Love the Aloes, Stush! They are all lovely, the variegated ones especially. I will heed your advice. My other Aloes stay out until it gets close to freezing, which is one reason I wanted a rooted plant- not cuttings that I have to baby. Do you think they'd root in the same conditions Sans do? Maybe I can make room for them on a heat mat in with some barely rooted Sans leaves. Or maybe with some rooting mixed succulent leaves?

Imontestella, I have perlite, Turface, Gran-I-Grit, pumice, bark, vermiculite, peat, commercial soil, seed starter, lava rock, and who-knows. Would you still choose 50:50 soil & perlite, or do I have something better? These are unrooted cuttings.

Crenda, what would you call "slow to root" in your climate? I'd probably have to divide that by 4 or 5 for mine. The only things that grow fast here algae and moss (both grow on cars, if you can believe it).

Thanks everyone.

Since you asked, I decided to take a look at the roots. This is today -

These guys were callusing on Aug 3rd.

So maybe it really isn't that slow! LOL

Maybe 2 months is reasonable. Frankly, a lot of my plants have been in a holding pattern this summer. Heat and humidity make it feel like a convection oven when I turn on the fan - so that isn't really helping much. Rains should be ending soon so it will be more comfortable. Maybe my plants will pick up the action! LOL

I keep mine under name A. 'Walmsley's Bronze' since that is ID I got here few yrs ago. I keep it now in location with only few hrs of early morning sun to stop them from going too dark (tried that too). I have rooted couple of very young, root-less offsprings that I accidentally broke off - in very gritty mix (grit+perlite+turface). Here are the pics (try not to notice the water marks :)

It's not difficult at all, but as stella says, get it out of that mix. 50/50 anything, insert into mix, don't water but mist the plant cuttings every few days (or every day, your choice), keep warm and well-lit, and you'll have roots in a month, if not less.

Edited to add - I think those are Gasterias, but perhaps they're Gasteraloes - have to wait until they're larger, and the flowering of them will confirm.

I think one of them is already toast. I pulled them out. One has a firm stem. The other has a soft-ish stem and had a mushy end that I cut off. I'm leaving it to callous or turn to goo, whichever its inclination. I put the other in with rooting Sans leaves in a gritty type mix. I'll put the sad one in a 50:50 mix if it isn't liquified by then.

Thanks as always, everyone. Thanks especially to Crenda and Rina since now I know who to hit up for cuttings if these croak! <grin> Just kidding. Both of you have such pretty little plantlets. I feel all that much more cheated with these sad little cuttings. "Well-rooted plants" my backside. Grrr.

Kwie, All great advise given. Myself, I use Gran-I-Grit mostly, with a little potting soil. Mix varies. Some times 100% grit but mostly over 50% grit. With house plants, I use perlite 40% to 60% potting soil. Also I would not put these guys in heat. Aloes I think like it cooler but not cold. Regular house temps are ok. Sans love heat. I think Aloe genes are stronger and mostly are aloe hybrids with the Haworthia group.

I cut these off a month ago. while it was still pretty hot down here in Texas and alloes were mostly dormant. I put them in a box in the shade and walked away. I am REALLY busy right now with a a job and these cuttings are not a priority for me, so I am a tough mom. No misting. The aloes are now out of dormancy and I am seeing movement. The A. cameroni has rooted and so has the A. camper. I just potted them up and their roots are taking off quickly.. I never have any rot in the process. The others are forming swellings at their base and I see some bumps on their shafts. The A. dorotheae is close and so are many of them. Some of the smallest ones will probably be to small to be of interest to me. I cut these mostly to thin some aloes that are too thick with pups. These are headed to a swap next week for "puppy adoption".

Aloe glauca, A. trichosantha, A. X spinossisima, A dorothaeae, A. 'Cynthia giddy'

Aloe camperi

Aloe cameroni

Thanks, Mara! I thought the heat may have been impeding my Aloes rooting. I just stuck them into fresh gritty mix, set them in the shade and check to see if they are rotting again - mostly visually. None are dying, so I think they'll root and be fine. They do much better when I don't drown them. LOL

I once left a couple of A. dorotheae pups sitting in the shade for almost 6 months! I totally forgot them, but they are now rooted and doing fine - no help from me!

