Hello guys, I’m new here! I’ve always loved going to plant nurseries and dreaming of having all of my own plants, but I haven’t had the best green thumb and I’d love to try to change that. I was gifted an Aloe Vera about 6 months ago. It hasn’t seemed to grow, and I just repotted it and saw that the old soil actually had a bunch of ants or possibly termites on it so I cleaned up the roots and repotted them. Anyone have any suggestions for getting my plant baby to flourish?
I would also like to add that it was being kept on a shady porch, as well as being watered every 2 weeks.
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I know you just repotted it, but that’s too big of a pot. 😬 I hate to suggest you repot again because I know it’s annoying. But aloe and other succulents don’t need big pots. They need pots that their roots can touch almost the bottom and almost the sides, if not completely touch the bottom and sides, so they can absorb all the water in the dirt. They don’t like to sit in wet dirt, they want to live in dry dirt, and then, when they need to be watered, they suck up the water from the dirt within a day or two. Then they sit in dry dirt again until they need water again. Since you have two of them, you could put them in a smaller pot together, they would probably like that. And that would doubly help them not sit in water. That also looks like all purpose potting soil, they need a welling draining soil like a cactus soil. I know a lot of people have had success, taking regular potting mix, and mixing a lot of pearlite, or small rocks, or other gritty things that don’t really hold water to the soil. Perlite also adds air pockets, which is helpful to help the soil dry out. Or you can just buy a pre-mixed bag if you prefer. Let me know if you have any more questions.😊
1 like They also like a lot of sun. If you have a sunnier location, try moving them there a couple hours a day for a few days and then gradually increase that. Just don’t put them in a lot more sun all at once or they’ll burn.
1 like Thank you for the advice! I will definitely take this all into consideration!
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