Can anyone help rescue my poor aloe?

[ChefRico]

Hi gang,

I call on you all for help once again as I seem to have one very unhappy aloe very plant on my hands. I recently repotted it to a larger sized pot last week as it looked like it was getting a bit big for the old one, in the hope that it would be able to grow larger. I use a bonsai/cactus medium with sand and perlite to allow for drainage with a bottom layer of loose woodchip as well as on top for decorative purposes.

I water roughly once weekly, but not until I feel the soil is quite dry, and in the spring/summer I water with succulent specific food every other week.

Since being reported however the aloe seems to have taken a turn for the worst! The leaves have gone from a pleasing bright, vibrant green to an ugly purple, brown sort of colour and where the leaves were plump and stiff before, they are now thin, wispy and curling (not mushy and soft, but quite dry and almost empty feeling).

Can anyone give me an idea of what has happened? I don't know if it's potential shock from being moved? Or perhaps from watering too soon after repotting, but in general I do not over water, and the lighting comes from a (very makeshift and temporary) artificial set up which I will include a picture of so you have an idea of what I'm working with.

Please help!

Also included a picture of the aloe in its pot and former habitat before the move

 

[grouie]

From the look of it I think the soil needs to be loosened up and may be you are over watering? You can replant it and it will grow again. Also Aloe does not need much of fertiliser.

 

[DrCase]

They like to be left alone and crowded

 

[grouie]

From the look of it I think the soil needs to be loosened up and may be you are over watering? You can replant it and it will grow again. Also Aloe does not need much of fertiliser.

They like to be left alone and crowded

I never had any problem. I have them in pots and they just multiply. I water them twice a week.

 

[ChefRico]

I water even less than twice a week, I would say once every ten days depending entirely on how the soil feels...

Re: loosening the soil... You're sure it won't be even worse for it if I take it out the pot again and disturb it's roots? Could give it fresh soil I've got nice stuff atm so long as that won't kill it...

 

[grouie]

I water even less than twice a week, I would say once every ten days depending entirely on how the soil feels...

Re: loosening the soil... You're sure it won't be even worse for it if I take it out the pot again and disturb it's roots? Could give it fresh soil I've got nice stuff atm so long as that won't kill it...

Aloe is not fussy at all but it likes a bit of sandy soil. It is just like a cactus but is not a cactus.

 

[ChefRico]

Righto,

Fresh soil it is then. Will do that at my next convenience and keep you posted. I hope it will last another 2 days as I'm literally just about to leave for the countryside for the weekend. Thank you for your pointers though. Admittedly I did use a 50/50 of sandy cactus soil and older soil as I didn't have enough on hand so that let's hope that's it..

Would you happen to know anything about the effects of too much artificial lighting on plants grown indoors? Like a numpty, I didn't set my new timer correctly and it was on my plants for 7 hours too long yesterday (17 hours total) my ginkgo biloba may have an ever so slightly scorched leaf just on the very edge of one. I have another.. Cactus, aloe vera type succulent? (no idea what it is and no one seems to be able to tell me) that's gone a bit purple also though I've seen it do that before from too much natural sun and fortunately seen it slowly return to normal also. The rest are cacti and monkey puzzle trees, now the monkey puzzle in particular have been bewildering me for the past two weeks.. I sent them to myself in the post as I moved from London to Hungary, and when they arrived I noticed crazy accelerated growth that was very yellow compared to the rest of the plants. I have seen this on all of them, but all Bar one have slowly returned to their normal deep green, in the picture included you can see what I mean. Any idea what has caused this yellowing, and how I can revert it? Or should I coppice and hope for new growth.

 

[grouie]

I water even less than twice a week, I would say once every ten days depending entirely on how the soil feels...

Re: loosening the soil... You're sure it won't be even worse for it if I take it out the pot again and disturb it's roots? Could give it fresh soil I've got nice stuff atm so long as that won't kill it...

These are the plants we have. They demand just some water. They multiply fast too.

 

[grouie]

Aloe vera is not a cactus. It belongs to the Lily family. About artificial lighting. enough is not enough. Nothing like the morning sun though. But each country has different intensity from the sun. May be where you live the afternoon sun could be ideal.

 

[ChefRico]

How fascinating! I did not know the aloe was a member of the lily family...

Hungarian sun is very strong and intense, particularly right now my troughs with herbs on the balcony are certainly enjoying it (though now I detect some spidermites I will have to eradicate) the problem is, INSIDE the flat the lighting is insufficient to grow most of anything, hence my artificial set up.

Any idea though why the monkey puzzles have this horrible yellow colour on top? I don't know what I should do to correct it.

 

[Pat]

I agree the plant has been over watered. I water mine maybe once a month. They do like to be left alone find a spot for the plant and let it rest there.

 

[ChefRico]

Thank you very much for all the advice. I have left my aloe alone in a nice semi-shaded area and it's now thriving as if nothing happened at all!

Will be sure to water it less and look forward to seeing it grow and multiply

 

[Marck]

In the OP, the Aloe (possibly Aloe officinalis) should be receiving either direct sun or very bright indirect light. Also, the wood chips placed in the bottom of the pot should be removed as they could adversely affect drainage.

In Post #7, The yellow, elongated growth on the seedling Monkey-puzzle Trees (Araucaria araucana) is etiolation. This occurs when a plant grows in excessively low light or even total darkness. How long were the Araucaria araucana seedlings traveling in the post from London to Hungary? Anyway the seedlings will likely recover now that they are again growing in good light.
At the time Post #7 was written, it is stated that all but one of the seedlings had begun to recover greener coloring.
In any case, the seedlings should not be coppiced!

The succulent shown in Post #7 is Haworthiopsis limifolia (formerly Haworthia limifolia), a small succulent herb in the Asphodel family (Asphodelaceae), related to Aloe, and native to southeastern Africa.