I recently noticed the foot on my Aloe Samson has a bit of rot on its foot. I'm not sure exactly when it happened whether its was with this year's extended rain in Nov and Dec or whether some extra water I gave it over the summer was the culprit. Is the rot likely to spread? The plant is actually actively growing and is putting out some new leaves and roots (Accidentally dug one up when I was weeding.)

I'm hoping if I monitor it and keep the foot dry it might heal and regrow that part of its foot?

I'll have to admit I wasn't that worried about watering it since it has barberae as one of its parents but apparently Samson is not as water resistance as Hercules... Looks like I need to be more careful.

I guess if it falls over I can cut off the bottom and try to re-root the remaining section.

For now I have placed a tent of 5 mil plastic over the foot to try to keep things dry. So far it seems to be working. Anyone see any reasons why this should not be done?

Interesting. Maybe the other parent makes Samson refractory to summer water, but I would have assumed otherwise.

I would think maybe the plastic might interfere with good air flow and that may be more important for it to heal right, or at least for the damage not to spread. It will probably always have a hollow there. You will know pretty soon whether the rot is limited or progresses. Is it soft?

If Samson is like Hercules then it should be pretty easy to grow from a cutting, should worse come to worse. I had good results with Hercules cuttings within a couple of months.

It may be better to withhold summer water from the big tree aloes (other than maybe barberae). After their first summer they can easily take 3 months without a drop of water (here in our mild coastal climate which is very similar to yours) and they will develop a more compact form that way. I much prefer them squat instead of leggy. Maybe a bit of neglect would also help you avoid further incidence of rot.

I thought it would have been more water tolerant as well, although the other parent is ramosissima so maybe it takes more after that? Its also a strange soil its in kind of a sand clay mix. If I do end up trying to root a cutting I will change the soil out and replant several inches higher on a berm with more perlite and sand for better drainage.

Interesting you mention the airflow, as I had the same thoughts. I may end up just putting the tent on when its actually raining like today. It just slips over the lowest leave and I loosely pin it to the ground. The rainy season will be over soon. So probably would only need it once or twice more this year.

The damaged area was not soft but the area of the skin did break off when I tapped it when weeding last. I did not think it would have been good for water to get into all those fibers inside which also seem dry and in reasonable shape. The plant still resists wind and mild shaking so the rest of the stem seems unaffected so far...

Since the rot does not seem active, I'm thinking the damage may have been last summer and its already healed somewhat? I would think fresh winter damage might have been more soft?

I like the idea of withholding summer water too. Especially for this plant. I'm hoping it will reroot in place meaning a root develops higher up above or near the damage and goes down into the ground? (Maybe that's too much wishful thinking though...)

For the time being keep inspecting the plant from time to time and you'll have a pretty good idea how the situation progresses and plenty of warning before you have to take action.

The warm, dry weather we're having at the moment is just what the doctor ordered. My aloes seem to really enjoy the winter with its occasional rain events alternating with warm, dry spells.

Where did you get your Samson? I live up in Ventura county - the local nurseries seem to have Goliaths and a few Hercules, but no Samsons. I can't seem to even find many pics: I assume a mature one would be similar to a Hercules, except perhaps shorter with more branching?

I got the plant at Rancho Soledad Nursery in Rancho Santa Fe. They may even delivery up to your area. Its worth a drive down if you like aloes. They always have a wide selection to chose from and its always different.

Yes its very similar to a Hercules. Its a cross between Barberae and ramosissima. I know many people consider ramosissima and dichotoma to be very similar if not the same species so maybe a Barberae and dicohtoma could produce a similar plant. I have even seem many Herclues with similar coloring.

To me these are the differences I can see:
1) Coloring- Hercules is a much deeper green and Samson is much more like dichtoma more blue grey with the pink around the leaves. (Although I have also seen Hercules with pink around the leaves mine does not.)

2) The leaves on a Samson always stick up and are much less re-curved then on a Hercules which re-curve with age.

3) As I am finding out Samson seems to be a little more sensitive to watering then a Hercules.

4) Mine has not branched yet but I believe you are correct a Samson is supposed to branch earlier and more often and not be as tall. A Samson may also bloom more often too. I have fingers crossed that mine won't fall over so that I can see if this is true...

Maybe I'll try to take a picture of the full plant soon.

I'll be watching it like a hawk now.

I agree I think the current dry spell is just what the doctor ordered. Still 8 days without rain in the forecast. The tent worked well last rain we got about 0.3 inches here and the foot remained dry throughout. I have taken the tent off now to improve air circulation. The plants is still growing so maybe that's a good thing.

Here are some closeups now that the tent is off.





I still have not done anything other than keep it dry. I've debated trying to remove the dead material but for now it seems dry and it might be helping to support the plant so maybe I should not touch it?

I would not mess with it unless you have reason to believe that below the dry tissue the plant might still be rotting. So I would definitely give it a good poke and maybe keep an eye on the rest of the trunk around the area. I am pretty sure that once dry and without any remaining active rot, the tree will be just fine with that little spot.

