Glad to meet you, I hope you have a great experience collecting cactus and succulents. Everyone will be growing their plants differently and in different mixes. I use a very fast draining soil even though I live in a semi desert. I use 60% pumice, 30% coarse sand, and 10% orchid mix, or oak leaf mulch, or redwood chips/bark. I water once a week in the summer, and fertilize with a balance fertilizer diluted right after I water, their are many brands that can be use. Bloom duing early spring, 10-10-10. Give them plenty of sun, unless you know that they want shade. (Rhipsalis) jungle plants that live in tree crouches. I can't see the pictures, so don't know how to advise you about the Aloe, most take sun, and some from Madagascar need winter warmth. Lower leaves on Aloe just dry up, and need to be removed. Brown,Aloe leaf may be caused from cold. (rot) Don't know where you live, and how cold it has been since you bought the plant. Norma

So, I thought I'd post a photo for everyone to see, so they don't have the read the entire first post. I know it was long, but I'm really looking for some help!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:527043}}

I would be willing to guess that most people actually did read your entire first post. However, no matter how excellent your writing skills, you just can't convey as much information as with a picture. No one wants to offer advice without having all the information possible. The lesson is, if you or anyone else wants a response to your questions, include pictures!

Honestly, there is no problem with your Aloe. The tip of that leaf probably got damaged, and now the plant is recovering as much water as it can from it before it sheds it. As it pulls water out, the leaf will slowly die back, turning brown as it does. Like Norma said, once the leaf is truly dead and shriveled, it will pluck right off the stuff without much effort. Trimming it won't stop the progression, and trying to pull it off right is a bit extreme, and may injure the stem.

Your plan of action for the other plants sounds good to me. Again, to be totally honest, commercial cactus mix is still way, way to rich in organic material. You'd be much better off mixing one or two parts drainage material (pumice, perlite, pea gravel, etc) with one part commercial cactus and succulent mix. It will just make things easier as far as watering goes.

The other thing to keep in mind, is that these plants want as much sun as you can provide. You should slowly acclimate them to full sun over the course of a couple weeks to prevent sunburn. I know providing natural light can be very challenging as far north as you are, but the plants will be much happier.

You'll find plenty more advice around here, on the internet, and in books. There are lots of different approaches, so you just need to find one that makes you happy. Norma's post is very dense with information, and if you researched each individual topic a little bit, you will immidiately leap from being a "begginer" to being a "novice." ;-)

Last but not least, WELCOME!!!

There is nothing wrong with your Aloe. It looks just fine. The lowest leaf is doing what they do, getting resorbed by the plant. It is normal. Don't panic. I don't see any sign of rot or other problems.

The most important rule for growing succulents is: If you are in doubt about what to do, do nothing! The practice is called Benign Neglect. Only water, fertilize, (or panic) if you are certain not doing that thing will harm the plant. Only water when the pot is dry from the top to the bottom. If you are not certain the plant needs care, don't give it any. Succulents have plenty of resources to survive for weeks, months, and for some plants, years. Most succulents are killed from Too Much care, than from too little.

Happy Growing!

I didn't meant to sound snooty earlier, and sorry if I did! I must have been trying to post while Norma was posting, so I didn't think I had any responses by that point. I'm glad the picture helped, usually my pictures come out blurry, that's why I was trying to explain in words at first.

Thanks for the Welcomes, and I very happy to be here. I love how knowledgeable you guys are... and yes I'm working towards being a "novice"!

I will leave that leaf on then, and let it do it's own thing. I just wanted to make sure that by leaving it on to rot, that it would infect the other leaves somehow.

As for the sun, I shouldn't have any trouble slowly introducing the Aloe (or the other Cacti) because I'll keep it next to a sunny window for now (that will only get sun for part of the day) and then once summer comes I'll lay it outside some days where it will receive more sun.

One quick question about fertilizer, I read on the FAQ page to use 15-30-15, but Norma said to use 10-10-10. Is there anyone better then others? As well, since it's "spring" here now (rainy and cloudy and slowly starting to warm up) should I start fertilizing it the next time they should be watered?

Thanks again, I really do appreciate the advice! :o)

Don't worry too much about fertilizer. You'll get lots of different methods, and none of them are really *right* and only a very few are really wrong. In general, use a low nitrogen, (or balanced) fertilizer applied at 1/4 the recommended strength (the 1/4 part is important). If you can find something with all the micronutrients included, go for that.

Personally, I do very little in the way of fertilizer. I figure that wish fresh soil, the organic component will easily feed the plant for at least a year. After that, they get a 1/4 strength dose of 13-13-13 Nutricote, which is a time release product similar to Osmicote. That is good for at least another year, at which point it is usually time to repot. The plant that I grow in pure pumice will get their dose of Nutricote the day they get potted up.

Hi there,

If you're a beginner, pls. stick w/ the balanced fertilizer (even numbers like 20-20-20), but for succulents, really you don't need it.

The fertilizer w/ the higher numbers is a special thing for blooming, I think that's more advanced than you need to be right now.

That browning tip on the leaf is NOT rot, it's just natural & gradual die off of that one particular leaf, normal behavior, just ignore it.