I have had this succulent for about 7 years.
At one point it was doing well so I repotted him. . . he has never gotten better only worse.
About a year ago I was told it looked like root rot, then when I checked he had almost no roots. They were very short, but they did look sort of like rot so I cut off what little was there. Put him into a new pot with really good drainage(too good) and a mix of cactus soil with perlite. This is when he was split into two.
After about a year, there has been almost no change. He wasn't thriving.
I have learned since that the drainage was too good, I had a layer of rock and sand which was preventing the soil from holding any moisture, it was too dry most of the time.
So again, I repot him about 2 weeks ago. Less drainage, more of the cactus perlite mix, the soil is sort of cold and almost moist so I think I have done it right... but he is still not thriving. One of the two is standing up some with what sort of looks like healthy growth.
I have several succulents that I have never repotted that thrive. I do not think it is the water schedule or sunlight.. it must be something else. But what? I have one other that I repotted and it is similar, it just isn't thriving like it should.

Hello @Freakyoctopus
It would help to see pictures.

Aeonium2003 said: Hello @Freakyoctopus
It would help to see pictures.

I have tried a few times to upload images. Let me try again.

Maybe you tried to upload too many pictures, try to upload one at a time

@Aeonium2003

Fixed.
Thank you.

The plants look somewhat dehydrated. When was the last time you watered it? It can take more than 2 weeks for them to recover. How was the root system like when you last repotted? Was it established, or small.

Have they always been in that pot? Is it wider than it is deep? That looks like it might be part of the problem to me, too wide and possibly not deep enough. I'm not sure it would be beneficial to repot them again right now though. For now I'd prop up the drooping one with some pebbles, and water lightly maybe once a week for a few weeks -- enough to moisten the soil, but not soak it. This will encourage root growth and help them get re-established. After that you can consider repotting into a more suitable sized container.

Aeonium2003 said: The plants look somewhat dehydrated. When was the last time you watered it? It can take more than 2 weeks for them to recover. How was the root system like when you last repotted? Was it established, or small.

No established root system.

I moved them out of a larger deeper pot about a month ago. That was the pot that I suspect drained too well.

Shouldn't I expect them to perk up after a month? They stay like this.

romalu said: Have they always been in that pot? Is it wider than it is deep? That looks like it might be part of the problem to me, too wide and possibly not deep enough. I'm not sure it would be beneficial to repot them again right now though. For now I'd prop up the drooping one with some pebbles, and water lightly maybe once a week for a few weeks -- enough to moisten the soil, but not soak it. This will encourage root growth and help them get re-established. After that you can consider repotting into a more suitable sized container.

I moved them into this pot about a month ago. It is not very deep, but they do not have much root either.

I watered them very well this last week and will back off on the watering for a week or so. I havent considered propping up the dropping one... how does that benefit the plant?

Have you watered in the month since you repotted? Are they in full sun? Your plants look like they could use both water and sun.

FreakyOctopus said: I moved them into this pot about a month ago. It is not very deep, but they do not have much root either.

I watered them very well this last week and will back off on the watering for a week or so. I havent considered propping up the dropping one... how does that benefit the plant?

It doesn't.

As your plants are attempting to root, they don't need as much water as an established plant but they do need some moisture to encourage roots. Let the soil dry more than usual before watering.

Be patient. That looks like my heirloom aloe. It's a very tough plant and does not require a lot of water anytime. It can take it weeks to begin and grow roots which is happening while the above soil portion of the plant just stays static or looks stressed more and more. That will reverse when the roots have generated enough to cause the rosette to begin growing. I go through the process every spring when I start them in a container outdoors. It can take a couple of months for visual active growth, but once it does begin there will be a lot of new growth, including offsets, in a short period of time. Just be careful with the water.

needrain said: Be patient. That looks like my heirloom aloe. It's a very tough plant and does not require a lot of water anytime. It can take it weeks to begin and grow roots which is happening while the above soil portion of the plant just stays static or looks stressed more and more. That will reverse when the roots have generated enough to cause the rosette to begin growing. I go through the process every spring when I start them in a container outdoors. It can take a couple of months for visual active growth, but once it does begin there will be a lot of new growth, including offsets, in a short period of time. Just be careful with the water.

