Today we will talk about how to revive aloe plant. I think we can all agree that we want to see these beautiful plants in their green state in our home. These plants are not difficult to support once you learn their care guide in detail.
However, if you do not do this, a care guide and other similar problems can affect the healthy appearance and growth of this plant.
Your plant may look dead, droopy, dry, etc. To avoid all of this, it’s best to read everything we bring you below to determine the dos and don’ts of an aloe vera plant.
Let’s learn everything you need to know about this wonderful house succulent plant.
About Aloe Vera Plant And How To Revive Aloe Plant
Aloe vera or aloe (Aloe barbadensis) is a perennial plant named after the botanist Muller who discovered it in Barbados and included it in the list of medicinal plants.
Its natural habitats are warm and dry areas – the Caribbean Islands and Mexico, and today it is one of the most famous medicinal plants that is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry.
It belongs to the Asphodelaceae family, to which many large succulent plants belong, and has characteristic fleshy leaves in which it stores water, making it resistant to drought.
It is adaptable to different conditions, so it grows both in mountainous areas and on the coast, in greenhouses and in jars.
The lifespan is about 12 years. Aloe vera blooms from spring to autumn, depending on the species and variety, and the flowers are formed at the top of a long, simple, or branched stem. The plants are harvested every 6 – 8 weeks by removing the 3 – 4 last leaves of the plant.
The leaves are cut at the base so that by the time of processing, the total amount of gel remains in the leaf.
The leaves must be handled gently to prevent damage to the outer bark and prevent the entry of bacteria at the base of the leaf. Today, it is mostly grown on plantations throughout Africa, Australia, Central America, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Spain, Greece, and Israel.
Bring Your Dying Aloe Plant Back To Life
In order to keep your plant healthy, your plant base should always be right for any plant type. Some plants tolerate direct sunlight, some hours of direct sunlight, other plants don’t. In order to avoid dying aloe plant in this case, you should be able to tell if there is something wrong with your plant.
Sandy soil, mixed soil, dry soil surface, cold temperatures, too much sunlight, dead root system, soil moisture, and too small plastic pot for your plant: all these can be a cause of a dying aloe plant. To make sure we avoid this issue, let’s learn more about the causes of a dying aloe plant.
How To Revive Aloe Vera Plant? 9 Ways To Do It
You prepared your own soil mix, you chose terracotta pots, the mother plant is healthy, and everything seems to be in order, but plants still turn brown and your plant looks like a dying plant.
Not anymore! In today’s article, we bring you 9 ways to recognize a dying aloe vera plant and how to revive a dying aloe. Let’s find out more.
1. Move Your Aloe Vera Plant To Shade
Move the plant to a location where it receives indirect light with a bit of shade rather than direct sunlight.
If your plant is usually able to receive artificial light rather than sunlight, place the plant so that there is more distance between it and the light source. You can try moving it outside so that it gets some indirect natural light, not artificial.
2. Check The Watering Schedule Of Aloe Vera Plants
You can tell if your aloe vera plant needs to be watered by pressing your index finger a few inches into the soil. If the soil is dry, your plant needs water. Aloe vera plants should not be watered often. Overwatering can kill your plant and that is why drainage holes are a must!
If you keep the plant outside, watering every two weeks should be enough. If you keep the plant inside, water it every three to four weeks.
Adjust watering according to the season. Aloe vera plants need more water in the warmer months, but less in the colder months. Water less often in autumn and winter, especially if the plant is located in a cold area.
3. How To Revive Aloe Plant – Replace The Potting Soil
Aloe vera remains healthy when it has enough nutrients in its soil. In such soil, it has healthy roots as well. However, sometimes, the aloe vera plant gently starts its “dying process” when its soil doesn’t have nutrients.
Before/after you buy this plant, you should always check the soil choice for it, its pH, and much more. If you want to see healthy leaves on this plant, the soil has the be good for healthy aloe roots.
4. Fungus Causes Troubles – Fungicides To The Rescue
At the beginning of the infection, round, dark green to dark brown spots appear with a light brown center, which over time takes on a reddish-brown color. As the infection progresses, the spots merge into necrotic zones that cause the leaves to dry and fall off.
The causative agent is the Colletotrichum gloeosporioides fungus, which can appear during wet and warm weather and spread easily. Control with fungicides is necessary.
5. Root Rot Issue – Remove Infected Leaves
The disease is caused by Fusarium spp. fungi and can occur in cold and wet growing conditions.
During infection, the basal part of the plant changes color to reddish-brown and black, and the plant rots and decays.
Preventive measures are necessary, and if an infection occurs, it is necessary to remove the infected leaves so that the disease does not spread to the entire plant.
6. Pot Choice Matter You Want To Revive A Dying Aloe
While releasing the aloe vera plant from the pot, be sure to hold the plant itself as steady as possible. All movement should be directed to the pot, not to the plant itself. In other words, hold, don’t pull, the plant.
Hitting the bottom of the pot will keep your roots intact and gravity will push the plant down. When you move it to a new pot, let its bottom, i.e. the central part, be larger than its roots so that they have room to spread.
The roots of aloe vera plants grow horizontally more than vertically. Aloe vera plants can also get quite heavy. So choose a wide pot, not a deep or narrow one.
7. How To Revive Aloe Plant – Remove Dead Aloe Leaves
Remove dead leaves with a sharp, sterilized knife, and cut the leaf from the plant at the base. All dead leaves take nutrients from other parts of the plant, so remove them so the rest of your plant doesn’t suffer.
