The brown leaves are probably because of sun. For the smallest leaves do you refer to the outmost leaves or innermost leaves? When Aloe vera is short of water, their outer leaves will become thin and curved inward first. There can be 2 reasons for Aloe vera being short of water - either underwatered or overwatered. For underwater, just water it more. If the latter, it probably got rotted roots which makes the water in the pot unavailable to the plant. May I ask you what kind of soil or mix you put it in? If that's gritty mix or alike, it's not likely to be overwatered. In case you just put it in potting soil or even Cactus soil, you got to check if the soil is still wet inside. You can push a skewer down into your pot till its tip is closer to the pot bottom, wait a minute and pull it out to see if there's a lot moisture on the skewer. If it looks very damp or to the touch, you potting mix probably is not very fast draining. Got to make some change then.

Hello, It is Aloe Chinensis, which I think has a much more delicate swagger, due to its spotted fan shape, than Aloe Vera. It is beautiful as an ornamental but does have the same medicinal properties and can be used exactly the same way Aloe Vera is used. Sharing my experience with this plant, which I've had for five (5) years now - Brief history: I brought home a tiny offset from my mother's Caribbean garden, where they are growing beautifully in a lightly shaded area around a hedge of Jasmine. Once home, I slowly inched my Aloe towards a window sill to acclimate it to my lighting conditions but noticed that whenever I placed this particular plant on a window sill, it lost all its color and turned ghostly white. I would move it back to an indoor table and it would again turn green. This phenomenon went on for about 6 months, which I though was crazy...Aloe's need some sun and filtered light on a NY window sill should not be a problem. Another problem...It didn't grow at all in all this time. Well, I was very patient and really wanted to save this one because it came from mom's garden. One day I placed it on a window sill and viola...it stayed green. I left it there all winter, didn't touch it and hardly looked at it until the Spring. SURPRISE!! It grew AND gave me three offsets. Now we're in business! I recommend a window that provides morning sun, not very hot midday sun. Late afternoon sun is good, too. I've learned: - This is one temperamental Aloe! Once established it takes off all on its own so you can't take the credit - Ha!! Likes to be left alone; not touched too much, fussed over too much, moved too much or even watered too much. Do not move this one around...It likes a permanent home. - Does not like its leaves lying on soil...They'll rot. After much trial and error, I finally got it right: Stones on the bottom of the pot, cover the roots ONLY and a little bit of the stem with quick draining cactus mix, fill in with stones to prop up the plant. This plant has rewarded me with at least 45 offsets, which came up right through the stones. Someone mentioned a root ball. This Aloe has no root ball. It, in fact, has a small amount of roots...It's major root and small feeders coming off that. The pot you have it in IS too large. The principle of a pot double/triple the size of the root ball applies to trees. That does not even apply to the everyday houseplant. Here's the problem with large pots - They stay wet far too much longer than the particular plant needs. This Aloe loves being tight in its pot. Also, you asked about clay pot vs. plastic. Clay is always better because they breathe, which allows air circulation, which allows the plant to remain drier. I would go with a pot about 1/3 the width of what you currently have, that doesn't taper outward but comes up straight. See above for my recommendations for planting. Don't worry about the offsets looking cramped in the pot when they do come in...They will be fine. Every Spring, I uproot my large Aloes that are full of offsets in order to remove them and check the plant for overall health. All the offset will have their own roots and can be planted separately. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have taken a photo for you. As you can see, I've removed some offsets from another plant and put them all together in a small pot for now. This is fine because they have small root systems and are just as happy as pie all together like that. The photo also shows one of my mature plants (actually, there are two in the pot) full of offsets. By the way, stones in the bottom will also help make the plant heavy, so it'll be less likely to be knocked over. I know people who customarily place a brick in there for this purpose! Well, I sincerely hope your plant does well. Please feel free to reach out if you need help in the future.

I believe you are over-thinking. In my experience, the growth rate of any of my aloes isn't affected by the bloom spike, so I would just let it bloom its heart away. There's no real benefit in cutting it, but you at least get a beautiful bloom to look at by keeping it on the plant. Also, I don't believe the distance at which you cut the leaves will make any difference either apart from aesthetic considerations. If the look of partial leaf stumps will bother you, then cut it down closer to the base, otherwise, cut as you will. Sometimes, I will cut half a leaf and come back to cut the rest days later. The aloe leaves you cut will never regrow. The plants will continue to produce new leaves from the center, and eventually those will be pushed outward by more new leaves, and you can harvest those as you will. Good luck!

While your plant is an Aloe, I don't believe it is an Aloe vera. There are Aloes that have stems like your plant. Unfortunately, I am not good at identifying them. LOL You might try Googling Aloe plants and look at the different images. Hopefully someone here will recognize your plant.