Aloe 'Hercules'

[Merlyn]

My little Hercules in the ground has done pretty well, taking 28F with frost like a champ!  It had no noticeable damage, and is still growing even in winter.  The stem has definitely thickened up, and it has at least 4 or 5 new leaves.  The one I repotted twice is growing new leaves, and looks like it will recover this spring. 

[Silas_Sancona]

21 minutes ago, Merlyn said:

My little Hercules in the ground has done pretty well, taking 28F with frost like a champ!  It had no noticeable damage, and is still growing even in winter.  The stem has definitely thickened up, and it has at least 4 or 5 new leaves.  The one I repotted twice is growing new leaves, and looks like it will recover this spring. 

Get ready.. it's gonna get massive soon,lol

" Big Mick " as " winter " starts it's retreat: Debating about repotting it before the move. Has to rest against something since it is become quite heavy and is trying to leave it's pot.

Overall:


W/a quarter for scale:







" Striations " starting to build up the trunk?   ..Be afraid,  Very afraid....   

[Merlyn]

On 1/15/2021 at 7:34 PM, Silas_Sancona said:

" Striations " starting to build up the trunk?   ..Be afraid,  Very afraid....   

Oh yes!!!  Striations are here!!!  Currently my largest is 3 feet tall, 2 feet diameter, and about 4 inches diameter at ground level.  I planted another one up in the front yard last fall, it's still pretty small.  I just planted a third one in the backyard, on the East side of my agave bed.  Both are about 1 foot tall seedlings, but hopefully will grow just as nice!

[Tracy]

On 11/21/2011 at 8:29 AM, MattyB said:

On Saturday, Paul, Bob and myself all piled in the new PRA Action Van and made a trip up to George Sparkman's place in Fallbrook. Paul took some pics of the PRA which I'm sure he'll share in a different thread, but here's some pics of the Aloe Hercules I got. I've read conflicting info regarding the parentage of this Aloe. It's a cross between A. bainesii and A. dicotima, but which one is the parent? I was going to put this up by the house in my new dry garden, but after George's advice, and doing some more research on the internet, I decided to put this monster a little farther down the hill. This tree aloe exhibits hybrid vigor and is expected to easily reach heights in excess of 30 feet tall.

Matty, how is yours looking these days?  Has it hit the 30' tall mark yet?  Mine was planted a year earlier than yours (late in 2010) but mine was much smaller (1 gallon) when I planted it than the one you got from George.  I've never read which species was mother and which was father for this hybrid either, anyone have any insights?

[Merlyn]

Unfortunately my 3-4' tall Hercules didn't like 24F and frost very much, though it didn't have a lot of leaf burn.  The brown tips in the photos are from the cold front.  So a few months later I noticed it wasn't really growing anymore.  I gave it a little push from the side...and it fell over.  The roots and lower trunk had rotted away.  So I beheaded it far enough up the trunk to get rid of any visual signs of brown rot.  I put it on my back porch and squirted the base with some hydrogen peroxide and dusted it with sulfur powder.  Over the past couple of weeks the trunk did get a little bit of a sunken area (see below photo) but seems firm.  I suspect the sunken area was a little bit of the leftover trunk rot that I might have missed.  It currently is not growing new leaves or attempting to grow roots, but otherwise seems ok as a cutting.  What's the best way to get this rooted again?  Pure perlite?  Perlite + 25% soil mix?  Perlite/Turface/sand?  Totally dry or occasionally lightly watered?  Should I strip off the lowest leaves and leaf bases to get ~6" of clean trunk?

@Silas_Sancona recommended this method in an earlier thread where 5150_cycad was selling cut heads:

Regardless, in my case, i just threw them in 1-3 gal pots using a chunky, good draining soil mix, and stuck them somewhere that stays warm, in bright shade.. Not sure it would matter if they saw more sun this time of year though.  You might just stick yours in something like a 5 gal, trimming off just enough of the trunk length so that it won't tip over in the pot while it roots. Water the heck out of them once set in the pots, and leave alone.. Only water them occasionally, if needed. ( maybe not at all there thru the rest of winter.. if you guys keep getting rain ). You'll know when they root when you start seeing them produce new leaves/growth.  Would imagine they will sit ..or slowly root  until it starts warming up. Take off pretty quick once rooted.

It seems like I'd need to put this one on the back porch in shade for rooting, since we get daily afternoon thunderstorms.  It might not like that much rain while attempting to root?

