Methodology
To answer the question of how the application of water stress on a mature plant affects the success rate of propagation through leaves of Aloe barbadensis miller (Aloe Vera), I am combining protocols-testing the limits of a plant and propagating a plant. I have nine Aloe vera plants, three for each condition. The three were randomly chosen using a random number generator. For overwatering, I water them every 3 days. For control, I water every 7 days. For underwatering, I water them every 18 days. Temperature was found using a thermometer and Amount of light was found using a lux meter. During each watering, the plants get 2 ounces of water. After about 70 days of undergoing their conditions, the plants will be propagated. Using a clean knife, I’ll cut off about 4 leaves of each plant, making sure to keep a little bit of the white stem tissue. The pieces must heal the cut before being dipped into IBA and planted. After one month, I can measure how much their roots have grown.
Up to this point, I’ve just been watering the plants. Both the control plants and the underwatering plants have little to no difference from when the experiment started. I have found that some of the ‘overwatered’ plant’s leaves are ‘droopy’, and the base of the leaves are a darker color. Two of the leaves of one plant have fallen off. This does make sense, since Aloe Vera is a desert plant. Desert plants would be accustomed to places with less to no water, therefore they have adapted to such conditions. An example of this type of adaptation is the CAM system, I brought up in my first post. As a refresher, the CAM system allows the plant to close up the pores on its leaves during the day, so the water it has collected does not evaporate. Aloe Vera is not used to getting overwatered and, thus, cannot handle being in such conditions for long periods of time as evidenced in the rotting leaves. I believe by the time I start propagating; I might have no leaves left to test for overwatering. However, this would mean that overwatered aloe vera are not fit to be propagated through leaves. There are 5 more weeks to water the plants, then I can start propagating and wait for growth. Up to this point, 5 weeks into the experiment, I have just noticed changes in the overwatered plants.
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