Should I go several weeks without water?

I typically give it water about every 10 days.

You shouldn't be watering on a schedule but when the plant needs water. As its trying to root, it needs some water but not a lot. Use a bamboo skewer poked into the soil to the bottom of the pot to check for moisture. Leave the skewer in the soil for a couple minutes then pull it out. You will be able to feel moisture on the skewer. You can compare it to the side of the pot and see exactly where the moisture level is in the pot. Its always better to underwater then overwater.

As Needrain pointed out, it will start to grow on top of the soil when its grown enough roots to support more leaves. Don't be tempted to tug on the leaves to test to see if its rooting. You will damage the new little roots its trying to grow so set it back. It will either root or rot - be patient.

Then you should follow his instructions for watering. It sounds like this Aloe doesn't need a lot of water ever so if the root system was very small when you repotted, it was being overwatered.

DaisyI said: You shouldn't be watering on a schedule but when the plant needs water. As its trying to root, it needs some water but not a lot. Use a bamboo skewer poked into the soil to the bottom of the pot to check for moisture. Leave the skewer in the soil for a couple minutes then pull it out. You will be able to feel moisture on the skewer. You can compare it to the side of the pot and see exactly where the moisture level is in the pot. Its always better to underwater then overwater.

As Needrain pointed out, it will start to grow on top of the soil when its grown enough roots to support more leaves. Don't be tempted to tug on the leaves to test to see if its rooting. You will damage the new little roots its trying to grow so set it back. It will either root or rot - be patient.

Then you should follow his instructions for watering. It sounds like this Aloe doesn't need a lot of water ever so if the root system was very small when you repotted, it was being overwatered.

Thanks. I will give it a few weeks to see what it need.

Frankly, I think your container is too big, which is why it retains moisture for so long. It should eventually recuperate as long as you keep soil moisture in check. I just repotted these two and they were in a pot of three with multiple babies and over winter, I might have watered them twice and they get decent PM sun. When I do water, they get flooded. Good luck!

I think the plants are in a too deep a container. Recovery time of succulents with no roots does take a long time.

I do not know where you are located, but if it is winter time on your side, and this plant is indoors, much longer wait for recovery. If you do know there are no roots yet, please do not water. You will just further damage any new roots growing if the media below is staying too wet than needed since the container it it is growing in is too deep.

At most it will need more than a month if your growing area is staying cooler. Indoor growing is always a challenge, especially if the location indoors is not south facing, and during winter time, light levels and duration is still fairly short.

Give yourself some more time...and have more patience. You can try and stake the plants a bit to help it stay more stable till it gets to anchor itself with new roots later.

In the meantime, do not water, it will just consume whatever moisture it has in its leaves, till it redirects its energy to root formation. Or if you do want to water, water far along the edge of the container, not too close to the base. I usually shore up more pumice or gritty material to the base, to protect that part, got to make sure apart from root rot, it does not go further up to the crown of the plant.

He is very dry now... and other than possibly repotting in the future... I should let him hang out like this for a month?

FreakyOctopus said: He is very dry now... and other than possibly repotting in the future... I should let him hang out like this for a month?

I would, yes. If that's the same as the heirloom aloe I have, it could take that long or longer for it to begin above soil level growth. If it should be the same, then offsets will begin showing up at the same time as active fan growth. In a couple of months the container will be full of plants. Here are some photos of what my process is. The container is huge and very heavy - probably 30" diameter - without any good handholds, so it usually is left outside to freeze and I have some spare containers of the aloe that I try to keep hidden (ugly, ugly) that I use to start over every spring. I bought the container specifically to grow this particular aloe.

This is how it looked in March 2021 after I cleaned out the old frozen dead growth:


I didn't plant it until May 2021 - that varies year to year. The stressed brown color shows clearly and is an almost exact color match for the unglazed rim of the ceramic container.


Here's how it looked in September 2021. This is how it appears until freezing temps kill it:


The container is currently sitting there packed with frozen aloe plants which take forever to dry up. Cleaning it out in spring is generally a slimy, unpleasant activity .

What is happening with the Aloe when it does not get water? does that stimulate growth to a point?

is it telling itself "this area doesnt have a lot of water so I need to make sure I have enough space to store water when it does come" ?