African Crops for the Future E11: The Zimbabwe Tree Aloe (Aloe excelsa)

[@AjCele]

My mother used to have her small business in Chivi Masvingo of making baskets (Chikwindi) from Aloe Vera fiber. I remember l used to be professional in extracting the fibers and dye them in different colors to make a colorful basket 🧺. We used to make a lot of baskets & sell them in South Africa and Botswana. It is a skill l learnt but l took it for granted.R.i.P Mum.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Wow, thanks for sharing that!

[@Fayrwa06]

Came across your channel and thank you for putting Zimbabwe on the map. Rich Zimbabwe

[@naomichareka790]

Thanx Gus for the valuable information. We have the purple variant in our garden in Harare and my dad uses the gel whenever he has shaving nicks . The whole leaves are periodically immersed into drinking water for his turkeys ,ducks and chickens as a prophylaxis.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Fantastic, thanks for sharing that. I'll remember the shaving nicks trick too - that's super-useful info!

[@Appydem]

Intolwane and Isihaqa are two trees I believe will have a very big audience due to its traditional high usage and commercial sales at local markets.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for the the tip - I'll add them into the To Do list!

[@raymondchikuku3581]

Thanks Gus. Maybe we should look into reproducing the skin lotion you mentioned. On a side note, we still waiting for the Kazuma pan series.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

I'm keen! And the other Kazuma videos are coming. I've been in the field shooting more content and just haven't had the time to edit the content I've already shot. But it's coming, I promise!

[@christiaan2182]

Would love to see more Aloe videos 👐🏼 South Africa really has some special Aloes, I'm sure Zim has as well

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks, I will, I promise!

[@chiyenyumba7135]

Another fantastic video Gus thanks for bringing our taken for granted plants to *our consciousness* its called Gavakava in Shona.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you!

[@siriusakari6729]

Am so loving this series. Thank you so much for making these educational videos.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you. Glad you like them!

[@EdenCroft]

I feel like I'm rediscovering my homeland anew from your videos. Thank you.

[@JenniferRhoden-f2x]

Want to see more African plantt

[@jocelynnelake41]

Thanks Gus. Very informative. Good to know that aloe vera is not the only useful aloe. David is keen to grow some more interesting things on the farm. I will see if he's keen to try this.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

He should definitely give this one a go. It's a magic, magic plant. He just needs to figure out how he's going to market it in the end!

[@HeinzMeulke]

Aloes are easily grown from seed. Around this time of the year they should have plenty seedpods. Wait till the seedpods dry out and open. The seeds are small (1-2mm), plant them in a mixture of well drained sand and little compost (keep wet for 14 days), I use clingwrap over the tray and leave it in half day sun. Once germinated they are initially very fragile and easily rot when overwatered. After about 2-3 years they should be ready to go into the ground and will require very little water

[@restynakayiza3055]

Thanks for this great information.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rentiahurter8514]

Very interesting... thank you.

[@GraemeRiggien-i3n]

Please can you educate us in SA around our alien plants ie bugweed,Lantana,khaki Bo's,cosmos,ie where it comes from ,how to eradicate etc ,apprecisted

[@hopehope5314]

Very helpful video

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you. Glad it was helpful!

[@nkosiemahlangu1158]

My grandmother used to use this to treat sick chickens

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing. This seems to be a very common use of this plant.

[@corfezim]

Hi Guss, Coccidiosis pronounced as "Koksidiosis" can better be described as Fowl Diarrhea- Whereby the chickens suffer from a bacterial infection , which is best recognized by the fowls getting dark green, runny diarrheal droppings and they die in numbers. To use the Aloe, the aloe leaves are dumped into the chickens drinking water for days on end, to be replaced after several days... Once again, this is original Village "Science"

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Fantastic, thanks so much for this awesome input!

[@jocelynnelake41]

Wow! I had heard aloe vera juice was good for gut health in humans. Great to hear it's helpful in chickens too.

[@annahboreni1385]

Interesting information, can one grow them on a hill?

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Yes, absolutely

[@tandi4201]

What a treat it was bumping into you today Gus, FYI the video does not do you Justice 😁

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

So funny to run into you like that Tandi. That was meant to be!

[@patriciangwenya2545]

Plenty of this, was part of our life

[@cleversibiya3803]

Thanks,

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thank you too!

[@sunny483]

Does this Aloe also have this yellow Liquid inside of the leaves? I've heard it's toxic. Do you cook the leave with it if you want to consume it and what's a healthy dose? Greetings!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

It does, but it's not toxic. Doesn't taste great, though, in common with many medicinal plants!

[@lili_dee]

"... But wait, there's more!..." 😜 I don't think any of your other videos to date has such a strong infomercial vibe

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks, you're right. That definitely wasn't the intention!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks, you're right. That definitely wasn't the intention!

[@lili_dee]

@@AfricanPlantHunter I didn't mean it as a bad thing, I just thought it was funny. I love aloes, and seeing one of them so praised gave me a warm fuzzy 😊

[@leveshankrishna1185]

Hii there, i have about 8 trees like this but I'm having a problem with it. At the bottom of the tree something is eating it. It's getting very thin at the bottom. Please help

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Sorry to hear that. I don't know where you are, but that sounds like basal stem rot, which is a problem that affects aloes in cold and wet conditions. Does that sound like it might be the problem?

[@ShadrackFrimpong-n7z]

Please is this plant good for blood type b positive

[@HeinzMeulke]

This is not a "tree aloe" it is not part of the Aloidendron family. Simply call it "Zimbabwe Aloe/Aloe Excelsa". Most aloes grow very easily from seed, they will take about 4-5 years before you can start harvesting the bottom leaves. In South Africa there are a few commercial Aloe Ferox plantations. Commercial farming can unlock a whole industry yet to be discovered.

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@AfricanPlantHunter]

Thanks for sharing this!

[@sharnleary6523]

Hi Gus is it possible we can connect on email ? As im interested in growing aloe ?