Hey Gang, hope you all had a wonderful Turkey Day! As some of you may know I aquired an Aloe plant from my late grandmother. From the pictures you can see it's HUGE, and gotten way to big for it's pot. In fact it is getting a wee bit top heavy. I was going to give it a month before re-planting, but since it is doing well in it's new home I think i should do it now. My question(s) to the forum are as follows.
1.) Since the plant is so top heavy, should I go with a wider as opposed to a deep clay pot?

2.) How deep should the substrate be?

3.) Is there anything that I should be careful with pertaing to re-planting this beast?

http://s131.photobucket.com/albums/p287/78lespaulcustom/Aloezilla/

Answer to Question 1-- Well, I'd go deeper as well as wider.. from the pics it looks WAY to small for its current pot.

Answer to Question 3-- I'd be really careful with the roots... When you first re-pot it, it may start to droop from shock, but should go back to normal after a few days... just try to get it in a clay pot, and don't water it much more then you do now... don't increase the water amount for a while because of the bigger pot. As it grows, slowly add a little more water for each watering.

Good luck

I forgot to mention-- also, be careful when you re-pot it, as the roots may be 'piled' up along the edges... take it out of the pot slowly, as to not rip the roots too bad.

Thanks for the Tips! Would it be better to try and cut the pot, so as not to distrubed the roots? The pot is plastic, so i figured I would use my Dremel to cut the opot down the middle. With the roots and old dirt intact, I then would transplant it into it's new home. Sound good?

Funny how I just posted right before you did...


Cutting it may be fine, but you may also need more dirt, if you are putting it into a bigger pot. The roots wil leventually stretch themseelves out better/more as they grow.

So, how'd it go?

i missed this thread earlier.

gorgeous aloe!! does anyone know what variety it is? i ask because i just got a couple of group planters and have no idea what the individual plants are. one of them is this one, tho it's much tinier than yours, lespaul.

Ok.today is the day..today is the day i tackle this 25lb monster and put her in a new pot. I know size matters, so how big of a pot should I get? You can see from the pics she's a wee bit on the husky side. She thinks she still a size 7, when actaully she's on the plus side. LOL! Any who...somebody throw me a bone here thanks! Hope all is well..has anyone seen any snow in the NY area? The apple trees here are starting to bud YIKES!

i would go one or two sizes larger, not more than that. and if you can, about an inch or two deeper. sometimes it is hard to do that though. and make sure you get her into a well draining pot. she's a pretty girl and i'd hate to have her pout on you!

Unglazed clay pots are best.

Don't put it in direct light after you plant it either..

Guitar player??