I have done the all winter on a shelf before. I have cut pups off and put them in the shade of a pot to root. Just another pup. They get some second hand watering by the water off the pot , I guess. People do not realize how tough these plants are and often Water is the culprit of demise. I have also stuck succulents in a pot filled with small rocks ( limestone here) and watered them every once in awhile. The dark and damp atmosphere, but PERFECT drainage has rooted lots of things. I shoved rooting above in some second hand gritty-ISH mix since they are headed to a swap. I might even take them out of the mix and transport them bare root.

Well, for such tough plants, my cuttings are looking pretty sad and wilted. I don't have anywhere that's analogous of Florida or Texas at any time of year, so I laid one from edge to edge hovering above a pot of damp soil/perlite so it's not damp, but can reach dampness if it roots, and I put the other one in grit. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the advice, everyone.

Kwie,

May I pls. be blunt? It doesn't want dampness, I just don't know how else to say that?!

I kind of wonder about dampness too. I have rooted only few aloes, but always let them callus (even forget sometimes about them for a while...like weeks...) and then stick in a very gritty mix. As any succulent, I don't believe they need any dampness - JMO.

The OP pics are Gasteria. So, the same as Haworthia.

It isn't damp guys. It's lying across the rim of the pot, about 1/3" above damp soil ("hovering") so when/if it roots, there will be something for it. I hope to forget about it for a while.

You sure they're Gasteria, Nil? They're supposed to be "Wansley Aloe," whatever that is derived from. How does one tell the difference between Aloes and Gasterias, and all they're hybrids, anyway? I'd love to know.

Stush, Crenda, & Rina, I can't help but notice that yours, and every other one I've seen are rosettes, but the leaves of mine are all opposite. All my other Aloes, whether pups or seedlings, have leaves in rosettes. My Gasteraloe has opposite leaves. Does that mean something?

Kwie, is there a particular reason why you're not following my tried-and-true method? The wet soil is completely unnecessary. I've also tried to ID them, too. Will be difficult to confirm before you get flowers, but I'll go with my original guess.

Jeff, this time of year, there's no such thing as warm or well-lit in western Oregon. Rot rules here. The clouds are low; the humidity is 100% outside, and even indoors it's about 70%. I'm sure the cuttings can't absorb water until they have roots, so I think misting them in this climate is more likely to assist in rotting than rooting. Several people posted, so I used all the information to create something I think will work for my situation and climate.

The cutting you refer to is in a room I don't use, and I hope to forget it. It isn't touching soil, but of it eventually roots, the soil is there. Maybe when I remember it, I'll find it rooted into the soil and grown plump. It is currently quite limp.

Satisfied? ;-)

Not really, as I'd like you to root these, but if those are the criteria, I wish you buena suerte.

I suppose it could be a Walmsley aloe, but it looks very linear like a Gasteria to me.

Yes, Nil. I think that's weird too. The photo in the ad was of a rosette, but she might've gotten it from anywhere. I'll be interested in seeing how they grow.

I rerooted two Aloes today. No roots findable at all.

Just in a pot with a dry mix of little stones and sharp sand. No water till next spring. By than they willl have new roots.

Harry

Many Aloes and Gasterias are distichous (or grow in two planes) when young, but grow into a rosette as they mature.

I'm not going to contribute to the rooting discussion, but will add that to me these look like Aloworthia 'Walmsley's Bronze", which is a supposedly hybrid of an Aloe and a Haworthia.....

Breton- you & Stush are of the same mind. I think you're right about ID. I didn't realize the distichous characteristic (thanks for the new vocabulary) was present also in some young aloes.

Harry- next spring? Am I understanding that it'll be about 6 months before you water? How big are your cuttings? Are they indoors or in a greenhouse?

The two cuttings / plants are without roots now.

They are since today back in the greenhouse; somewhere november with the first frost they go inside the house in a cold room. In the beginning of march they can go back to the greenhouse and later outside in the plantshed.

In the meantime there is no need for watering. They don't have roots; so why water?

The plants are healthy; so they will make new roots and go looking/searching for water. In march they will find deep under in the pot where they are now in.

harry

I always like the saying that succulents don't make roots because of water , but make roots searching for water.

I have found that the more you care about a succulent, the more they rot. Don't water and don't care seems to be the best advise. Also if, no fault of your own they die, which has happened to me many times, I will give you replacements come spring. Or now if you want.

You are too good, Stush. :-). If these guys croak, I will take you up on your kind offer. Thank you. I am weirdly curious whether the little floppy cutting will make it (the firm one most likely will). It's like a science experiment. I wonder just how much abuse an Aloe can take. Harry's cuttings going 6 months before finding water are a testament to their resiliance. I've seem cacti do pretty amazing things (grow out from netween blotter papers in a plant press, for example).

