Please help me with my aloe veras

[Dilbertian]

Too much water? Too little water? Too much sun? Too little sun?

I've had the little ones in the square pot for about 18m, and the bigger one in the round pot for about 5-6m. I give them a little water once every week or two. The windowsill is south-facing. When the sun is particularly hot I take them off the windowsill and move them into the shade. Last year I kept the little ones outside for the summer, also moving them into the shade when it was particularly hot. All that happened was two of the original four died.

Please help

Might not be helpful but ALL of mine are like that except for the ones on the bathroom window ledge. The window is frosted so not in direct sun as such. They are close enough to the shower that they get spray from it but other than that I've never ever watered them. And they're beautiful and green. So my guess is too much sun?

They are "sunburnt" Put them in the shade for a while after filling the sink and standing them in the water for a while. Water deeply, as in soak once a month or so. Hope that helps.

I have a south-facing bathroom and a north-facing one, both with frosted windows, but neither within reach of spray from the shower. I could move them to either of those?

Alternatively there is a west-facing windowsill, but that's the room dh works in and it's a very clean, minimalist space. I don't know how he'd feel about having grotty plants in it!

I'm really uneasy about soaking the aloes. I think that's what killed the first one I had. The soil felt very dry, so I gave it a good watering before I read the note that came with it. Which said "Do not water me."

They need good draining compost , so very gritty, and I agree with a good drink ever month or so. Soak for 30 mins

I agree OP. I soaked mine as suggested and it's now pretty much dead . It's turned all black and withered.

Sorry. Not much help. Except yours look healthier than mine!

Mine died too. Think I overwatered.

Mine is planted in ordinary compost, it gets watered sparingly once per week and given a squirt of Babybio once a month. Sitting in Porch that gets full sun until midday most days.
It’s ten years old and I have had hundreds of baby plants from it.
They go brown if they are over watered or underwatered, I have never known heat/ sun to be an issue.

Oh dear, those aloe Veras are pretty sad.

As above: they are succulents so they expect to live somewhere with good light, soil that drains freely so they are not sitting in wet,, but with enough occasional rain for them to soak it up and store it in their leaves.

If you are emotionally attached to them II would repot both of those - you can buy compost for succulents, or use any houseplant/multipurpose with lost of grit mixed in - then put them on whichever windowsill you like and only water them very ver occasionally when the pot feels light over winter.

Alternatively I would chuck them and buy some lovely new plump happy ones. Mine are grown from cuttings from a friend’s plants; one plant made excellent cuttings while the other one’s cuttings were never very happy.

I think too much sun is your problem. We moved ours, which were also looking sorry for themselves, from a sunny windowsill to a north-facing porch and they plumped up and returned to a bright green in days. Do water sparingly too.

@Mybalconyiscracking that is a fabulous plant but I don’t think it’s an aloe vera- I’m not great on succulents etc but I think it’s an agave of some sort? Hard concave leaves instead of plump squishy ones? It is obviously very happy though.

I shall move them to the north-facing bathroom windowsill. Still not sure what to do about watering.

One of them was potted up by the giver, who knows what they're doing, so I assume used appropriate compost. The other was given to me bare-root in a plastic bag. I had no compost, but I had some unused topsoil, so I mixed a bit half-and-half with fresh sandpit sand and potted it in that. It is very free-draining.

Maybe get a spray bottle and spritz water daily? I have absolutely no idea about growing anything, I kill most houseplants but I'm just going by that mine get daily spay off the shower and are super healthy. Or who knows maybe it's the steam.

@MistyFrequencies

Maybe get a spray bottle and spritz water daily? I have absolutely no idea about growing anything, I kill most houseplants but I'm just going by that mine get daily spay off the shower and are super healthy. Or who knows maybe it's the steam.

No, don't do that. Aloe vera are succulents so keeping them constantly damp is not advisable.

[quote Purplewithred]@Mybalconyiscracking that is a fabulous plant but I don’t think it’s an aloe vera- I’m not great on succulents etc but I think it’s an agave of some sort? Hard concave leaves instead of plump squishy ones? It is obviously very happy though.[/quote]
It really is an aloe vera! It’s a bit congested is all! I need to remove some of its children.

Move them to your south facing bathroom as long as it’s not too humid. Water them a bit, wait a few days and see if the colour improves. If it only improves a bit after a week or so, then water them a bit more. Go sparingly, over watering is hard to fix.

Hopefully they will perk up after a week or so and then the west facing office should be ideal.

Mine are all in south facing rooms and the ones that get the most sun occasionally look like yours, I would say it’s a too much sun/not enough water combo. As long as the leaves are still fleshy then they re-green with no problems.

I'd guess at too much sun. The aloe on my bedroom sill went brown like that, and I shoved it on the hall windowsill to remind me to take it downstairs and chuck it out. Had a busy few days and didn't get around to it and it recovered quickly and beautifully! The bedroom gets a lot of sun.

Are you sure, AllotmentTime? Not the north facing one?

Aloes do get sunburnt surprisingly easily.
When you water, give plenty of water. A lot will probably run through. After an hour or so tip away any standing water.
I water mine every couple of weeks.

I've just been looking for a picture of my old garden without the kids in, but cant find one.

Our aloe's used to be amazing - they got the most awesome flower stalks. They lived outside, where it never dropped below 10C, and spent most of the summer over 40C. The "soil" was basically dessert sand with a bit of organic manure (camel droppings) thrown ontop each autumn. They got sprinkled with water m9st days, but rarely drowned.

I'd say add a load of sand, water them less, and leave them on the S facing windowsill. But I'm not a gardener.

With frosted windows yes I personally would go for the south facing. Plus a north facing bathroom I’m assuming might be comparatively a bit cooler and damper than the south facing one?

But tbh I’d say the watering is more important. Wait between watering, don’t be tempted to think that you watered it yesterday and it hasn’t recovered so it needs more.

Hedge your bets and put one in each

I haven't moved the aloe veras to a less sunny spot, because it's autumn so there's no strong sunshine anyway. But I've been watering them more, and look how one of the little ones has responded - it's greener and it's growing! The other two haven't shown any change yet.

Mine are like your brighter green one, I water them quite a bit really. Brilliant plants, and the gel from the leaves is useful too.

Mine went horribly yellow/brown - I'm pretty sure it was due to over-watering - I wasn't treating it like a succulent. About a month ago I repotted it into cactus/succulent compost (which is very sandy), and stopped being so heavy-handed with the watering, and it has already reverted to a much healthier green colour.

It's in a south-facing bathroom, so I don't think light was the problem.

Mine go the purple colour if they are in a very sunny spot without enough water. The ones away from direct sun need less water I’ve found.

I keep mine south facing in gritty compost and water sparingly every 3 weeks. I re-pot annually.

I've had it several years and potted 16 babies so far.