Mystery Aloe Problems

[jdct6000]

This happened months ago and I managed to save my aloe but I just figured I would ask to try to prevent this happening in the future.

So I've had my aloe since the beginning of school last year. It did well despite the fact that it almost definitely didn't get enough sun. During the year it was only watered every about every two weeks to prevent root rot. At the end of school it made the 14 hour drive back home with me and all my other plants.

All my other plants were fine but the aloe seemed to suffer a bit. I placed all my plants next to a window that was much brighter than before so I started watering more frequently, about once a week and some when their soil felt dry. Despite this, the aloe seemed to be getting dehydrated. What were once plump leaves became hollow. Some even got to the point where they would bend in the middle because of fleshy parts at the end, but absolutely no flesh in the middle.

Ag first I just cut off these leaves thinking they were just naturally drying up. But more and more leaves were dehydrating as well (thankfully some more uniformly than others).

When I cut off the leaves, I notice that they smelled. I had cut a leaf off when I first for the plant because it was unsightly and it was the same. Yellowish sap (the flesh was normal looking, I believe this was from the cuticle?), with a garlicky smell. Never experienced this with an aloe before.

As a last ditch effort, I pruned the aloe's roots. Around 90% were dehydrated like the aloe itself. Some were whiteish others brown, but they all were flattened and completely dry. There was no sign of the yellow-brown squishy roots characteristic of root rot. I cut off nearly anything, leaving it almost as just the main column in the ground but that seemed to do the trick. With weekly or 2x weekly waterings it seemed to heal and is now better than ever with waterings once a week.

I now have 8 aloes and I haven't had any similar problems since.

Is it possible that it was just extremely dehydrated? Would that dry up the roots as well? Could it have just been stressed from the bumpy ride back home? Is the garlicky yellow sap normal?

[cosmotoad]

I've got some strange scents out of sick cacti but garlicky is new to me. What kind of soil was this aloe potted in? I've heard about mainly peat based soil being unable to absorb water after a while, even if you were watering frequently the roots might not have been absorbing much at all if that's the case. Bumpy ride home wouldn't bother it at all, I've dropped aloes off shelves and stuff and they hardly even notice. Sounds like you might want to change up your soil composition or at least repot into a fresh batch of whatever you're using.

[greenknight]

I've observed that in Aloe vera leaves that were shriveling, the sap turns yellowish and gets a garlicky smell. I think it's normal.

I agree wit cosmotoad on the likely cause of the problem - that the soil was not taking up water.

[Msannic]

Did you ever find out the cause? and did the plant recover? Mine is starting to shrivel and thin just as you described and I don’t know what it could be!

[jdct6000]

I wasnt really expecting anymore replies, especially since this was like 8-9 months ago.

Anyhow, it did recover. It plumped back up nicely and is doing fine as far as I know (it is back home and my mom hasn't given me an update in awhile). As cosmotoad mentioned, it was probably the soil. I've noticed that when plants gets lots of sun, the dirt tends to get hydrophobic. Then, when you water them, it just runs through and the plant barely gets any water. I'm assuming that this happened to my aloe. It wasn't getting any water even though I was watering it enough.