I cant speak to your cactus but your aloe has probably been dead or dying from week one with that amount of watering. Without looking down into the pot myself, I see no sign of life there. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Jo

Game, is your cactus firm or are there mushy parts? If firm, you can try growing the leaning side away from the sun to see if it straightens out, but that'd take a longg time, years. Maybe cutting is best..That's ashame, because it looks like a nice plant..or was..(S)

Don't toss the aloe just yet..Are the leaves hard or soft? What size pot is it in? It's hard to tell by the picture..looks like a 4"..
Check roots to see if they're mushy..if not, then repot to a 2 or 3" pot.
The last resort is, leaving the aloe be, watering when dry, and hoping new growth pops up. WE never know what'll happen w/plants..Good luck Toni

Yikes! Cacti like dry pots... water extremely sparingly, especially during the cool months. I have gone for more than a month without watering my cacti and they continue to thrive. I have a cactus like yours (the one that is leaning over). Mine has contorted in all different directions, depending on what direction I place it in relation to the light source. It is currently sticking nearly straight up (with a slight bend), but mine has also bent almost completely over, and looked like it wanted to tie itself in a knot at one point. (Here's a pic... the one to the left)

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Try moving the plant so that the bent-over part of the plant is facing away from the sun. It just might straighten as it trys to grow toward the sun. That's what mine did.

Also, does your pot allow for drainage? If not, repot the cactus with some fresh succuelent potting mix, in a pot that will allow for drainage. It could be that your roots are rotting from water/moisture that has collected in the bottom of the pot. These things are hard to kill... if you repot them, water very sparingly, and give them lots of sunlight, they just might come back to life!

Good luck!

Sarah

I don't think #1 can be a barrel cactus, with such fine spines all over.

I haven't been watering the aloe pup much and it's in full sunlight. Yesterday I noticed that the central "leaf" has turned green again. I figure that's a good sign. I'll try to keep from watering it so much. Right now it's in a 3" pot. I thought my hand would give scale to the picture, but the perspective skewed it.

I'll check the cactus, whatever it is, for squishy spots. And maybe I'll drag it into the nursery for advice on cutting it. I wouldn't mind having two of them.

If your aloe is showing some signs of growth, by all means, try to save it!
If it is acclimated to sun already that is good! Now just don't water more than every two weeks, *at least*. It is in a large (for its occupant) plastic pot...this will hold water much longer than clay since plastic doesn't absorb any of the water and because a pot that size provides far more moist soil than such a small plant requires.
Let me suggest this: if you have trouble controlling the urge to water as many of us do...make your soil sharper. I am using 50/50 organic potting soil and haydite. It drains VERY fast. You can use Turface, or Oil Dri. Others can jump in and give you more ideas on "grits" and "aggregates". But drainage is the key. I don't know what your climate is: humid? dry? moderate temps? earth-baking?
Game - Do Not be decieved. Simply because an aloe is sitting in full sun does not mean it needs more water. It is holding plenty inside its leaves. Again, how hot is your sun...compared to the desert areas where these are native?
General Rule #1: Succulents can go an extra month with no water but cannot go an extra week with too much.
If you are beginning to see green growth, I would probably pull it out of the pot and check the roots, cut off the mushy ones, let it air-dry for a day or two to callus over your cuts and then put it in a smaller clay container with new well-draining mix...and then water every two weeks or so if humidity/rain is low and temps high. This should put it on the right road to recovery. HTH - Jo

Here I had a long post that got eaten when I accidentally closed the wrong window! Grr.

Anyway, we get 15.5 hours of sunlight this time of year in Minnesota, at my latitude. The plants are getting about 8-12 of direct sunlight, the rest of indirect or shaded light.

I don't have succulent-specific soil, so I'll get some. I don't know what mushy roots look like either. The soil that was balled around the base of the plant, after it fell out of the pot, all looked very dry. I guess I've worked with vegetables too long, where cutting around on the roots likely kills a plant. Then again, not watering for weeks would kill a vegetable too, so I need to get it through my head I'm dealing with a different animal here. er... plant.

I'll take both in to a nursery next week, when I'm searching out half-price sales for next year's seeds. I tried to check for mushy spots on the cactus and got my fingers full of needles. Didn't detect any mushy spots though. :)

A week or so ago I cut the top off the cactus and let it form a callous. Today I took the severed part, dipped it in rooting compound and then set it about a half inch deep into succulent mix. Should I water it? Or should I just leave it in the window and let it be?

As an update on the aloe pup, it remains sad-looking, even with very little water and lots of sun. What should I do?

Taking plants from an underlight office environment and placing them in direct sunlight is not a good idea. You will stress and perhaps burn your plants. An unhealthy plant can die from sunburn. This info is perhaps a few weeks too late.

I wish you luck.

Wazungy

I didn't make the change all at once. I brought the cactus home and left it inside for a few days, then moved it out on the porch (but out of the sun). Then I moved it where it would get a strip of sunlight most of the day. Then I moved it outside for a couple weeks, then back inside on a sunnier window. It seems to be doing fine, other than being long. One odd thing (or at least to me, odd) was that after a long period of not watering it, it shortened up a lot and sort of sucked in on itself like ... er... I can't think of any other analogy, but like a man's part in cold weather.

I put the severed part into new succulent mix yesterday. Should I water it?

Gamebird, happy belated birthday!
Do NOT water your cactus cutting; there are no roots to take up water. You can mist the cutting a bit, but I would wait a few weeks, look for signs of new top growth, and then water a little bit.
For the Aloe, the 1st pic shows a 'suntan', but what is visible looks OK. However, for both the Aloe and main Cactus, I would unpot them, and remove soil from the roots (you can use a hose nozzle if they are locked up in a dry ball of peat). Repot in unglazed clay pots, just larger than the root ball, using a mix of Succulent soil mixed with perlite. Wait a few days, then water thoroughly, and then let dry out before watering again. Good growing to you!
Ray