Evening all! Need some advice on an Aloe plant that's not happy. We bought 2 of these about a year ago,one is doing well and one got repotted by my young son(for reasons unknown) and has never been the same since. It produces new leaves but they quickly die back/brown and shrivelled. It only receives water when very dry,2-3 weeks before watering. Any advice on best soil,pot etc to revive this sad looking plant? It's in a wide plastic tub with drainage currently & there was
some root rot following the repotting I love Aloes but this is not doing well. ALL HELP GREATLY RECEIVED! Many thanks.(Bedfordshire,UK on a warm,bright windowsill currently btw)

We can't offer much advice without pictures.

Your soil looks like it is free draining so you might water it more damp. The soil should never be soggy but should be slightly damp but not dry.. I live in a warmer climate so all of my aloe is outside getting watered every day.

Your young son re-potted it?

Reminds of when I tried to re-pot a dying plant at my sister's place some years ago. I'd removed the plant from the pot and discovered that whoever had originally planted it had stuck an empty, crushed 1 liter plastic soda bottle in the bottom. They'd put some potting mix around and over the bottle and placed the plant on top. Of course, this left air pockets around the folds of the bottle and, of course, there was very little soil for the plant - just enough to hide the bottle and make it all look copacetic. Until the plant started dying and I came along.

I was stunned. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? Trying to save on potting soil or what? I never did find out.

Remove your ailing plant from its pot and see what's going on down inside. Maybe you can still save it.

Yes, I would guess the plant has little or no active working root system. The best way to find out is to take it out of the soil and look at it. This is precisely the worst time of year to be doing that though, given your northerly location and the low light of the season. So, you know, wait a few months or check it out now, as you like. The key is to avoid watering right after you put it back in the pot. Give it a week (or two, if there was root damage in the process of handling) sitting in dry soil before you water for the first time. The risk of rot is especially high given your location and the time of year.

The presence or absence of roots may help explain the current malaise. Water stressed aloes (including plants that are rootless or nearly so) will tend to burn through their lower leaves (dying back from the tips) in order to salvage some water from them. To some extent this is normal, but obviously when the rosette is shrinking like yours is, there must be some chronic water deprivation going on (or its functional equivalent, root loss).

In any case, the soil looks good, and the pot may be a good size (depending on what you see when you unpot the plant). When I water aloes (dozens of them on the patio here) I completely saturate the soil, allowing all the excess to drain out and away from the bottom of the pots. Then wait however long it takes for the soil to go mostly or completely dry at depth (not just the surface) before watering again. Experience tells me how long that takes. Essentially it's an ongoing cycle from wet to dry and back. That cycle will take longer during late fall and winter (a month maybe for your plant, in a bright space) and it will take less time during the warmer and brighter months of late spring and summer. Where light is very limited, as may be the the case in your location at this time of year, you may want to water short of saturation, to be on the safe side.

There is no particular benefit to leaving the soil bone dry for any extended period, but there is an increased risk of rot if the soil stays too wet too often. A fair amount of rock in the soil (which I see in the photo) helps make the drainage issue easier.