil surface.
Roots turning brown or black- A common indication of the burning of the plant include blackening or browning or limping of roots. It means that your plant has been exposed to excessive fertilizers.
Slow growth- It is no secret that all plants require sufficient nutrients to support their metabolism and growth. So, if you notice slow growth or no growth of your plant, it indicates nutritional imbalance.
Leaf tips and margins turning brown– Brown colored aloe leaf or drooping appearance is another indicator that your plants are being excessively fertilized.

How To Fix It?

So, is your aloe plant showing any of the signs listed above? Are you confirm about it? Don’t worry! You just need to show some extra care to your aloe plant and follow some effective ways to remove extra fertilizer as much as you can. See, even if you use the best fertilizer for aloe vera, excess of anything is harmful.

If you see a layer of fertilizer on your soil surface, you can use a spoon to carefully take it off. Make sure to remove only one-fourth of the soil. Next, if you see any burned or wilted bending leaves, just remove them directly quickly.

After this, you can deep-water your plant to wash away any fertilizers from the soil. Watch if the water has completely drained out of the drainage holes. After this immediately clear out the tray. You can repeat this process at least 3-4 times to wash away any excess fertilizer completely from the roots. Lastly, make sure to leave the plant unfertilized for at least one month.

More About Aloe Vera: Lifespan

FAQs

Q. Can banana peel be used as a fertilizer for aloe vera?

Ans. If you like eating bananas, don’t forget to save their peel for making your fertilizer. That’s right. Banana peels are highly advantageous for the growth of aloe vera plants. By using banana peels in your DIY fertilizer you can provide the required potassium to your plant.

On top of this, it will help you limit the content of food waste. It is indeed a win-win situation for anyone who wants to use natural compost as the best home fertilizer for aloe vera and reduce food waste.

Q. Is sugar water good for aloe vera plants?

Ans.We have often heard that adding sugar water to plants can improve their growth. But it is wrong. Adding sugar water to plants can make them decay and wilt off. Normally, plants carry out photosynthesis to produce the necessary nutrients for healthy growth. When you use sugar water for your plants it will obstruct their growth.

Q. Are coffee grounds good for aloe vera plants?

Ans.Of course, not. There is no doubt that aloe vera plants can survive in moderately acidic to moderately alkaline medium of soil. But they thrive quite well in neutral to moderately alkaline soils. That’s why aloe vera plants don’t like to grow on coffee grounds.

Q. Are eggshells a natural fertilizer for aloe vera?

Ans.Yes. Aloe vera plants like to feed on eggshells. So, if you are thinking what good you can do with your eggshells instead of throwing them away in the garbage bin, you can mix them in your plant soil. Just finely crush the eggshells and then mix them in the soil. It will provide a sufficient amount of potassium to your succulent and improve its growth. Simply make sure to remove the egg white and yolk from the soil.

Adding to this, you can prepare an eggshell tea by soaking eggshells in one cup of water and leaving it through the night. In the morning just remove the eggshells using a sieve and pour the water on your aloe plant. It will boost the growth rate of your plant.

Final Word

All in all, these are the best fertilizer for aloe vera plants available on the market. It is best if you can place your aloe plant in well-drained soil that is ideal for succulents or cacti. When you put it in humus-rich and loamy soil, you don’t need to fertilize it frequently.

Added to this, your plant must be kept in full sunlight and watered deeply. Make sure you give enough time for the soil to dry out. Most often people water their aloe plant frequently, which flushes away all the vital minerals from the soil.

When looking for fertilizers, you will find many options like liquid fertilizers and slow-release pods. There is an option for everyone whether you are a plant-lover or a skilled gardener. You can also produce natural fertilizer using leftover waste like vegetable peels and eggshells.

Hope you find this blog helpful to properly nurture your aloe plant and let it thrive well.