[Silas_Sancona]

4 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Unfortunately my 3-4' tall Hercules didn't like 24F and frost very much, though it didn't have a lot of leaf burn.  The brown tips in the photos are from the cold front.  So a few months later I noticed it wasn't really growing anymore.  I gave it a little push from the side...and it fell over.  The roots and lower trunk had rotted away.  So I beheaded it far enough up the trunk to get rid of any visual signs of brown rot.  I put it on my back porch and squirted the base with some hydrogen peroxide and dusted it with sulfur powder.  Over the past couple of weeks the trunk did get a little bit of a sunken area (see below photo) but seems firm.  I suspect the sunken area was a little bit of the leftover trunk rot that I might have missed.  It currently is not growing new leaves or attempting to grow roots, but otherwise seems ok as a cutting.  What's the best way to get this rooted again?  Pure perlite?  Perlite + 25% soil mix?  Perlite/Turface/sand?  Totally dry or occasionally lightly watered?  Should I strip off the lowest leaves and leaf bases to get ~6" of clean trunk?

@Silas_Sancona recommended this method in an earlier thread where 5150_cycad was selling cut heads:

Regardless, in my case, i just threw them in 1-3 gal pots using a chunky, good draining soil mix, and stuck them somewhere that stays warm, in bright shade.. Not sure it would matter if they saw more sun this time of year though.  You might just stick yours in something like a 5 gal, trimming off just enough of the trunk length so that it won't tip over in the pot while it roots. Water the heck out of them once set in the pots, and leave alone.. Only water them occasionally, if needed. ( maybe not at all there thru the rest of winter.. if you guys keep getting rain ). You'll know when they root when you start seeing them produce new leaves/growth.  Would imagine they will sit ..or slowly root  until it starts warming up. Take off pretty quick once rooted.

It seems like I'd need to put this one on the back porch in shade for rooting, since we get daily afternoon thunderstorms.  It might not like that much rain while attempting to root?

Definitely trim the leaves up a bit..  And yes, as mentioned in the past, would place where it won't get soaked daily.. Bright shade under a patio is perfect, Water heavily when you plant, then only water once a month ( ..or once every 6 weeks ) until it is rooted ..and keep an eye on it / give it a gentle nudge now and then to check how it is doing ( Seems to not wiggle each time much as you check = good sign it should be rooting )

I'm a little concerned on the prospects of this one rooting successfully though since the leaves appear they are quite dehydrated.. See some " puckering / wrinkling " on the stem as well which may ( ..or may not ) effect the cutting's ability to take up moisture while it tries to root.   Regardless, w/ the extra moisture in the air there, you should know what it decides to do fairly quickly ..Compared to the length of time they took to fully root here at least ( which really wasn't too long to begin with ) ..

Would still try to save it anyway if it were mine though.  Update over the next few months.

[Merlyn]

17 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Definitely trim the leaves up a bit..  And yes, as mentioned in the past, would place where it won't get soaked daily.. Bright shade under a patio is perfect, Water heavily when you plant, then only water once a month ( ..or once every 6 weeks ) until it is rooted ..and keep an eye on it / give it a gentle nudge now and then to check how it is doing ( Seems to not wiggle each time much as you check = good sign it should be rooting )

I'm a little concerned on the prospects of this one rooting successfully though since the leaves appear they are quite dehydrated.. See some " puckering / wrinkling " on the stem as well which may ( ..or may not ) effect the cutting's ability to take up moisture while it tries to root.   Regardless, w/ the extra moisture in the air there, you should know what it decides to do fairly quickly ..Compared to the length of time they took to fully root here at least ( which really wasn't too long to begin with ) ..

Would still try to save it anyway if it were mine though.  Update over the next few months.

I stripped it back to about 8" of clean "trunk" and potted it, though I think it might be a goner.  The sunken/wrinkled area in the stem appeared to be brownish in color, the same brown color as the original trunk rot.  So even if it roots, the rot fungus might still be in there eating away at the rest of it.  I guess time will tell!  I put it in a loose draining mix of perlite, pine bark, and generic loose topsoil.  I drenched it in a 3g pot, and put it on the back porch.  There's no direct sun but it is very bright out there.

[Hillizard]

Here's my Aloidendron 'Hercules' after about 5 years in the ground from a 1-ft cutting. It gets too much sun here in suburban Sacramento, so some of the leaves are sunburned on one side. Eventually the Butia yatay behind it should shade it more during the most intense months of summer, at least that's the plan. Or perhaps the Bauhina semla behind both of them will help provide some shade.

