Thanks! Just knowing the name makes it so much easier to look things up myself. Can I plant it a little deeper to prevent it from leaning over so much?

If you plant deeper, you risk rot even more. If it were mine, Since it's top-heavy, I'd use heavy chicken grit instead of perlite so the container will be heavier and it won't topple over. I'd also pack the top inch or so of the pot with rocks to help prop it up. Rocks can be crammed in to higher than the rim. Just be sure the roots have enough soil/granite mix.

This isn't a terribly finicky plant, but it definitely can't handle having Its roots suffocated. That means even if you mix over 50% gravel, you can't let it sit wet, especially in cool weather or when it's dormant. A SE window should do nicely as long as it isn't shaded by trees.

It's flowering because of the number of hours of daylight, not because of any mistake you made.

You can pull tug that spent flower stalk straight pout of the top of the plant whole holding the rest of the plant securely; it's spent & serves nothing to keep it.

Looks closely folks, the base of the plant doesn't look good. The top growth may look nice, but I see some wrinkling & discoloration at base of stem.

If you're going to change mix (soil) I'd suggest doing it ASAP.

Is any part of that mushy? If it were mine I'd unpot the whole thing & check the roots. I suspect it's already rotting from down below.

Sorry, only have a tiny phone screen, but if imontestella says there's damage, I am sure it's true.

I just brought one of these back from brink, and I mean brink, of death. To save it, I had to repot it in a pure gravel mix that let water drain through freely. Now that it is out of intensive care, it's in a perlite, gravel mix with a smidge of soil. It gets watered only when I feel the leaves are not turgid anymore.

this is probably not the best way to handle this plant, but I have learned for sure that it does not like sitting in water at all period. And it didn't like the peat based mixture it was in when it started its rapid decline. Even watering it sparingly in that mix led to where you are now with the bottom leaves rotting from overwatering.

i did, however, repot it deeper the second time around. That didn't cause it any harm. I am guessing (just speculating here) that if it is being watered properly, that won't make much of a difference anyway.

fwiw...hope that bit helps some.

Planting this one more deeply would likely kill it from rot, as I can see the lower stem's distortion from here already, as LMontestella suggests.

IMO - it may be best to re-root plant, especially if the bottom of it is soft and getting darker. It was likely too wet and could start rotting.

I have cut exactly same plant and re-rooted, there are photos in very first post on this thread - pls. click me

Potting it into well draining soil (without peat or similar fine medium) will help to grow healthy plant. There is no need to pot it extra deep - it should survive it if healthy, but I do not see the reason for doing so. Plant will need lots of good light in order not to stretch (etiolate) - planting it deep will not solve that situation.

Rina, your link opens the cacti and succulent forum main page instead of a specific thread. Can you try again?

Kwi

Thank you, I didn't notice...fixed it now.

I said I planted mine more deeply the second time around-- after it was in a gritty mix.

good lord. Do people just look for key words to disagree with?

i was just trying to say that at some point she may be able to plant it more deeply. Karen and kwie had already explained why it wasn't a good idea to do it now.

Depth of planting isn't the issue here, tho' that's bad practice I would never encourage, esp. for succulents -- it's the bad mix & how water retentive it is.

Look closely at the edge of the mix at the wall of the pot, can you see the soil pulling away from the pot, that shows it's compacting already.

Mesemb's suggested soil mix above, is the way to go. Anything less, or not changing the mix is likely to cost the plant.

When you unpot the plant & crumble ALL the soil off w/ your fingers, pls take pix of the roots to show us before you pot it up in fresh mix.

Good roots will anchor plant well. New plants or repotted plants will be loose in any mix until new roots grow or old roots establish in new mix. It could be supported with some larger rocks, or even by tying some twine/string. Etiolated plant will not 'shrink' if potted deeper. It may be better idea to recut old end and re-root the plant. Some plants will grow longer stems even in reasonable light as they get older (many aloes do) - that is a good time to rejuvenate them by cutting and re-rooting.

Potted in well draining mix and in very good light, it will grow well and even pup. More inorganic mix would be recommended for this aloe.

