If you have an Aloe vera plant at home, and they are placed outside, chances are you had an Aloe vera that were burnt by sudden exposure to sunlight.
I have a lane of Aloe vera chinensis that has Oregano plants beside them. The Oregano plants flourished and covered the Aloe vera plants for more than two months. When I harvested the oregano plants, the Aloe vera plants that were covered by oregano were suddenly exposed to direct sunlight.
The sudden exposure to sunlight caused sunburns to the aloe vera leaves. Some of the leaves turned brown and those that were severely burnt had scars.
If the Aloe vera leaves turned brown because of sunlight, they will turn back to green once they get used to it, or when they are transferred to shaded areas. The leaves that have scars may turn back to green, but the scars will remain.
Does The Gel Inside The Aloe vera Leaf Affected by Sunburn?
I cut two sunburned Aloe vera leaves, one is browned by sunlight and the other one has sunburn scars to check and to show whether sunburn can affect the gel of the Aloe vera leaves.
Two days after cutting the leaves, the brown leaf turned back to green. This means that the leaf can still change its color even if it is already cut. The other leaf that has scars also changed its brown color to green, but the scars remained.
After opening the leaves, the burns and scars only happened on the outer part of the leaf and not in the inner part. This means that the gel is not affected by sunburn.
The fibers in the gel are noticeable, but it is not because of sunburn. Older Aloe vera leaves tend to show more fibers than younger leaves, and the leaves that were harvested are older.
I did not cut open the other leaf because it is already green and most probably the gel is not affected at all.
Watch the video below.