Expert: Maureen - 2/6/2010

Question
I have several large aloe vera plants outside around my pond, and I live here in san antonio. It has been unusually cold this winter and all the leaves on my aloe plant have turned brown from the cold. I started to cut back the leaves but I stopped because I don't know how they will grow back if they will grow back, so I guess my question is what do I do about the brown leaves. Will they fall off or will they grow out. how does that work.

Answer
Aloe Vera aren't cold hardy succulents so I suspect those leaves are dead..  If the leaves are soft and mushy they are dead. It doesn't mean the plant is dead.  If you see new growth in the center, the plant is alive but the dead leaves won't grow back. You can 1.) cut them to the stem to new growth, leaving a  stalk. You could cut the stalk to 3-4" below the new growth, let it callous and start new plants  2.) cut the entire plant back to the base.  Eventually a plant will grow from there 3.) look for pups to start new plants. You could wait awhile to do anything and see what happens with the brown leaves.  I suspect they will either shrivel up and you can pull them off, or they will start to rot, in which case cut them off IMMEDIATELY. Rot can kill the entire plant.

If you know it's going to be cold, below about 50 degrees or so, you can get cloth from a garden center that is used to protect plants and cover your aloes or what I do is throw sheets over my tender plants.  Hopefully you won't have another prolonged cold spell.