Thanks for the response guys! So, I need to get some perlite and succulent and cactus compost. Does this one sound any good? I can remove the flower stalk and I need to remove any mushy parts, and take pictures of the roots for you guys! I had a quick feel around the base, the base of some of the very bottom leaves feel a bit mushy :(

Mushy is rot & indicative of a problem. Whichever leaves feel mushy must be removed as they're rotting & that can spread.

I don't mean to beat it to death here, but mushy & rot are big problems & suggest perhaps Rina is right in suggesting it be cut & re-rooted. One can't really assess this right w/out seeing the roots.

Sadplants, I don't know if you really want to learn how to grow plants since then you'll have to find something new to blog about, but the most important thing any successful grower knows is that over-watering accounts for 90% of houseplant deaths, probably more.

Plants can stand too little sun for a very long time, and although they burn in too much sun, it rarely kills them, and almost all plants will give some easily correctable signs (like wilting) before they actually croak from too little water. You will most likely turn around your misfortune with growing simply by letting your plants dry out before watering them again.

It seems too simple to be true, but that that one, simple rule makes all the difference. Cold, drafts, humidity, heat, fertilizer (or lack thereof), pests, etc., seldom kill houseplants, or even cause irreversible damage. Most unsuccessful growers love their plants to death by watering them almost compulsively. If you're ever unsure whether to water a plant or not, don't. "When in doubt, let it dry out," is a really helpful rule of thumb.

kwie2011 thanks for your advice! The over-watering does sound like that could be me - I will definitely take that on board going forward along with others' suggestions about a more appropriate potting mix. I hate to lose plants, and it's easy to feel like you're doing something that might help by watering them when actually as you say it's probably killing them!

,I hope over time my blog will start to show a journey to more successes than failures with my plants, maybe one day I'll even be a position to advise other people on their sad plants!

What no one has explained yet which might help you to understand SadPlants, is what makes for a Succulent plant: it's ability to retain & store water in its fat fleshy leaves / tissues.

So perhaps when you next look at succulent plants, you'll remember, 'Oh, fat, fleshy leaves' means it ALREADY CONTAINS much of the water it needs, which is why we can then counsel about watering succulents, when in doubt, don't.

Accepting /understanding this single concept might well help you to stop killing succulents. You'll be doing them a favor by NOT watering when you want to.

Early in my learning C&S plants, I trained myself to look w/ my hands behind my back & NO WATERING CAN. Look, but don't water (but for every 7-10 days after you've learned the plants drying habits).

HTH = hope this helps1

That cactus mix in your link doesn't look good to me. From the description, it appears to be only peat moss and fir bark. That's going to be very water-retentive and probably quite dense. I probably wouldn't use it on even my most water-loving plants. I can't see the soil itelsef, but I imagine,e it's finely ground, which is a problem. If it's in pretty large pieces instead of powder, it'd be much better, but I doubt it is. You might try looking for Bonsai mix, or orchids mix. Try to to find something with ingredients that aren't powdered/milled or highly water-absorbent. Look for less-absorbent or chunky materials in the label, such as perlite, pumice, bark chunks, sand, coir, or any kind of stone or gravel. Bonsai growers on eBay often have ingredients to modify or create a mix, or their own pre-made mixes.

So I found a much better sounding mix on eBay which is peat free and mixed with grit. From what everyone has said I should still mix this with perlite or grit to make it even better draining. However, it's going to take a week or so to be delivered. I managed to get hold of some horticultural grit today, should I just wait until this new compost arrives, or should I try do a sort of temporary fix? I could mix my current compost with the grit or even repot it totally in the grit as someone said they did with gravel, just for a while. I will post pics of the roots when I can for everyone's inspection!

If it's rot, it's best to get it out of there ASAP and let it dry. Aloes are just fine bare-root, entirely dry for weeks, maybe even months. About the only way to kill an Aloe is with water.

