Did you ever take it out of the pot and check the roots?

tj

No, I only water it once a month since I repotted back in January, and it's in cactus/succulent soil with perlite, so I don't believe it would have gotten rot from too much water.

Also the stub of the leaf that I cut off is now drying up and brown at the end (it was already kind of drying up and brown at the broken crease when I cut it, which is why I did so). Should I be worried about this or should it be ok? I did sterilize the shears I used with isopropyl alcohol before cutting it.

I think your cut sounds fine. This is a cut leaf where I cut off damage on an A. dorotheae. It looks brown, too.

Can you see any roots coming from the hole in the bottom of the pot? My Aloes make tons of roots., so I check the bottoms of the pots. This picture is of 2 pups rooting in 4 inch pots. They are about 6 inches tall. You can see the roots from the tipped green pot on the left. It's looking a tad orange due to the Florida tan.

No, I only water it once a month since I repotted back in January, and it's in cactus/succulent soil with perlite, so I don't believe it would have gotten rot from too much water.

I've had plants rot from way less-- and as crenda said, it could be that it's not getting enough water an the roots are drying up and dying instead of rotting. I'd definitely check!

Sorry I wasn't able to help with your last post and problems! Hope you can save this one.

I'm not sure if I want to check the roots though, because when I repotted it back in January, there were a bunch of really fine roots that I accidentally broke off. I don't want that to happen again. I see two things coming out the bottom that could possibly be roots, but I'm not sure. When I repotted this plant basically had only a few larger roots, and then the rest were very fine, basically hard to tell they were there.

Actually back then someone (a self-proclaimed plant expert) told me that repotting and touching the roots too much would destroy all the root hairs, and the plant wouldn't be able to absorb enough water and would slowly die. Is that true? It DID start drooping right after I repotted.

I'm just not sure what to do...once person is saying it could get rot from watering once a month, the next person is saying once a month is not nearly enough watering for aloe. How am I supposed to figure out what to do when everyone is giving entirely conflicting answers?

Ok so I dumped it out of the pot and this was the result:

Nothing was rotted, but theres barely any roots. Theyve grown barely at all since I repotted. Whats up with that?

The soil did seem a little damp (I think I last watered last week, not sure) so I repotted it in 50/50 cactus soil/perlite mix. Now the thing can barely even stand up in its pot after repotting...so I guess it's technically worse off now.

I use a few rocks around my newly planted plants to hold them in position while the roots grow. I also put in a bit of bone meal or rock phosphate and some dried mineral fertilizer to give the roots a boost. If their are not many roots it is because the tiny roots are damping off. Healthy roots are big and yellow things. I have never grown aloes inside so I can't help you there.

Perhaps more perlite would be better and a smaller pot, just big enough for the root ball. It should be dry after a couple days.

Wantonamara - Agreed that healthy aloe roots should be big and yellow! I imagine yours have some pretty awesome roots in the ground.

Bone meal is great for in-ground plants, but containers won't break down enough for a reliable boost, sadly.

Here is an Aloe I repotted two nights ago from gritty mix. The roots are robust and the plant doesn't wilt any more than normal after repotting. It's been inside for several months now.

So, um...what exactly is the cause of the roots being unhealthy, then? Not enough water? Some people seem to be fixated on rot being the cause, but I don't see any signs of that at all. In fact when I touched a couple of the roots to see how they were, they felt completely dry. I don't want to water it any less, if what it needs is more water.

There were some reasonably sized yellow roots in there, but I didn't really brush the soil off too much because I didn't want to damage them. I just made sure nothing looked slimy and rotting or dark colored.

Also if I put my hand behind some of the leaves, it's translucent and I can see the outline of my hand through them. Isn't that a sign of not enough water? Also the leaves that have come off have either dried up at the base and pinched off, or just completely lost the "juice" that's inside them and become flat, shriveled-up and translucent.

How long should I wait after repotting to water?

I'm glad you asked about watering in your last post. I was just going to ask you if you watered. Do not water for at least a month. If you have damaged roots the water can lead to rot. Not watering right now will give the aloe time to heal and put out fresh roots. It is going to take time. It may use some of the lower leaves for energy, so expect to loose some. That is okay. It's just like how our bodies use stored fat for energy when in a caloric deficit.

