The business of bud drop on moving themm, seems to be abt moving them while they're setting the buds, 'til they get at least an inch long (or perhaps almost their full length, just not open). It's when the buds are developing that they seem to be most vulnerable to dropping. As mine hangs in the window, I don't touch it, or move or turn it (laziness on my part), it's fine. MIM, Pls. try to relax, likely it'll be fine, just don't turn or move it all from here on out, 'til finished blooming. Watering it was not a problem (blooming is a lot of work, I continue to water mine). I wouldn't have used those spikes either, but it prob. not a problem, tho' if you can remove the mushy spike w/ a spoonful of mix, I'd do so. Whoever said they fertilize right after bloom & give it a bit of water, I'd disagree w/ that, 'cause the plant takes a rest for at least a month after blooming. Mine usually looks awful at that time, I consider it tired & resting & leave it be for a month or so, then water some. Once I see the first new segments, I resume full strength watering. I disbelieve this business of watering would make the blooms too heavy & cause them to drop. Nonsense, these plants hail from tropical Rio de Janeiro, sometimes in the January rains (when this blooms & the rains can cause floods there), it rains buckets, the blooms would never have survived. (I grew up there, so I can personally attest to those heavy rains). I think your plant will be fine, I know it's exciting to see 1st buds. Just pls. be patient, leave it alone & watch the buds grow. Congrats on yr. buds & I hope they do well for you!

First of all, you need to check out Cacti & Succulent Forum, the good people there would gladly help you and give appropriate advices (this is an Impatiens Forum, after all). Second, your aloe doesn't look so good, especially if rotten from the middle. If you have any healthy stem left, maybe you could try rooting it. I heard you could also propagate aloe from leave cutting, though not as well as stem or pups. As a general rule for succulents propagation, cut away any rotten part until you see healthy part, let it callous over for a few days, then plant in well draining mix. The pot should have drainage holes and don't water until the cutting developed roots. Good luck.

Hello Mike, just been looking at the plant at the top and noticed the pot it’s in, maybe when repotting time approaches it would be best suited to a wider, shallow style of container, half pots we call them here? That will give it more stability as the base of that white one is so very narrow and it’s a tall pot isn’t it, all very unstable. Would hate it to get smashed about again. I had a case of a falling down TC also....one that I rescued from mums house when she moved into the Home, placed it in a hanging basket, just sat the pot inside it, chain snapped and whole lot crashed to the floor. The plant was smashed to bits, one half completely gone off a full circle plant of about 2ft diameter. I was so sad.....but each and every severed piece rooted again, I now have two plants......and new chains! The mother plant is in the process of regenerating all it’s lost limbs from low down on the smashed main trunk, it will soon have filled in the lost half of the circle. Buds forming on both plants as I write, so all was not lost of my Special plant :-) Gill

What kind of velvet is it? Silk, cotton, rayon, etc. The type of fiber will help determine what your options are. I have a velvet needle board for ironing velvet, but it would do no good on synthetic fibers. Note that rayon is a man-made fiber and is not synthetic, as it is cellulosic, like cotton, and will respond to ironing similarly to cotton. Cotton and rayon velvet will respond to steaming more than silk or synthetics. You might try using a mushroom brush.