I grow aloes because they LOVE LOVE LOVE my heat and abuse. I forget things when I get busy and I get busy A LOT. I water them once a week in the height of a Texas summer, usually less. Some get water once every three weeks because I am a bad mom and seem fine, not show worthy , but fine. My aloes are huge and getting larger, not Southern California huge but Texas huge.. I need help picking them up. Where I am is just a tad too cool to put them in the ground. Some are but most aren't.

It's only been about 6 weeks since I posted, but I don't see any sign of roots, and both cuttings are almost completely dehydrated. They've lost about 75% of their moisture. It's not rot. It's just dehydration (in an unheated 65 degree apartment in humid Oregon.

I think the reason others have had success, but it appears I won't, is because these cuttings are puny compared to others. They're much smaller and thinner than any pictures posted. No person here would take such tiny cuttings.

I've trimmed the tip and stuck the puniest one, the one that's lost a leaf, into shallow water to see if it'll draw any up. If it does, I'll do the same with the other, but I'm pretty certain neither will make it.

You can see how this one is turning dull and greyish instead of green.

I think it is also because it is cold.

The Aloes outside where it's colder are growing fine.

Have you sprayed them? Just lightly on the leaves not to soak the soil. And I agree that the smallest ones will probably not make it. Do you want any? Don't know about the cold now. I could send you some and if they don't make it, do it again in spring.

You're very kind, Stush. If your offer is still good in the spring, I might like to take you up on it then if that's ok. I am about to be up to my eyeballs in plants inside for the winter soon anyway, so I probably don't need to add more immediately.

I didn't spray the cuttings. My feeling has been that since succulents generally have a pretty watertight "skin," spraying them won't do any good, but perhaps it would've reduced the rate at which they dried out.

I haven't entirely lost hope that something will still root. They're both pretty desiccated, but I dropped them in water and set them under a grow light. What the hell, right?

Dropping them in water will be the kiss of death. Misting is good but dropping them in water will cause rot.

Kwie

Here are few of the root-less plants of (what I believe is) A. 'Walmsley's Bronze' (or Alworthia?) - these were originally potted but somehow pot got knocked over and were just laying there for a while - I didn't see them, so can't tell for how long. I just stuck them in gritty mix - will let you know if they survive. Not sure how they compare to your plants, the tallest is 1.5" from the top of mix, with not much under. They have no roots at all - I didn't think of taking photo before:

dp - deleted

The big ones pictured in my post above went in the Plant swap but from the box. Here are some small ones A. camperi, A. X spinissiissimo, Gold tooth aloe or A. nobiles, A xspinisisssimo . 2nd shot shows them in their first pot, a 4".

Here are some of the medium sized ones in the box. I had them being watered in perlite for awhile but I jumped them up to fast draining dirt. It looks dark, but that is camera distortion of dirt in shade. They will all get their own pots come my spring plant swap. Only one would still come out of the pot. Most are rooted too well for show and tell.They just got moved to dirt this week and have not gotten their next watering yet so they are a bit dehydrated. I will water them today,... oops no. That will be tomorrow since I did the moving them around. I will mist them today. I am not worried. It is amazing how bad they can look and then plump up. Rot is the worry.

I threw out the rest of the really small ones . Just too many. I will be thinning again in Spring.

Why I questioned the cold is because you are up north in PNW. we are still in the 80's down here looking for a short cool down to highs in the 60's this weekend. It is still the growing period for us..

These have no roots- not so much as a bump. I don't know that we can compare them to healthy pieces, but maybe to your bits, Rina. On my little mobile screen, yours look folded but not limp. Mine are limp but not folded, for whatever that's worth. I bought these as "well-rooted" plants, but they were just old cuttings. They arrived damaged and bent, with a pot of sandy soil they had fallen out of.

I have no idea how long the seller had been trying to root them in that mix, or why they didn't take. These might be many months old; might've come off plants in poor condition, etc. They weren't in good shape already, and in the 6 weeks since then, they've lost an enormous amount of moisture and the outer pairs of leaves, and haven't formed even the smallest root bud. They are limp, and one has gone midsummer-brown (which is odd because they were side-by-side so neither got more light than the other). They've lost more moisture than they have left.