Thx for the tip on where to find a Samson at Rancho Soledad: drove down today and picked one up. An older gentleman - Jessie (?) - showed me around and pointed out all the various stock. Really had fun talking with him. He claimed that the Samson & Hercules parentage are actually the same (dichotoma/bainesii), but maternity/paternity is switched. He didn't hold much credit to the purported ramosissima Parentage for Samson. Maybe there are different Samson cultivars?

Yes that's a real fun place to visit. The staff is very knowledgeable. Jessie knows his stuff for sure. I would not be surprised if the parentage of Samson were the same but reversed. I've also seen the dichotoma x Barberae hybrid go by the name of Aloe 'Rex' yet a third type of phenotype among these two parents. Distinctly different from either Hercules or Samson. It looks like a Barberae but has the most dichotoma bark like bark of the three. It's interesting to me how two unique parent plants can combine to form equally unique children.

There may well be different cultivars. The info I had was from this link:
https://www.smgrowers.com/prod...

It discusses there possibly being multiple hybrids potentially using the Sampson name. Their picture makes it hard to tell since it is so close up.

Here's mine basking in the late afternoon sun. Way in the back towards the left you can see the Hercules... You can see the leaves stay sticking up. According to Jessie the effect only improves with age. You can also see this years new growth as the lighter green towards the bottom of the upper leaves.



I also spotted a Samson at the zoo Saturday although since its a hybrid was planted in the aviary in an out of the way spot.

Also spotted similar damage to the foot of an aloe at the zoo. Seems to be potentially something the plants can handle and just grow around. Thanks to your help I'm less nervous about it now.

Had the tent on for this weekends rain. I took it off this morning the foot is nicely still dry and it's airing out.

I am also including this picture of the Hercules foot for note and comparison. I think I noticed that the Hercules is going to put out a new root. Looks like its sprouting out of the foot. I'll be monitoring the Samson for something similar to happen. I've also noticed that the roots seem to also develop "trunks" around the top part where they go into the ground...

Posting an update. Since Feb. We have had excessive rain pretty close to record breaking. Roughly 10 inches in March and April. Luckily I have been working from home so I have been able to tend to the plant as required. A couple of notes on the tent. It worked really well up to rain amounts of 0.5 inches. After this small amounts started to leak in. This is where the air circulation was critical so thanks all for that tip .

Typically with a little sun and less than half an hour things would be dry and ready to go for the next shower. I put the tent on and off much more than anticipated. Over that two month stretch was at least once a day and sometimes more. (There was a sunny period in between as I recall were I left it off of about one week.) Due to the number of times for on/off I started using rocks to anchor the plastic to the ground rather than the irrigation staples. (Was worried with that much on and off with staples I might damage new roots.)



On the down side the "hole" in the foot got a little bigger but in the last few weeks that has reversed and the spot is getting smaller with new bark developing around all of the damage.



Still going to leave it standing for now. Its growing very fast, faster than the Hercules... so hopefully in time it continues to heal.

About 9 months later:

Well progress on growth. The hole at the bottom of the plant seems to be completely grown over now. But now there is a new problem. Starting last winter the plant now has a serious lean where the hole in the foot used to be. The stem has straightened out now but I'm concerned that when the soils gets wet again in a month or so it will continue to lean and perhaps topple over.

Options are:
1) do nothing and wait. So far I like this one.

2) I have seen others put stakes in the ground to keep titling aloes upright. Is this plant too big for that?

3) Try to replant the plant fixing the angle. It's pretty heavy now it might be too big for me to do that.

4) Will this plant likely root if I cut the top off and stuck it in a pot of gravel or something free draining? I could then replant the smaller plant or allow the section that remains to branch out...

Is it getting irrigation right at the foot of the trunk or is it something else I see sticking out of the ground?

If it is irrigation I think you are getting the soil too wet allowing the plant to shift.

Some Aloe trees reroot just fine from cuttings others can take years or simply die. I do not know enough about Aloe 'Samson' to tell you the most likely outcome.

How about wedging (or having several someones) wedge a nice big granite boulder under the trunk on the side it is leaning towards, might top it from getting worse and might stop the toppling but aside from getting a big boulder and having it put in place could mean minimal disturbance to the plant...

Agree, put some big stones to support will be a good idea, let it lean over the rocks

Good eye. The irrigation head you see in the photo is a remnant from the previous garden that was in this area. I did not bother to dig it up and left in in place. Its never used anymore. I like the idea of the boulder that could work. As the rains will be arriving soon I suspect as you suggest that when the soil gets wet things will start moving again.

It is firmly in place where it is now though as I have tried to move it to see how loose it is and it does not seem loose at all. Maybe this years new roots have a strong grasp of the ground.

For this plant I did not place the gravel in the hole like I did the other two. Looks like it may be a lesson in how important the hole preparation really is.

I was hoping maybe too that as the foot gets wider it might "fill in" under where its leaning and support itself? Maybe that is wishful thinking...

Maybe a few bags of gravel as mulch around the whole area could work too just to get some weight on things?

Based on my experience with relatively shallow rooted Palo Verdes coming up roots and all out of the ground in successive deep wet soil events once the leaning and movement has started I would say just gravel is probably not going to be enough.

You can hope that the plant is done leaning, and will self correct as it grows, but this lean looks like it might just get worse as the plant gets bigger.