My tree aloe progress

[Spination]

I'm limiting the species I'm showing as according to those specified in the book Tree Aloes of Africa by Ernst van Jaarsveld & Eric Judd - namely the 6 species within the newly named genus of Aloidendron and Kumara - formerly included in the genus Aloe.
East Africa
Aloidendron barberae
as acquired in 2015

2015 06 23 Aloe bainsii _ greenjeans a.JPG (205.15 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Today - about 6 feet tall and by far the fastest growing tree aloe of them all

2019 07 10 Aloidendron barberae.jpg (141.22 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Aloidendron tongaensis
as acquired in 2014 (1 of 2 plants)

2014 01 23 Aloe tongaensis #1 a.jpg (103.05 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Today

2019 07 10 Aloidendron tongaensis.jpg (126.11 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Aloidendron eminems
as acquired in Jan 2019 (several lower leaves lost due to the beginning of rot and the need to trim the trunk shorter and cut off several lower leaves)

2019 01 07 Aloe eminems d.jpg (141.8 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Today - very well rooted and growing along

2019 07 10 Aloidendron eminems.jpg (90.3 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

West Africa
Aloidendron dichotoma
as acquired in 2015 (1 of 3 - my first one)

2015 03 07 Aloe dichotoma e.jpg (110.47 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

and today

2019 07 10 Aloidendron dichotoma.jpg (104.33 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

Aloidendron pillansii
as acquired in 2013

2013 08 01 Aloe pillansii b.jpg (67.93 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

and today

2019 07 10 Aloidendron pillansii.jpg (137.19 KiB) Viewed 3471 times

To continue...

[Spination]

continued...

West Africa
Aloidendron ramosissima
as acquired in 2014 (1 of 2)

2014 05 21 Aloe ramosissima #3 c.jpg (236.9 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

and today

2019 07 10 Aloidendron ramosissima.jpg (217.19 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

South Africa
Kumara plicatilis
as acquired in 2014 (one of four that are of blooming age now, and my largest)

2014 01 27 Aloe plicatillis a.jpg (198.88 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

and today

2019 07 10 Kumara plicatilis.jpg (205.78 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

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Here is my first Aloidendron to branch, the aptly named Aloidendron dichotoma
This plant was acquired as an Aloe ramosissima seedling, and after a time I realized that was not right...
as acquired in 2015

2015 04 17 Aloe ramosissima #2.jpg (95.13 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

today

2019 07 10 Aloe dichotoma #3 c.jpg (109.26 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

2 heads are better than one?

2019 07 10 Aloe dichotoma #3 a.jpg (114.15 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

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In the meantime too, I've grown hundreds of plicatilis from seed, and a couple of barberae, and a batch of ramosissima. Don't ask me how or to make sense of it, but from 10 ramosissima seeds, I wound up with some 15 seedlings.

Anyway, here is the one plicatilis seedling I have found worthwhile to add to my plicatilis specimen group
early on I knew it was not exactly normal

2018 01 02 Aloe plicatilis variegated seedling.jpg (284.23 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

and now - early this year it went outside to pick up AM sun with the hopes of improving the variegation. This photo shown parked in it's newest spot since about a month or so ago getting even more sun, hoping to further improve it's variegation. When the leaves were thin as a seedling, the variegation was evident, but as the plant grew and the leaves thickened substantially, the variegation appearance became more subtle. It's starting to become more obvious again, especially on the older leaves, but time will tell how it turns out. I think the sun will bring out the variegation, but I hope I don't have that backwards! Anyway, I'll figure it out sooner or later...

2019 07 05 Aloe plicatilis seedling Variegated.jpg (208.95 KiB) Viewed 3469 times

[Cactifan800]

I'm really surprised at how fast your fan aloe has grown.
A seller earlier this year told me how slow they grow in the hope that I buy a more mature plant .
However I resisted and bought a single headed fan...surprisingly it's already produced a flower stalk and will flower soon.

[Spination]

Something that I figured out growing my first ever batch of aloe seeds (ferox) was that I could dramatically control the growth rate by pot size. When growing a big batch of plants, there can be very good reason for someone like myself who would be putting my plants out there a little here and a little there over time to have them get to ideal shipping size at different rates.

That applies very well to Kumara plicatilis. I can show you seedling mates to the variegated plant and you'd think no way did they come from the same batch, as they are so small. If you want to slow them down, then keep them in a small pot indefinitely, until you want them to get growing. If you want them to grow as fast as possible, give them progressively larger pots. Not too large that the root ball is inconsequential compared to the total volume of soil (which can cause watering issues - in that the soil might take too long to dry out), but to upgrade the pot size as the plant fills out it's pot. The idea has to do with giving the roots room. Space encourages the roots to reach out and fill it's pot, which in turn causes the plant to grow, and so on. I pick a pot which complements the size of the plant, and then let it grow. I repot when the plant has apparently filled the pot visually, and usually by this time the roots have also filled out the soil space, such that the roots hold the soil together and the entire assembly can be removed from the pot as a unit - soil and roots, and then I just place that in a larger pot with fresh soil on the bottom and then just fill in the sides. A new burst of growth results, and the process is continued. Oh, and I water very well as the weather is warm - that's the ideal formula for fast growth.

