Where to Keep an Aloe Vera Plant: Light, Heat and the Winter Limit

Aloe is a sun plant that has been sold as a shade plant

Aloe vera is sold beside ferns and pothos, which gives people the idea that it will do in a dim corner. It will live there for a year or two, but it will not look like the plant on the label. In its own climate it grows in full sun on stony ground, and the thick upright leaves that people buy it for are the result of that light.

Everything that goes wrong with the shape of an aloe traces back to this. Thin leaves, leaves that lie flat instead of standing up, a plant that stretches sideways and rocks in its pot: all of it is light, not feeding and not water.

Flat, floppy leaves: what is happening and how to fix it

This is the single most common complaint about aloe, and it has a specific mechanism. In low light the plant lengthens each leaf reaching for the window instead of thickening it. A longer, thinner leaf cannot hold its own weight, so it lies down. Once a leaf has flattened it will never stand up again, because the growth that made it wrong is already finished.

So the fix is never applied to the leaves you are looking at. Move the plant into strong light and judge the result on the next leaf that comes out of the center, which will be shorter, wider at the base and noticeably firmer. Give it two or three new leaves before deciding whether the position is right.

1. Compare the newest leaf with the oldest Look at the small leaf in the middle of the rosette against an outer leaf of the same age-stage. If the new one is narrower and longer in proportion, the plant is short of light. If it is stubbier and thicker, the position is working.
2. Move it to the brightest glass you have Take it to a south or west window and stand it as close to the glass as the sill allows. There is no such thing as an aloe indoors getting too much light through household glass in winter.
3. Turn the pot a quarter turn each week Light from one side only makes the rosette lean and eventually tip the pot over. A regular quarter turn keeps it symmetrical, and it takes a few seconds when you check whether it needs water.
4. Cut off nothing while you wait Flattened outer leaves still feed the plant and still hold water reserves. Remove them only when they shrivel or go soft at the base, not because they look untidy.

A plant moved from deep shade straight into full summer sun scorches in a single afternoon. Go from shade to a bright window first, and only then move it outdoors, over about two weeks.

Summer outdoors, and how to avoid scorching it

A summer outside does more for an aloe than anything else you can do. Real sunlight and moving air produce short, fat, hard leaves and often a red or bronze blush along the edges, which is a sign of a plant in good health rather than a plant in trouble.

The danger is going too fast. Leaves that have grown under glass have no protection against unfiltered ultraviolet light and burn to a bleached white or papery brown that never recovers.

1. Start in full shade on an overcast day Put it out on a dull day against a north wall for the first week. Cloud cover for the first few days makes the transition much safer.
2. Move to morning sun for the second week Give it two or three hours of early sun and shade for the rest of the day. Look for any pale patch appearing on the sun-facing side and pull it back if you see one.
3. Then full sun, but keep the rain off By the third week it can take all day. Stand it under an overhang or a balcony roof so prolonged rain does not keep the compost wet, and never leave a saucer under it outdoors.
4. Bring it in before nights get cold Once nights start dropping below about 50F (10C), bring it back inside. Check the leaf bases and the underside of the pot for pests before it comes in.

Temperature, drafts and the winter minimum

Aloe is comfortable across a wide range and needs almost no attention between about 59 and 90F (15 and 32C). The two ends are what matter: it stops growing in real heat and it is damaged by cold, especially cold with wet compost.

A windowsill can be fifteen degrees colder than the room behind it on a winter night. If the plant sits between a curtain and cold glass, move it into the room after dark, or stand it on a mat rather than directly on a stone sill.

Problems caused purely by position

Before you change your watering, work through this table. Position accounts for more aloe problems than watering does, and the two are often confused because a plant in a dark corner is also a plant whose compost never dries.