[Tracy]

2 hours ago, Hillizard said:

Here's my Aloidendron 'Hercules' after about 5 years in the ground from a 1-ft cutting. It gets too much sun here in suburban Sacramento, so some of the leaves are sunburned on one side. Eventually the Butia yatay behind it should shade it more during the most intense months of summer, at least that's the plan. Or perhaps the Bauhina semla behind both of them will help provide some shade.

It is surprising that you have sunburn in Sacramento.   I have seen large ones in Southern California's inland areas that do fine and I would think sun would be more intense.  Your Butia probably won't outpace the Aloidendron.   My adjacent Dypsis pembana has grown at about the same pace as the Aloidendron Hercules.   

It is probably a pretty novel plant in Sacramento and will only become a bigger conversation starter as it grows. 

[Hillizard]

19 hours ago, Tracy said:

It is surprising that you have sunburn in Sacramento.   I have seen large ones in Southern California's inland areas that do fine and I would think sun would be more intense.  Your Butia probably won't outpace the Aloidendron.   My adjacent Dypsis pembana has grown at about the same pace as the Aloidendron Hercules.   

It is probably a pretty novel plant in Sacramento and will only become a bigger conversation starter as it grows. 

Tracy: Yes, I'm also surprised and puzzled why some of my palms (esp. Trachycarpus species) and some other subtropical plants get sunburned growing in the clay soil of my yard. Someone on this forum suggested I incorporate more acidic soil media around the palms and I've been trying to do that. Results are still inconclusive. The recent high temps during our heatwave definitely had a noticeable effect! I'm also planting Handroanthus species next to some of my other palms for shade, such as a Caryota gigas (?) that got badly scorched this summer. ☀️ If I didn't mind turning my small backyard garden into a stand of 'telephone poles', I'd have planted fast-growing queen palms everywhere as overstory for shade!

[Merlyn]

Here's an update on my chunk-o-trunk...it looks almost identical to what it did right after I potted it!  I haven't watered it, but it is close enough to the edge of the patio to get some overspray/mist from heavy rainfall.  It seems relatively sturdy in the pot, but it also seemed that way as I compacted the perlite into the pot.  I have no way of knowing if it's grown any roots, at least not without taking it back out of the pot.  Any thoughts on watering it or putting it into the sun...clearly NOT as hurricane Ian is stopping by to drop 10-20 inches of rain on us.

[Josue Diaz]

On 9/17/2022 at 4:08 PM, Tracy said:

It is surprising that you have sunburn in Sacramento.   I have seen large ones in Southern California's inland areas that do fine and I would think sun would be more intense.  Your Butia probably won't outpace the Aloidendron.   My adjacent Dypsis pembana has grown at about the same pace as the Aloidendron Hercules.   

It is probably a pretty novel plant in Sacramento and will only become a bigger conversation starter as it grows. 

Mine in Fresno seems to handle the sun ok. It has gotten some shade now as other plants near it grow tall enough to shade it. Surprisingly, these are showing up in nurseries pretty often now - in 15 gallon and fairly large for the containers. The Southern CA surplus must have hit the markets here in the central valley. There are a few large ones around town in private gardens that are definitely showpieces. There's even a large dichotoma in a public garden here that just gets better and better every year.

Here is my small one, picking up the pace a bit. Cycas revoluta x deboaensis in front of it, and Aloe thraskii + Aloe vaombe behind it

See if you can spot it here... front yard is getting crowded 

 

[Silas_Sancona]

3 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Here's an update on my chunk-o-trunk...it looks almost identical to what it did right after I potted it!  I haven't watered it, but it is close enough to the edge of the patio to get some overspray/mist from heavy rainfall.  It seems relatively sturdy in the pot, but it also seemed that way as I compacted the perlite into the pot.  I have no way of knowing if it's grown any roots, at least not without taking it back out of the pot.  Any thoughts on watering it or putting it into the sun...clearly NOT as hurricane Ian is stopping by to drop 10-20 inches of rain on us.

Easy way to get an idea on if it is rooting / how that is progressing?, give the plant a nudge every so often.. Enough to see if it wiggles around more, or stays fairly firm in the pot. At some point you should be able to lift the entire thing by the trunk, and see roots peeping out from the drain holes.  Is how i'd check rooting progress on all of mine.. 

