El Aloe vera it is a succulent non-cactus plant relatively easy to care for. For it to grow well it needs a substrate that drains water well, lots of light and regular waterings. But sometimes problems can arise that we will have to solve to revive it.
Let's see what those problems are and how to recover a plant from Aloe vera.
It is a plant that does not usually have any problems, but when some of its needs are not covered, it can have a hard time. Therefore, there are a number of reasons why the Aloe vera it goes from being green and strong, to soft and / or weak. Let's see what they are and what measures we should take to improve:
Sunburn
El Aloe vera It is a plant that needs to be exposed to direct sunlight for 3-4 hours a day (in the morning or late in the afternoon), but of course if we buy it in a nursery where they had it protected and expose it directly the next day we will see that the leaves are burned. But, however serious it may seem, it has a solution.
It is a very resistant succulent and to revive it you will have to put it in semi-shadow, where it is protected from the star king. Unfortunately, those stains won't go away, so if you have whole burned leaves, you can remove them to make it look better.
Cold
Due to its origin, it is not a plant that is very resistant to frost. If it is grown outside where the temperature drops below -2ºC it will suffer damage.. It will also have a hard time if there are weak but repeated frosts, and / or if there is hail.
When this happens, the leaves will have dark spots, becoming black if the damage is severe. Of course, to relive the Aloe vera It must be protected from the cold by taking it inside a greenhouse or at home.
Bad watering
El Aloe vera has to be watered a few times throughout the week. In general, it will be watered when the soil has completely dried out. But, it is also important that it be put in a pot with holes, or that in case you want to have it in the garden you make sure that the soil drains the water quickly.
But how do you know if we are watering badly?
Excess irrigation
Symptoms of overwatering in the Aloe vera they are the null growth, rotten central leaves (and the rest soft), and also there may be fungi that are affecting it. If we want to recover it we will have to act quickly, and for this we will have to do the following:
- First, we will extract it from the pot and remove as much soil as possible.
- Afterwards, we spray its roots with a systemic fungicide to eliminate any fungi that may be present.
- Then, we wrap the root ball with a napkin or kitchen paper, and leave it like that for a couple of hours.
- Then we remove it and plant the Aloe vera in a pot with a well-draining substrate, such as pomx or black peat mixed with equal parts perlite.
- Finally, we put it in semi-shade and do not water until after a week.
Here you can see how it is removed from the pot and planted in a new one:
Lack of irrigation
Recovering an aloe that is going thirsty is very, very easy: you just have to water it. We will know if it has a lack of irrigation if we see that the leaves are closed, wrinkled, if yellow spots appear that soon turn brown (starting with the tips) or if the plant does not grow at all.
So once we know that you are going thirsty We will take the pot and put it in a bucket with water for ten minutes. In this way the soil will be well soaked and the roots will be able to hydrate the plant.
Pests
It is very resistant to pests, but may have aphids and / or mealybugs, especially if the ambient humidity is low (that is, if you are in a very dry environment). The former are small insects, about 0,5cm long, with a green, yellow, brown or black body. As for mealybugs, there are several types (shaped like a small cotton ball, limpet, among others).
Both are pests that you will find in the leaves, especially in the new ones, since they feed on the sap that circulates inside. Nor would it be unusual for you to find some at the base of the leaves, that is, in the center of the aloe.
How to remove them?
There are several ways:
- Water: the plant Aloe vera It is small, so if it has a plague we recommend that you first clean it with water. If you want, dilute a little neutral soap, but it is not essential.
- Natural insecticide: like diatomaceous earth. It is, from experience, one of the best natural anti-pest products that exist. You just have to sprinkle the plant with water with water (at sunset, when the sun is out) and sprinkle diatomaceous earth on top, as if you were adding salt to the salad. Do you want it? Buy it No products found..
- Specific insecticide: in the market you have aphids (for sale here) and for mealybugs (which you can buy No products found.). If used well, following the directions on the container, they are very useful and can eliminate the pest.
