Aloiampelos tenuior

[JohnH]

Does anyone have any experience with Aloe tenuior?
I bought one from Shrubland recently as an experimental alternative to striatula, but it does seem rather spindly and delicate in comparison.
Does it develop the woody underground base and sucker like striatula?

[Paul S]

As you say, John, as a small potted plant it it is rather awkward and gangly and I've never seen a big one anywhere that looked impressive enough to make me want to devote space to it under glass. Kew had something that might be this in the arid end of the POW - mislabelled, naturally :D - that looked a right old tangled mess.

Outside I tried it a long time ago, grown from seed I bought from Silverhill - and so, you'd hope, accurate - but never kept it alive long enough to find out how it performed, Certainly top growth is not as hardy as that of striatula and the plant didn't establish for long enough to return from the base. I fairly recently got a trailing aloe, purportedly yellow flowered, that is re-sprouting on my new bit after last winter that might possibly be this but I am not entirely sure about the ID. Could be A. commixta, we'll see if it lives long enough to flower.

[JohnH]

Thank you Paul. It has been planted out for a few weeks now, and for some reason seems to be pushing itself up and out of the planting hole when I checked this afternoon.
It will be interesting to see how it performs, even if it does sound perhaps a little uninspiring.

In the 25 years I have grown striatula (in several gardens) I have only ever had one 1 flower spike, but I will keep trying. :roll:

[Paul S]

One flower spike?! Is that because it keeps getting cut back by cold?

[JohnH]

Yes, it is cut down to the ground by heavy frosts at least once every 3 years or so. I have also left plants behind when we moved house, I can imagine them busting into flower the moment the removals truck leaves the drive :lol:

Last winter was very frustrating as striatula had grown so well in the heat of the summer, had been ignored by slugs and snails, and become the largest clump I can remember. All gone in a pile of slush before Christmas.

How long does it generally take to reach flowering size from a standing start? I normally leave it to get on with things, apart from a little dilute seaweed feed after a bad winter, but is there anything I can do to speed up flowering?

[Paul S]

Usually stems flower in their second year so a plant cut back by frost will generally grow well the season afterwards then flower the next year. If you live in a region that will see - 5 or - 6C every winter I'd suggest either moving somewhere milder, give it better protection or give up on aloes and grow something hardier that will do what you want it to. :lol:

Edit. Perhaps more useful advice would be to seek out A. striatula var caesia. It is a weeny bit hardier. I have limited material this year but should be able to spare a cutting or two next year.

[JohnH]

Thanks for that Paul :lol: I can't take another house move, and I can't take planting any more alpines, so it is back to what I do best ... killing plants!!

There must be something striatula just doesn't like about me, this last clump will have been 3 or maybe 4 years old without extra frost damage or flowers. It does get full summer sun, but could low winter light levels and a shorter growing season effect flowering this much.

[charlie]

Not sure it will make you feel any better but I could never get them going here either, they just get eaten to the ground every day by snails!

[JohnH]

I've been digging up, potting on and taking cuttings from various tender succulents over the last few weeks.

As tenuior had hardly made any new growth during the summer (is it another cold season grower/flowerer?) I thought it would be best to overwinter in the coldframe.

The root system was wiry rather than fleshy, and had spread widely around the bed underneath more shallow rooted succulents. It was a bit if a surprise, and trying to get as much root as possible did leave a complete mess behind. Certainly no woody underground stem as yet.

[JohnH]

A. tenuior unfortunately lost all of its top growth at around -4C, even when overwintering in the cold frame.
I was about to throw it onto the compost heap, but noticed there was a cluster of green shoots poised under the surface growing from a slightly woody underground stem.
Seems promising, hopefully it will become more bushy and perhaps less spindly this time around. I will let you know how things develop.