  Would also give it good soak, and trim off the leaves, -below the dead brown one visible just right of center.

[Hillizard]

3 hours ago, Josue Diaz said:

Mine in Fresno seems to handle the sun ok. It has gotten some shade now as other plants near it grow tall enough to shade it. Surprisingly, these are showing up in nurseries pretty often now - in 15 gallon and fairly large for the containers. The Southern CA surplus must have hit the markets here in the central valley. There are a few large ones around town in private gardens that are definitely showpieces. There's even a large dichotoma in a public garden here that just gets better and better every year.

Here is my small one, picking up the pace a bit. Cycas revoluta x deboaensis in front of it, and Aloe thraskii + Aloe vaombe behind it

See if you can spot it here... front yard is getting crowded 

 

Amazing jungle in your front yard Josue! Like a tropical forest! With height those palms will open up understory spaces and then you'll be able to plant smaller ones there that need more shade/protection! 😉

[Merlyn]

5 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Easy way to get an idea on if it is rooting / how that is progressing?, give the plant a nudge every so often.. Enough to see if it wiggles around more, or stays fairly firm in the pot. At some point you should be able to lift the entire thing by the trunk, and see roots peeping out from the drain holes.  Is how i'd check rooting progress on all of mine.. 

 Would also give it good soak, and trim off the leaves, -below the dead brown one visible just right of center.

Yeah at the moment I can pick up the pot by lifting the chunk-o-trunk.  But that's not a dramatic thing, because the pot is full of mostly perlite.  So I guess the pot and "soil" may weigh 1lb and the trunk piece is 5lb or so.  There aren't any visible roots, but I will give it a drink and slice off some of the dead stuff. 

[Silas_Sancona]

5 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Yeah at the moment I can pick up the pot by lifting the chunk-o-trunk.  But that's not a dramatic thing, because the pot is full of mostly perlite.  So I guess the pot and "soil" may weigh 1lb and the trunk piece is 5lb or so.  There aren't any visible roots, but I will give it a drink and slice off some of the dead stuff. 

Even using Pumice and 1/4th inch Granite gravel, and Turface as the main things for the soil mix i dunked the bigger cuttings in, if i tried to lift them by the trunks before rooted, you could tell they'd pop out of the pot if i lifted any higher..  One rooted, i could use them as dumb bells,  -if so inclined lol.   Yours may be in the process of rooting itself in atm.

[Tracy]

I was out in my front and noticed that my Aloidendron Hercules is developing some appendages again, but this time they appear to be more like it is trying to develop aerial roots like a Ficus tree.  Very interesting to see these hanging down at about 6' -7' off the ground.  They will have to get pretty long if they hope to ever root themselves!

[GeneAZ]

Interestingly, Dragon trees are known to do this, as well.

[Merlyn]

So this is odd...my "chunk o trunk" still looks basically the same over a year later.  It's clearly wanting some water, but it is very slowly growing new leaves.  I count about 2 to 4 new ones since last fall.  I'd guess there may be a couple of roots, but I probably won't mess with it until next spring.  If it survives the winter then it's got a chance!

[JohnAndSancho]

Gah. I still want one of these. 

[Rivera]

20 hours ago, Merlyn said:

So this is odd...my "chunk o trunk" still looks basically the same over a year later.  It's clearly wanting some water, but it is very slowly growing new leaves.  I count about 2 to 4 new ones since last fall.  I'd guess there may be a couple of roots, but I probably won't mess with it until next spring.  If it survives the winter then it's got a chance!

I wouldn't be surprised if you've got some decent roots in there. I haven't grown 'Hercules,' but I've grown other Aloes from different sizes cuttings and some were slow to start. 

It's a pretty incredible hybrid, and they look flawless in San Francisco where Aloidendron barberae (Aloe bainesii) sometimes looks a little yellow if not well located and cared for.

[tinman10101]

On 10/22/2023 at 12:51 PM, Tracy said:

I was out in my front and noticed that my Aloidendron Hercules is developing some appendages again, but this time they appear to be more like it is trying to develop aerial roots like a Ficus tree.  Very interesting to see these hanging down at about 6' -7' off the ground.  They will have to get pretty long if they hope to ever root themselves!

 

thats very cool tracy.  it would be really neat to see them continue to reach out and possible anchor to the soil line ... then it could start looking like a banyan tree like i saw growing up in miami.  regardless, it will be interesting to see how this manifest.