Mushrooms
Image - Flickr / Scot Nelson
If more water is added, or if the soil drainage is not too good, the excess humidity causes the fungi to damage the Aloe vera. They can rot the roots, or cause round, brown / black spots to appear on the leaves (anthracnose). Therefore, what should be done is to suspend watering until the soil has dried. In addition, it is important to treat the plant with a fungicide, so that the fungi disappear.
Lastly, if it is in a pot with a plate underneath, remove the water every time you water so that it is not in contact with the roots. In this way, there will be no risk of rotting.
Want to know more? Click here to read our special about him Aloe vera.
Hi there! I would like to know what kind of animal eats aloe vera, there have been three nights in which my plants appear bitten. Two have already disappeared and one has the leaves bitten halfway. The plants are on a terrace, the animal only ate the aloe and two other succulents, I do not find bites in the other plants.
What animal could it be and how do I fight it?
Hello Fluff.
They are likely to be snails and / or slugs. You can combat them by attracting them to a glass or bowl full of beer for example, although if you prefer to use other remedies, you may this article serve you 🙂
If you have doubts, contact us again.
Regards!
Hi there! I bought an aloe vera in Lanzarote and, after a while, I saw that the tip of one leaf was digging into another.
I separated them but, since then, the blade that received the "puncture" has been drying from the tip to the base and now only half of it remains.
What can I do to fix it and at least save it?
Thank you so much!!
Hello Sergio.
You can cut to the chase and seal the wound with healing paste, or if you don't have one, with cinnamon. Anyway, don't worry if you end up losing it. This plant quickly removes leaves 🙂
Regards!
Hello!!! I'm trying to get my mother's aloe back, which is burned. The thing is, you have the burns only on the outside of the leaf, not the entire leaf. Can these parts of the sheet be cut or should it be cut whole? In the case of this plant, it has more than half of the leaves with burns, so it gives me a bit of trouble to cut them all at once.
Thank you so much!!
Hello Eva.
You don't really need to take anything from it. You just need a little shade and voila.
It grows fast, so that in a few months those leaves that now look ugly, will surely end up dying.
Regards!
Hola!
Could you help me to know what happened to my aloe vera and how can I get it back please, its leaves opened and it was like a stamp, you can see it in the heart. I would greatly appreciate your help.
Hi Marlene.
How often do you water it? From what you explain, it could be that it had too much water.
I recommend you water little, only when the soil dries completely.
If you see that it does not improve, write us again.
Greetings.
My aloe vera has several small aloes around it that change their appearance: the leaves have become thin, with brown tips ... what could be happening to it?
Hello Rosario.
There are several possible reasons: excess water, lack of water, and / or that they get wet when watering.
I recommend you check the soil, to see if it is very wet or on the contrary dry. If it is wet, you should suspend watering for a few days, until it dries.
In the event that it is dry, then take the pot and place it in a basin of water for a few minutes. In this way, the plant will rehydrate again.
Greetings.
Good night .. I tell you that I watered a lot for my beautiful aloe, the roots got rotten and I took it out but it has no roots, a black hole was made in its place .. the leaves seem to be optimal to rescue them, what do I do ???? Please help .. clean the bottom part and soak it for two weeks in water and a small root came out but it still gets something black even though I clean it. I don't know whether to leave it in water or plant it as it is .. give me advice please.
Hi Ivonne.
If it has any roots, I recommend planting it in a pot with soil and watering it very, very little. Only when the ground is dry. Good luck!
Hello good if you can help me .. I have an aloe already about 40 cm .. which was super good but with the wind I threw it from a fifth floor and the poor thing was crushed .. practically all its leaves ... what could I do to get it back ... thank you very much greetings
Hi Ruben.
If it has roots, even if the leaves have been split in half or even lower, don't worry. He will get over.
Remove the pieces that have been hanging, and voila. Will take out new leaves 🙂
Greetings.
Greetings on the subject of if my plant was outside and it has frozen to me does not give a concrete explanation of how I can recover it, it has enough leaves on the blackened tips, how can I recover it, thank you
Hi Abdon.