The reason some on here are preoccupied with the possibility of rot is that these plants are prone to it. And the overly caring gardener with the best of intentions will likely overwater and kill their succs. Especially when using bagged soil. That soil holds water, so your plants roots are sitting in soggy soil even when it may appear bone dry at the top. One way to avoid this is to use gritty mix. Not that the 50/50 mix is bad (and I'm really glad you added more perlite to your mix). It just more prone to difficulties and you will have to be careful. Being that it's an aloe I'm not as concerned. And there are many on here who are adamantly against gritty mix. Ultimately you have to find what works for you and your plants. Same goes for a watering schedule. Depending on the humidity level, amount of direct sun, heat, etc., your plant may need more or less water based on the environmental conditions. Tera cotta pots are nice because they help disperse extra moisture. And many use wooden skewers to see if there is still moisture at the bottom of the pot.

Essentially, at this point you've done what you could and it'll be a waiting game. Leave it alone for at least a month, with some good indirect sun (a window would be great) , and see it bounce back.

As you've already found out, if the roots cannot perform the leaves will suffer. And we'd like to help you figure out why the roots on your plant are meager. Your soil mix does not look bad to me. You have improved your light.

If you have already addressed this, my apologies. How do you water your plant? Are you giving sips? A fixed amount of water? Are you flooding the plant until the water runs freely from the drainage holes? This info may point us in a direction too.

This is different aloe, but roots should be very similar I think:

Thanks for your responses guys.

"It may use some of the lower leaves for energy, so expect to loose some. That is okay. It's just like how our bodies use stored fat for energy when in a caloric deficit."

I think it's already been doing that, to be honest. It's also in a terracotta pot already.

***

"Leave it alone for at least a month, with some good indirect sun (a window would be great) , and see it bounce back."

Are you sure it's a good idea to not give it light, if light is one of the things it probably needs?

***

"How do you water your plant? Are you giving sips? A fixed amount of water? Are you flooding the plant until the water runs freely from the drainage holes?"

Add until it comes out of the drainage holes.

Edit: Removed post because it did not appear helpful and is no longer required.

So I decided to give up on this plant and got rid of it. From what you guys were saying, that both the roots and the leaves were unhealthy, it really didn't seem like it was likely to survive, and I didn't want it to slowly die over a period of a few months. That just seemed cruel.

I'm giving up on plants altogether. I have killed every plant I've ever owned except for one, despite going into it with the best of intentions for care. Aloe is supposed to be the easiest plant to take care of and I still messed it up somehow. It's clear that I'm just a failure when it comes to nurturing living beings in general. I have one cactus left that (I think) is doing well (it just put on new growth a few weeks ago) and I'm going to find another home for it ASAP. I really don't want to bring living things into my home just to kill them.

Thanks for your responses.

Eh, plants die. Don't take it so personally. I killed my first four plants, and pretty much any tropical, orchid, or non-succulent that I have owned. Now I have about 100+ plants. It's frustrating, but you'll get the hang of it.

Also, Aloes are tricky. Mine seem to do worse in direct light, and they need far less water than I imagined. Took me a year to realize that...

Anyway, try out a jade, they are pretty robust. Maybe an echeveria of some sort?

And you were given contradictory information - that plant can be saved and we're here to help you do it. Do you still have access to it (retrieve it from the landfill is going too far, though)?

Aloes are easy as long as you follow a few simple rules. Don't let the potential death of one plant prevent you from enjoying this thing of ours - there would be no one left to grow them if that were the case, as we've all lost plants, some of us lots of them.

I agree. Don't get too discouraged. I found this forum because my large, beautiful jade got rot and was dying. I tried to save it without much luck. I salvaged a few cuttings of it. Since then I've learned so much from this forum. Just be patient. And know that while we can provide advise you ultimately have to figure out what works for you in your climate.

I have a lot of plants.... I have killed a lot of plants. It goes with the trrritory. I learn from almost every death.

I have a fair number of plants, but that certainly hasn't always been the case. I spent the first 5 years of my marriage killing off my husband's plants and all other plants that came into the house. I killed a huge jade plant and a 6 foot bushy rubber tree. I even killed a spider plant!

So I spent the next 20 years griping about being a plant killer and taking a LOT of teasing from my husband and friends. I thought that poinsettias and Christmas cacti only lasted a few months and that was it. Buy more next year. I guess I thought the plant fairy brought them to the stores!

I still kill plants, but not in the quantity of the past. Now my problem is since I have gotten plants to grow, I am loath to prune them for fear of killing them in another way! But I'm learning.

I also make babies as insurance and to balance there life/death scale.