A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2005 rootless Aloe Vera

i have an aloe vera, i've had it for about 6 months, and for a while i was very busy and forgot to water it. i'm not sure what happened, it's still alive and the leaves are still thick and fleshy and standing on their own, not wilted at all, but the whole thing just broke off with just about a 2" nub of a taproot on the bottom. it doesn't seem to be any worse for wear and has been like this for at least 2 months and looks the same as it did when i first discovered this problem.

what's going on?

update, i just pulled it out, cut off the rotting stem on the bottom, and stuck it in straight water to see if it will sprout some roots that way.

Wrong take it out of the water. It will rot. Put it in the soil and water and ignore it for about a month.

They hold water that is why the leaves are still plump. Too much water it will rot.

that's what i've BEEN doing. it's been sitting in a pot of soil and i've ignored it for about 2 months, watering it occasionally. it's been losing leaves one by one, and still hasn't grown any roots. i know they're not supposed to have a LOT of roots, but they should have at least SOME.

Take the rootless stem out of the waer and dip it in some rooting medium and put it back in the soil and don't water for a few weeks, then small amounts of water. I fixed mine this way. And it healthy today. The hardest part of having an aloe is to not do anything to it, I have to resist the urge the water. But sinee I have stopped fussing with Aloe I have babies who are having babies. less is more.

how often do you water? they need SOME water, lol. i have a cactus that i water slightly every 2 months or so and it's happy. are aloes the same?

How often you water depends a lot on the pot size and what kind of soil you're using, also if the pot is plastic or unglazed clay. I have cacti in small clay pots in highly porous soil I water twice a week and a large philodendron in a big plastic pot I water about once a month. They're all happy. Use fast draining soil for both aloe and cactus and let it get dryish between waterings. Don't let it get dust dry while you're trying to reroot it or whatever new roots its growing will dry out, too, and it'll have to start over. Aloe like sun, too.