If your plant has been cold, due to a frost, what you can do is wait. Protect it from low temperatures, putting it for example inside the home in a room where there are no drafts. And nothing more.
Water it little, only when the soil is dry.
Luck!
Hi there! I have a relatively large Aloe and a month ago it lost strength, its leaves are fallen and have brown spots on the surface (like many little dots together) and it is drying from the tips.
Which may be?? 🙁
Thank you very much in advance for your help.
Hello Natalia.
Do you have it on the outside? You may have been cold. I recommend putting it in semi-shade, without direct sun, and watering it only when the soil is dry. It can also help to water it from time to time with a little biostimulant.
Greetings.
Hello, very good, thank you for assisting all of us in the care of this type of plants.
I have a question about it and it is that my Aloe plant (planted indoors in semi-shade)
Has some of its tips dry, I water it every time the soil is dry or not more than once a week, is it necessary that the tips be trimmed and cured or could it be due to an irrigation problem?
I have turned the soil and found three mealybugs that I understand are not good for him so I took them out of the pot and left them outside.
It is a large aloe, with leaves of up to 40 centimeters.
Thank you.
Hi Aleix.
You do well to water only when the soil is dry. Those brown tips are most likely due to mealybugs, but there may be more. So I recommend you treat the plant with diatomaceous earth for instance. You put a good handful on the surface, and then you mix it with the substrate.
Greetings.
Hello, help.
I think I watered my aloe a lot and it started to rot, what do I do to make it recover?
Hi Lomanhy.
Don't water it for now.
Take it out of the pot, and put it outside, but protected from direct sun.
Keep it like this for half an hour, or an hour at the most. In this way the earth will dry up.
After that time, plant it back in the pot. And don't water it until about 3 days have passed.
Greetings.
Hello Monica. We have a problem, the same in two medium-sized Aloe Vera plants that were perfect when they were given to us. The care that the person who gave them to us told us is the same as you explain and we have done so, but something has happened to both of them that does not appear in your article. All the leaves are like sprinkled with kitchen salt but in reality it is like a sticky white powder. One of them has spider webs that go from the edge of the pot to the ground, but I don't see any spiders. Some tips have dried out. I hope you can help us because we have no idea how to heal them. Thank you so much for everything. A hug!
Hello david.
From what you count, they look like mealybugs. As Aloe vera is a relatively small plant, you can clean the leaves with water and diluted neutral soap, and also water the soil with this mixture.
If you get those spots again, then it would be good to treat them with diatomaceous earth, which is a natural insecticide. It would simply be to wet the leaves with water and pour this product over it.
Regards!
We will try it, to see if we are lucky. Thank you very much for everything Monica!
Thank you. If you have any further questions, ask 🙂
Good morning,
I had four Aloe Veras at home and I begin to think that they are not my thing ... one died of filomena, come on that is accepted, the other was how rotten, he looked out and at the end one day he gave up and discovered that he was brown inside (I thought that It was because it did not give enough light) and I stayed with two but now one of them is happening the same, I put the branches that weighed the most on a table (I have it on one foot with a pot so as not to have it directly on the floor of wood) but yesterday when I went to water it I saw that it is going the same way (this one gives more light than the other), I already have two brown brown leaves, although it is all green and I can see that the center (trunk) is getting chocho ... what am I doing wrong? luckily that pot has children and I hope that when the mother dies they will take their place but still.
thanks in advance
Paloma
Hi dove.
From what you count, it seems that you are watering too much. I recommend you change the soil, put them back, and plant them in a pot with holes in the base. And only water when the soil is dry.
They need a lot of light, but not direct sun.
Luck!
My aloe leaves are brown and curled at the tip. What do I do?
Hello Yoana.
How often do you water it? It may be that it has too much water. If you have it in a pot, it is also important that it has holes at its base, so that the roots do not remain waterlogged and do not rot.
You have more information in this plug what we made of aloe vera.
A greeting.