What's wrong with my Aloe Vera?

HI everyone,
So I guess I should start by saying that I've never kept house plants before, but over the summer I bought myself a small Aloe Vera plant from a local Garlic Festival. It seemed to be doing great for the first few months, tripled in size since I bought it, however over the last week or so I noticed the tops of it's leave have been thinning out, and are kind of sunken in, almost like they have no gel in them.



Does anyone know what could be wrong with it? Do you think it can be brought back from this?

I know the pot isn't the best choice, it's what I bought it in, and I plan to upgrade it to a terracotta one the next time I can get to town. No idea what soil it's in, again, it's the same stuff it was in when I bought it, but had no trouble growing in it for the first several months.

Anyone have any idea what's going on with it? I really don't want it to die.

 

In my limited experience with selling Aloe Vera in the work place I've seen the plants do this intermittently. Usually its because the tips are delicate and got bumped and other times its just the plant naturally dying back a little before regrowing just like other plants do. However I did notice your aloe vera is looking leggy like it got too much nutrients and had a growth spurt or wasn't getting enough sun so is stretching to try and reach. Honestly aloe is an easy plant being a succulent like a cactus. The first thing I'd try with the limited info you provided is to make sure the soil is mostly dry rather than wet on the top because they hate being super wet just like cacti.

 

In my limited experience with selling Aloe Vera in the work place I've seen the plants do this intermittently. Usually its because the tips are delicate and got bumped and other times its just the plant naturally dying back a little before regrowing just like other plants do. However I did notice your aloe vera is looking leggy like it got too much nutrients and had a growth spurt or wasn't getting enough sun so is stretching to try and reach. Honestly aloe is an easy plant being a succulent like a cactus. The first thing I'd try with the limited info you provided is to make sure the soil is mostly dry rather than wet on the top because they hate being super wet just like cacti.

Thanks for your input!
I've been watering the plant very sparingly, waiting for the soil to dry before watering again. I still live at home with my dad while I complete college and within the first month or so of owning the plant I discovered that he had been watering it without my knowledge for a while so it was definitely being over watered in the beginning but that was months ago, and didn't seem to do it any harm.

We did have a few really cold days here just before I noticed the leaves thinning. Our house is heated by a wood stove and the fires had been allowed to die out during the night so it did get pretty cold in the house. I'm not sure if that could have done something to the plant or not?

The only other thing I could think of is it did fall into the sink at one point, but I scooped it out immediately, poured off as much water from the top as I could, and allowed it to dry completely before watering it again.

I was actually just wondering if it may have something to do with too much nutrients,
just prior to posting this, I found a site that explaining how most potting soils shouldn't be used for Aloe as many of them contain additional fertilizers that can do more harm than good. I have no idea what my Aloe is planted in as I haven't transferred it since I purchased it, so maybe the soil is too nutrient rich? If that were the case wouldn't the plant have had issues from the start?

 

I think its likely a combination of things. Over watering and perhaps the soil being "too healthy" caused it to grow rapidly which weakens the plants ability to support its own weight (causing bending of tips and all the leaves/branches away from center) and what little nutrients it did like were diluted by the overwatering. I applaud your sense to let the plant dry out most people water cactI and succulents to death by accident. I'd do some research to confirm but when you transplant the aloe try a cactus specialty soil which should closely replicate aloes native climate. Speaking of climate yes the night time would cause a little wilting (my house has an electric furnace but even some of my plants don't like the night time temp of 62 F) but when the house heats again you should see plant perk up a little about midday (if the heat is running and sun/grow light is present).
For the moment if you can't replant I would see if I could find a specialty fertilizer for cacti/succulents so maybe the aloe will get the correct nutrients. I've found with my indoor plants having the correct fertilizer, the right daylight, and watering globes (cool device that you put water in and as the plant needs/wants it the water is absorbed into the soil).

Btw although I'm not an expert I'm not just making this up as I go I also took Horticulture and did FFA in high school for three years and retained the basics of plant care. My indoor plants are a coffee plant/young tree, Norfolk Pine, and Jade Plant(the only succulent of the three).

 

Looks like lack of light. I've had this issue when transplanting small re growths and place them under my patio. Aloe loves a lot of sunlight and a lot less water then most plants. Best of luck.

 

Thanks
everyone. Right after my last post I tried checking the roots and found that it didn't really seem to have all that many and a couple of them were flat and dark at the ends. I took those parts off and replanted. I also cut back on watering. The plant seems to be doing worse now. The tops of the leaves are beginning to turn brown, and more of the leaves are starting to go thin.

Do you think it could be related to the cold? I'm in Canada and our house is heated by a fireplace so the temperatures fluctuate quite a bit in certain areas of the house depending on how well the fire is burning, there are also certain times during the day when the house will get pretty cold because there isn't anyone home to maintain the fire. I'm thinking about placing the Aloe Vera on the mantel above the fireplace, it would stay a lot warmer up there, and there is a south facing window directly across the room from the fireplace so it would get a bit of sunlight during the day. Is this a bad idea?

I really want to revive this plant but it just seems to be getting worse

 

It sounds like the roots may have rotted while too wet. Aloe veras don't really have huge root systems anyway but I have seen this sort of thing before. Too much water and yes, cold. They just don't do so well. You can try putting it one the mantle though I'm not sure how much sun it will get from across the room. All you can do is try!

 

It sounds like the roots may have rotted while too wet. Aloe veras don't really have huge root systems anyway but I have seen this sort of thing before. Too much water and yes, cold. They just don't do so well. You can try putting it one the mantle though I'm not sure how much sun it will get from across the room. All you can do is try!

Thanks! Is there anything I should be doing, like removing the brown tops?. Across the room is really only about 8-9 feet.

 

How long would it be getting direct sunlight? One thing you might try is to plant it in a hard foam pot or put the pot in a small styrofoam cooler. Anything to reduce temperature fluctuations. Another option is to get a larger Styrofoam cooler, stand it on end and put the plant inside with the open end towards the window. The white Styrofoam will help to reflect more light onto the plant and being surrounded by insulation will help to reduce temp fluctuations and drafts if there are any. I'd just be careful that it doesn't get so hot above the fireplace that the foam will melt!

 

In my experience with aloe plants, they love having a lot of direct sunlight.

How many hours per day of direct sunlight is yours getting?