My guess assuming the seller you dealt with is honest is that the seller probably has plants underpotted too long, and so for him they grow slow...and therefor that is the reality of plant growth from his experience and perspective. My reality is: give them room, and they will grow - fast! I'd say that's pretty universal, with maybe a few exceptions here and there (yes, I've encountered plants that grow really slow for whatever reason).

Way to go choosing your smaller plant. As I see it, it's way more fun and rewarding to grow your own big plant from something small. Congrats too on your first flower stalk! Not sure if you know, but at the point of a single fan flowering, you will see it branch now. A new fan will generate, and that will become an actual branch as that rosette grows, shedding it's lowest leaves and generating new ones from the center, and in that way the entire plant growing trunk and branch length, which also tend to thicken proportionately as the entire plant grows. By next year, your new branch will flower as well, and you'll have two flower stalks. Then, each will generate a new fan, and so on.

[Stan]

Of them all, I think A.tongaensis is your best bet to plant out in Sonoma. Mine has never shown any cold stress..while A.barberae has. A.dichotoma can take cold..but dry cold. Wet cold will rot roots fast. A.tongaensis is used to more water and likes more water.

[Spination]

I have been keeping those outside that are just too big and too cumbersome to move inside. The barberae, pillansii, Hercules, plicatilis (and Goliath) are outside period. Even in pots, just no way I can move those easily and where would I put them? They've all been outside for years. but they are near a tall hedge and that does help keeping them warmer when it freezes. What you say about wet is absolutely right in my opinion. When the rains come, I have plastic sheets that are covering them up, keeping those roots dry, and to make it easy, I like to keep these plants together so one big plastic sheet covers a group all at once. In this way, I keep them dry and the cold so far for the last several years has not caused a problem (down to 25 F at worst by the time the sun comes up) so far. On dry sunny days, the plastic is off. Yeah, it's a lot of work covering and uncovering, but keeping the plants healthy makes it worthwhile to me. The work is harder yet when the freezing nights hit, because then I have to cover the plants with blankets first, and then the plastic. Otherwise, leaf tips burn thanks to the plastic touching them. The blankets create a buffer and the freeze doesn't transfer through then. Tongaensis, dichotoma, sabaea, eminems, ramosissima are inside because they still fit where they are, and I work around them, with pots of other stuff in their pots to economize space. Once they get too big, they'll have to go out too. In the summer, ramosissima goes outside (I can still lift that pot), and I just put the two headed dichotoma outside the other day until the winter.
As far as planting out, I have a lot of space and no clear idea of how I want to design it and group the plants. So, large pots until I figure it out. Either way, if they do get planted out, I need to build above ground planters, as digging holes in the clay - I might as well just bring the plants to the dump in the first place and save myself the trouble of watching them rot and melt away.

[Cactifan800]

I have found a small fan (offset) this morning and the flower is going to open any day now.
Thanks for letting me know that it branches when it flowers...does it work like binary?...1 head turns into 2 after 1 year, 2 heads turn into 4 after 2 years...4 heads turn into 8 heads after 3 years...and so on.
My dracena draco branched after flowering but that took almost a decade .

As for the seller, I think his just trying to make as much money as possible.
He told me his fan aloe is 20 years old, looks roughly the same size as yours and is in a raised garden bed with no competition from any neighboring plants.

[Spination]

Yes, that's exactly right. In botany, the terminology is dichotomous branching.

[Spination]

So, I thought this was Aloidendron dichotoma, and then today I noticed something I didn't realize before. Apparently, the plant has other ideas. Looks like it's trichotoma. It's a triple header.

2019 07 27 Aloe dichotoma #2.jpg (175.89 KiB) Viewed 3341 times

[Brooksphilly]

Wow, so glad to see this! I am in Philadelphia so I grow everything in pots and overwinter indoors. Have been growing agave and Sansevieria for years this way. I would like to try a tree aloe or two. Do you have suggestions which types would be best to grow in containers? And would they actually develop trunks in containers in a climate where they have to be indoors November-April? Thanks, Brooks

[Arinda]

For Brooksphilly, I am from Holland.
I have the same climate problems as you. My aloes are also in doors between the end of October till the end of April.
Al the trees from topic post are doing well in container for my. I don't have eminens.
ramosisssima, dichotoma pillansii and plicatillis are for my slow growers in container.
But barberae and tongaensis are growing fast. My barberae is now 15 years old. Stem is about 120 cm tall. 10 cm thick at the base.
Leaves are 70 cm.
It's standing in the same pot for about 4 years now. Plant looks healthy. But doesn't grow fast anymore.

I water dichotoma, ramosissima, pillansii and plicatillis every 3 a 4 weeks. Even between October and May.
And barberae and tongaensis almost every week in the warm season but almost nothing between December and March.

[Brooksphilly]

Thank you, Arinda, for your comments and the stunning pictures. This gives me hope that I might be able to do something similar in Philly. Your collection is gorgeous. Do they get any supplemental light (such as grow lights) when overwintered inside?

[Arinda]

Brooksphilly, I don't use any grow lights. But my aloes are indoors in a greenhouse so they get a lot of light.
And I give less water, coler conditions and less water, > aloes almost don't grow.

[Garrett]

What season do you do your repotting? Particularly for your fan aloe and romassisima aloe? Thanks!