The kiss of death is already on them. I stuck them in wide but very shallow water (less than 1/4") hoping they might draw a little up. Since there has obviously been some transpiration going on, they should be able to do that. Such shallow water has good gas exchange and is unlikely to cause anything to rot in my experience. I haven't tried it with succulents before, but since all plants have xylem, I don't see how they're different except in the speed at which they do it.

I'm sure you're right, wantonamara. Warmer weather would likely speed the process up and increase the chance of success. The cold and grey here won't begin to lift until April. Blech.

One of my rooted aloes that got knocked off the balcony by the tree trimmers (just a little partridge Aloe) lost all its roots but a couple 1/2-inch strands. I hope it does better than these two cuttings. :-/

Succulents NEED roots to take up water. Good luck. I have seen people put succulents held above water a 1/4inch too get the humidity. I have also used larger LIMESTONE or pumice ( absorbing rock that has airspaces holding cuttings. When they are watered , it creates an atmosphere of humidity but no rot forming situation of NO air.

Wantonamara, what physiological difference is there in succulent xylem that makes it incapable of transporting water without roots? I can see it being a problem if the cutting is calloused, but otherwise I don't understand how the physics are that much different.

I am a woodworker , not a botanist. I will tell you what has worked for me and what hasn't. When I put succulents in water to root, they die. When I do it without water, they live. I am a pragmatist. I use hearsay from people who know more than me. I used to hang out on a forum of growers and botanist and I listened to what they do. True, some had fancy misting tables. Much of the scientific explanations of these multiple degreed people went straight through me. So if you are expecting me to throw at you some scientific rationalization, I am the wrong person. I have been rooting different succulents for 20 years. This is how I swing.

You have multiple things going against you with the environment that you are in. Frankly, I do not see success. I would throw in the towel instead of what you plan to do and take up Stush on his generous offer.. The only thing that might save you at this point is some bottom heat or some warm lights to fool it into thinking it is summertime.

I already moved it a spot with a grow light and seed mat, so maybe that'll do it.

I rarely give up on a plant until it's mush or dust, so we'll see what happens.

My time is more precious than my plants. I also want tough plants. One biologist/breeder I use to listen to, said he did very little special treatments because he wanted the seed, or plant that was not dependent on special treatment. He wanted the one that would be full of vitality. I think often we get too attached to our babies.. A professional attitude is often much more cutthroat and detached. There is a lot more of going on to whatever is next when one arrives at a misstep ..I kid that I am a tough mom, but that is my style and the plants that I have deal with it and are Gorgeous dealing with it. I can't wait for wintertime stress to color the aloe leaves.

Agree with Mara above...more we baby them, more problems they give. I often say not to fiddle around. Though love seems to be working most of the time :)

(But I still have hard time to throw away anything living...)

I do too. but I force myself too. I do outdoor C&S growing in a marginal environment. It gets expensive sometimes. If it isn't flood or 75 days above 100 and not a drop of rain, it is fire ants mounting in a 10 yeaR old clump of echinocereus or agave might or agave weevils. The below normal coldsnap coupled with 3 days of freezing rain. Failure and rebound is what this hobby is all about.

Sometimes one is rewarded by just shelving it and seeing if it will make it on its own and stop watching to see if the pot boils. I have seen things root over the winter forgotten on a shelf.

I don't think a poorly treated cutting can be judged as a weak plant. There is no reason to think that these cuttings, if they make it, won't have just as much vitality as any other plant of their type. If a plant is run over by a truck, you don't blame the plant.

I don't know how much time you think I'm devoting to these things. It's not as if they're baby birds that have to be fed every hour.

I can't see chucking an interesting experiment. I'm curious whether they can survive. Aren't you?

kwie

If still interested, I found a photo of the 3 little plants that I recently potted up & posted up thread; here they are on Oct. 23, when I found them out of pot - do not have any idea how long the were like that. No roots at all on 2, one has a small root but it was all dry, so I cut it off.

I didn't get around to pot them until Nov. 13 (!). So far, they look same as photo posted last Wednesday.

Update:

I could hardly believe it when I saw this. That's new growth in the center. It has to be- there was nothing green left on them. These things are shriveled up like paper, and so is the new growth. There must be a little root, but I don't dare move them to look.

They're in very different places: one under grow lights and shoved in another plant, in soil, getting watered. The other in a cold window with only dim light, in only a gritty mix, trying to root with a robust Aloe barbadensis cutting. Both are trying so hard!

Replant , clean in a clean pot and don’t water, let it sit next a light and you’ll see they’ll get fat firm