I'd pull it out, cut away the rot completely, and leave it lying on a shelf to callous until the new medium arrives. If you end up having to cut the stem so there are no roots, you aren't going to water it for a month or more anyway. Unlike tropical plants, Aloes, and most succulents can't take up water without roots, so watering it before it has rooted will just kill it. You can also pot it up directly in straight grit and leave it. If you feel like you just HAVE TO water (many people can't make themselves leave a plant dry), then grit is the better option anyway. I have several very sensitive ones in nothing but chicken grit, and I might even move them to something with larger particles because I live in such a damp climate (similar to much of the UK).

If you can, go ahead and de-pot it now, and upload some good photos so we can determine whether it needs to be cut off, or if the rot is just the outer leaves. My screen is too small to be of much help, but imontestella and Rina should be able to judge for you.

When mine started losing lower leaves like yours is now, I should have cut it back and rerooted then. I didn't, and it just got worse, and I ended up cutting and rerootimf anyway.

i would just ahead and cut the stem, if it's showing any sign of rot, let it callus over out of the pot for a while, and then repot it in gravel or pumice or perlite.

aloes can root just fine in any of these. I put mine in pure gravel, and I put another in pure perlite. Both rooted quickly.

As kwie said, it will be fine without water for a while in any case. It should start putting out new roots fairly quickly, and once it does they will come in fast.

its a lovely plant already. Letting it grow new roots will ensure that it stays lovely and healthy in the future.

I think I'm just repeating what's already been said. But, just in case....

also, I'd really try to avoid watering it for a while.

I feel that I keep repeating, so pls. excuse me - but maybe you didn't look at that thread I linked to. That plant was cut on March 25th; follow up photo was taken on May 1st. I still didn't pot it, left to sit out of any mix on the shelve. Pic just taken shows root 'bump' starting from little higher on the stem:

To answer your specific question, yes, you can use just gravel. I forgot to answer in my post.

But the next step you take will be determined by how the roots are looking.

Awaiting pic....:)

Finally some pictures for your inspection! (It only got wet when I took it outside in the rain to get all the soil off, I haven't watered it honest!) I noticed those little brown dots on one of the leaves when I was photographing it, not sure about those? I also noticed one of the roots seems to be a bit furry, but I couldn't get an in-focus picture of it. I would guess maybe a fungus or something, but I'm sure you guys know better than me. Any further suggestions would be appreciated, if it's best to just go ahead and chop it all off and try to re-root or if I can remove those unhappy looking lower leaves and try to continue with what I've got. Thanks for the link rina_Ontario,Canada - if I were to give this one the chop how far up should I cut it?

Squeeze the stem where it's shriveled. Is it hard, soft, or what?

The dots with white roots indicate the plant was trying to reroot itself because it wasn't getting anything from the roots. That happens when the roots are suffocating, when they're rotted, when they've been cut off, or very rarely when they've been completely dry for way too long. With just my little phone screen, I can't be sure about those roots. They look ok on my screen, but the stem looks rotted, which is a contradiction. The roots shouldn't look good on a okabt with stem rot, so I suspect I just can't see well enough with my screen. Maybe Rina or lmontestella can see better.

It's possible, but very unlikely that there is no rot, but I suspect rot.

It's a little bit soft/squishy, but it feels like a superficial softness. Those bottom leaves feel squishy and the stem feels like that on the surface where the leaves meet it but it feels harder inside - like it has a solid core. I hope that makes sense!

I agree with kwie about the black part of the stem; doesn't look right to me either.

You could try to wash it clean - after swishing in water, put on something absorbent (kitchen paper towels or cloth) to suck off extra moisture. Maybe then you can tell if there is rot or not. The ends of roots look good to me to...You could also gently peel off that lowest leaf - it will wither anyway - and it could reveal more of trunk.

Sometimes it is difficult to tell by 'squeezing' - stems are not supposed to be super hard, there is always little bit of give. So doing it few times will help to be able to tell difference. Rotting is really quite soft, and usually will mush between the fingers (kind of slippery feel?).

In case there is rot: you will need to start cutting the stem. Thinner slices, until there is no back/dark visible at all. Could be in spots, or circles (like tree rings). Color of healthy flesh is creamy yellow-light greenish most of the time.

I agree with Rina. Peeling away at least the lower 2 leaves that are wrinkled will probably tell us more.

