I purchased this 'Aloe Vera' about two years ago and she's probably doubled, if not tripled in size since then. She vacations at my parent's house in the summer due to the lack of light where we live. I admit, I neglected repotting her this year so I think she dried out too much/too often for my Mom to keep up with watering her enough. She's lost a few leaves/is probably going to lose more and has started developing a stem.

My questions are:

1. Is this normal?

2. Should I be concerned?

3. Is there a way I should go about repotting her to bury the stem or leave her as is?

4. Would be unsafe/damaging to remove the old "sheaths" from the stem or should I leave that there (I admit, I did remove a little from the base of the stem, where you can see a little brown)?







I am really excited though, I noticed just today that she has her first baby breaking the surface of the potting mix!

Look normal to me. Cut off those older, shriveled leaves if they look bad to you. Gene

I agree on both points... try to avoid yanking old leaves from aloes unless they give easily. A pair of scissors should do the trick. These plants grow a bit of a stem as they age and it's nothing to be concerned about.

Do not bury the stem on an aloe (or most succulents for that matter) because that will almost certainly trigger rot.

That's a pretty small pot for the size of the plant. I would think you could double the width of the pot, or at least go one size up for starters when you repot, and the plant will be fuller and more prolific as a result.

gasrocks said:Look normal to me. Cut off those older, shriveled leaves if they look bad to you. Gene

I will cut them back, ty!

Baja_Costero said:I agree on both points... try to avoid yanking old leaves from aloes unless they give easily. A pair of scissors should do the trick. These plants grow a bit of a stem as they age and it's nothing to be concerned about.

Do not bury the stem on an aloe (or most succulents for that matter) because that will almost certainly trigger rot.

That's a pretty small pot for the size of the plant. I would think you could double the width of the pot, or at least go one size up for starters when you repot, and the plant will be fuller and more prolific as a result.

I wasn't sure if they grew a stem, ty! I am happy to hear from both of you that it's normal.

Yes, I meant to repot it earlier this year, purchased a nice size pot, but never got around to it.

I guess that leads me to another question... Is it too late to repot?

Baja_Costero said:I agree on both points... try to avoid yanking old leaves from aloes unless they give easily. A pair of scissors should do the trick. These plants grow a bit of a stem as they age and it's nothing to be concerned about.

Do not bury the stem on an aloe (or most succulents for that matter) because that will almost certainly trigger rot.

That's a pretty small pot for the size of the plant. I would think you could double the width of the pot, or at least go one size up for starters when you repot, and the plant will be fuller and more prolific as a result.

What type of plant is that in your avatar?

Hamwild said:Is it too late to repot?

There is no late, assuming you're growing the plant indoors in good light. Some people like to put their succulents asleep in colder places like garages or unheated basements for the winter to induce a state of dormancy, and you want to avoid repotting just before that point, if that's your plan. Otherwise, given a sunny windowsill in your basic climate controlled indoor setting, these plants grow well year round, so you can repot whenever it's convenient for you. Try to avoid saturating the soil with water for a few days after repotting, in case there was any damage to the roots. But these are not sensitive plants.

If the question was about my avatar, it's Aloe plicatilis, the fan aloe. A highly branched tree from the winter rainfall area of South Africa, doing its winter thing.

I don't receive the best lighting other times of the year, but I get my best lighting in the winter. I will repot it soon; I have been neglectful with the poor thing.