Aloe Vera plant outside in a 100 lb pot?

Question

My Aloe Vera plant is outside in a 100 # pot, difficult to lift and carry. I need to protect it from 27º temperatures coming up in two days, lower in December. The boss says "no way" can the plant come in the house. Oklahoma is capable of below zero but it's rare. Any ideas?

Mary C, Last year it was a tiny in house plant...all summer long it grew, I kept changing the pot it was in. Now it is 3 feet high and just about as wide with lots of side sprouts for giveaways.

Answer 1

Putting a sun loving desert plant in a box for the winter with a heater doesn't sound like a good idea to me. I'd like to know what you did last winter when it was time to come in doors? I assume you have tones of aloes in your 100lb pot. How about taking a few of the plants out of the pot and replanting them in smaller pots, and giving the rest away.

Answer 2

Since aloe vera is about 90% water it will freeze and die very easily. The ways to protect it would be to box it in and put a heat lamp on it, box it in and cover it with about a foot of peat moss, either way make sure it and the box is protected from the wind, or get help moving it indoors. I live in the Texas panhandle and my aloe got froze to death last winter. It turns to mush if it gets frozen.

Answer 3

great big box and a small ceramic heater (Walmart, Home Depot, etc, don't let the heater touch anything, turn it on low heat. All you want to do is keep it above freezing. Cover the whoe thing with a quilt or something. Can it go in the garage? Get a plant dolly to go underneath it and then you can roll it wherever it needs to go.

Answer 4

put a box over it and a small heat lamp inside,put lamp in metal pan, do not let it touch box or plant,or shine directly on plant.........BRRRRRRRRRR.