It's not straightforward because the stem and roots seem to be telling two different stories. There might be another reason for the wrinkled lower leaves. (Can't think of a good one yet, though.)

So I've gently taken off the lowest two leaves, neither was in good shape, and this is what I've got.

Wait for Rina since she has a bigger screen to view it, and more experience with this species, but to me on my little screen The stem looks good. It's narrow, but it doesn't look rotted (on my screen).

If Rina also thinks it looks good, replanting in a better medium with better light is all you need to do.

Don't water it for at least a day or 2 after planting since there's some mechanical damage to tissues, and wet medium will allow microbes to enter. With tropicals, you water even as you pot them, but succulents are better left dry until the tissues are all calloused.

Is there a bend or wobble in the stem just below where you removed the 2 leaves?

Umm, maybe a little? There's a little bit of give but it doesn't feel wobbly.

It looks OK to me. Did you wash the roots some? They look less black in last photo, but I can't tell if it is just different angle. I just peeled off another leaf, not because I worried about rot, just to show you how stem looks:

If you really worry, just cut old roots off, cut maybe 1" of the stem - or more if it is still too long or if lowest leaves look like they are going to wither, and re-root it. I didn't take photo of the plant before cutting it, I actually beheaded it since it was more etiolated than yours. I must have cut off at least 1" above the soil level, didn't even take it out of the pot. So it would be probably 2" or bit more. I cut it not because of rot, or problems with roots (I didn't even look at them), but because I didn't like the look.

You just have to make decision and perhaps take some chances. Either leave it, repot into well draining mix, or re-root. If my plant, I would cut it since the stem is long anyways - regardless how healthy or unhealthy roots may be. Do not forget, oldest leaves will wither away anyways - they do not last forever. And, if my plant, I would keep it in grittier mix (lots of perlite and chicken grit. If you have to use 'soil', keep it to 10-20% of the total...)

ps: did you see photo Kd (bunkfree) posted here - click me? Proof that roots grow very well without soil...

rina_Ontario,Canada I did see that picture - that mix must be good! I've ordered this 'compost' it sounded to me like it had the type of stuff kwie2011 suggested, and I've got grit I can mix with it. The plant is currently sitting in a pot of pure grit, but I don't know whether to cut it like you say or not! It's quite hard to fit in a pot currently due to its shape. Maybe I just need to be brave and do it...

Yup, be brave! If not now - sooner or later you'll have a plant that has to be cut. There is first time for everything...

I use mix of grit and perlite and small amount of turface for succulents from very early on when started growing them. I have potted some in pure grit, some in grit+perlite - and after couple of years, they are all growing well. I can't tell the difference. If I use turface, it is small amount since it holds more water.

But... Keep in mind that Turface holds water INSIDE the particles, so it cannot create a situation in which a plant has too much water. Water between particles kills plants by suffocating roots/preventing gas exchange. Water inside particles can't do that. However, the pH of Turface isn't ideal (acidic, if I recall), so pure Turface can affect the way a plant grows (supposedly).

It's better to think of over-watering as not "too much water," but as not enough air. Water doesn't kill plants. Lack of air does.

Kwie

Yes, turface does, that's why it is good ingredient to use. It's water holding capacity is approx. 50%, comparing to pumice at approx. 25% (perlite just a touch more than pumice); and grit approx. 15%. Since it holds more water, it will be released for a longer time. I am not suggesting that it clogs up air spaces. It is an ingredient that will help in adjusting water retention for hot climates by using more (so plants do not need to be watered daily), or using little less of it for colder climates. Size of particles is what will keep air spaces/gas exchange available to roots (I use grit+sifted perlite+turface = all bigger particles, close in size to each other - so plenty of breathing space. I do not add anything fine, like soil or sand).

I have seen posts where ppl used potting (or C&S) soil + turface; IMO that is using 2 ingredients that will hold water; and the soil being much finer = that kind of mix would likely stay too wet for too long and diminish air spaces for gas exchange (soil filling up spaces between turface particles).

BTW, I tried pure turface - I didn't like it = slow release of water for extended period of time. It may suit some plants, but not succulents IMO.