Aloe barberae

[Stan]

Maybe that's the maximum lifespan. I know that Lotusland lost most of their venerable Aloe forest including the A.dichotoma's. Aloe mite can be killed off with a systemic,I would think the staff at the Huntington would have used that. Or,maybe the anti systemic fever stopped them? Europe just banned the use.
I had huge troubles getting my Aloidendron tongaensis to recover from mealys or it would be dead by now. Systemic cured it.
One thing about my old Yucca guatemalensis is ..its a rock. No pests,no disease and it sort of gives the Tree Aloe/Dragon tree look. Flowers are nice too.

[Spination]

I can see how unfeasible it would be to spray even one massive tree for mites, let alone a bunch of them, let alone multiple applications of insecticide. What about the birds feeding on flower products? I would think an old gnarly tree would be impossible to once again not become a mite re-infestation source for all the other aloes around for time immemorial. The gift that keeps giving... I'm not saying that mites alone are responsible for whatever all happened, but I'm sure at least one component of it.

As an aside - I noticed that on Ebay, no longer is seen Forbid 4F in small repacked more affordable small quantities available. And, other intact Forbid 4F products not available for shipping to California. But Avid, no problem with either it appears. I did not realize there must have been a development there in terms of laws that changed - but I can think of no other reason.

[Arinda]

It looks like my barberae is pushing. October 2022 Holland.

[Arinda]

Update. After 20 years it's finally hapening.