Hey all! Thanks for the kind welcome and nice comments about my Aloe AKA ALOEZILLA!! I was wondering if it would be ok to place some fertilzer sticls in the soil to give it some nutrients, or perhaps a thin layer of some nutrient rich soil on top. My thouhgt is that the nutrients would work there way slowly into the soil. I probably won't re-plant until this spring. The plant sits in the window, and the window has a tendancy to get a bit cold. during the winter months. (I wonder if maybe some 3m plastic over the window would make it more comfortable for it?) So I thought that re-planting it in the spring when it's a wee-bit warmer would be beneficial to the plant, and make it easier to acclimate? What do you all think? Any of you guys from up-state NY, Saratoga/Albany area? Thanks all

http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p287/78lespaulcustom/Aloe/?

Hi there! Do you have a name that's shorter than your screen name here - it's a bit long to write!

I never fertilize my many succulents, and they seem to do just fine. Not sure if it will harm your aloe - I'm sure someone else will come through and answer that for you.

I did want to say, that my daughter attended a summer flute institute at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs the past 2 summers. This past summer my husband and I spent 2 days in the area - it's a very nice town. We also took a short trip up to Lake George for an afternoon/evening - I had gone to sleep-away camp on the lake for 8 summers, many many years ago, and it was nice to go back and take a look.

I know you are a newbie here, but if you are interested, there's going to be a meeting of the forum gardeners in Phoenicia this coming July. One of our members, Wrennie, lives there - I imagine it's not that far from you? She's about 15 minutes west of Woodstock. You can go to the members interaction forum farther down if you'd like to read up on it.

By the way... my husband and son are guitar players too - not sure which ones they have - one has 4, and the other 3. I'll find out tonight.

Come join us in Banter Hall in the coffeehouses - we can talk more about that kind of stuff there!

Lynne

I would not use the fertilizer sticks, I hate those things, you can not regulate the nutrients that your plant needs with one of those.

Aloe have very definite growth/rest cycles. Some grow in summer and are resting in winter, some grow in winter and hunker down during the heat of summer. So first, you have to know what species you've got. But since none of them NEED fertilizer, you can always just not bother. I certainly wouldn't put any soil that will hold water on top (or middle, or bottom). If you want, you can use a diluted balanced fertilizer; I use a hydroponic nutrient solution at 1/4 to 1/8 tsp per gallon of water - the recommended rate for houseplants is 1 tsp/gal - with every watering during their growth periods and none while they rest. Again, your plant looks very healthy, you probably don't need to change anything.

I'm in Oneida County- does that help???