8. It Lacks Direct Sunlight
Aloe plant dying can be a case as well when you cut it off sunlight too much. Plants like partial shade and indirect sunlight, but lack of direct sunlight can kill their blooming and growing process. To avoid that, at least one hour or two of direct sun (in the morning) won’t harm it.
9. Aloe Vera Dying Case When You Excess Water
Overwatered aloe plants will have mushy roots, dead or mushy roots to be precise and aloe vera leaves might start yellowing.
Water aloe plants when you notice that the first inch or two of the soil is dry. If you don’t do it like that, aloe vera dies.
If your plant has excess soil, that will only hold water longer in the soil. Too much moisture and excess moisture aren’t good for any plant in fact.
Proper Care Guide To Avoid Aloe Vera Plant Death
The reasons we have listed above are not the only reasons why your aloe plant will look dead or possibly die. To avoid this in addition to these ways and causes above, its care guide plays a big role as well.
As with any plant, for the aloe vera plant, we need to know its proper care guide. I’m sure we want to avoid all possible problems, so let’s learn the care guide for this plant to do everything right from the start.
Sunlight Aloe Plants Prefer
Aloe vera thrives best in artificial light or bright, indirect light for at least 7 hours a day. Low light or too much shade will cause the plant to become limp. Aloe vera plants are an excellent choice for growing both indoors and outdoors.
Watering Needs Of Aloe Plant
Like all succulents, aloe vera does not tolerate too frequent watering, so it is enough to water the plant once a week, while in a dormant state, during the winter months, it is watered once a month.
It is important that the growing container has holes in the bottom through which the excess water drains. In case of excessive watering, the gel in the leaves becomes diluted and the plant becomes soft and wrinkled.
Soil Mix For Aloe Plants
For cultivation, well-drained soil is necessary to prevent water accumulation, and when planting, it is necessary to enrich the soil with organic fertilizer, preferably compost. Regular house soil mix is also good for these plants.
Potting soil mixture is just fine, but damp soil isn’t preferable. Of course, don’t allow your soil dry too much, but don’t water it much as well.
Fertilizer For Aloe Vera
When planting, 1/4 of the mixture must be organic fertilizer for the best possible initial development of the plant. In the spring, it is necessary to feed with phosphorus, which encourages flowering during the summer.
It is fed during spring and summer, once every two weeks, and fertilizer for succulents can be used, but if we grow the plant for its medicinal properties, organic fertilizer is recommended.
Temperature And Humidity For Aloe Plants
Aloe plant-like humidity in medium levels. 50 to 60% of humidity levels are just fine for your aloe plants. Humidity under 30% can kill your plant. When it comes to its temperature needs, the best is the ratio between 50-55 F.
Transplanting Aloe Vera Plant
If you’re considering transplanting aloe because you think there’s too little room, keep in mind that succulents, including aloe, generally don’t mind a little crowdedness in a pot. But when an aloe plant clearly outgrows its pot or becomes heavy, transplant it into a slightly larger, more stable, and wider container.
Choose a clean container with drainage holes in the bottom. Cover the hole with stones and spread a layer of soil. Remove the aloe plant from its container. When transplanting large aloes, it is essential to lift the entire plant by the root ball.
Pruning-Leaf Cuttings Aloe Vera
Mature aloe vera plants often produce shoots – also known as seedlings and saplings – which can be removed to produce an entirely new plant. Find where the shoots are attached to the parent plant and separate them with pruning shears or a sharp knife.
Leave at least 1 inch of stem on the shoo. Leave them out of the soil for a few days which allows them to form a cover over the cut, which helps protect against rot. During this time, keep them in a warm place with indirect light.
Propagation Of Aloe Vera Plants
Growing aloe vera from seed is a long-term process, so it is very important to choose proven and high-quality seeds to be sure they will germinate. Most often, this form of cultivation is applied in optimal climatic conditions.
Before the actual process, the seeds are placed in a solution of potassium permanganate or aloe vera juice and water, for approximately 20 hours, to disinfect and encourage germination.
The procedure is carried out in the spring, and the planting distance is 1 inch in previously prepared containers with the substrate, which are then briefly placed in water so that the seeds receive enough moisture.
Diseases Of Aloe Plants
At the beginning of the infection, round, dark green to dark brown spots appear with a light brown center, which over time takes on a reddish-brown color. As the infection progresses, the spots merge into necrotic zones that cause the leaves to dry and fall off.
The causative is the fungus, which can appear during wet and warm weather and spreads easily. Control with fungicides is necessary.
Bacteria, i.e. fungus, occur during warm and humid weather and can survive in plant remains. In order to prevent the disease, it is necessary to maintain optimal soil moisture.
Pests Of Aloe Vera Plant
In addition to diseases that occur in inadequate growing conditions, aloe vera can also be threatened by pests. Lice (Aloephagus myersi) appear most often.
- Aloephagus myersi
They feed on the lower part of the leaves and excrete honeydew, which can cause the development of fungal diseases. Slowed growth occurs as a result of the infection, and they are controlled with insecticides.
FAQ – How To Revive Aloe Plant
As always, we bring you this section for all the answered questions or most commonly asked questions about today’s topic.
In case you’re still wondering what can cause a dying aloe vera plant and how to solve it, this section below will provide those needed answers.
Let’s find out more.
Can Brown Or Yellow Leaves Of Aloe Vera Plant Go Back To Green?
Unfortunately, the process of regenerating leaves from yellow and brown to green is not possible. No matter how much attention you give to our plant after it has turned yellow or after its leaves have turned tips, those parts will no longer be green.
What you can do for your plant in such a condition is to cut off the brown tips so that they do not spread to the rest of the plant. Their function is certainly no longer needed and they are just a technologically damaged surplus on the leaf of your plant.
When doing this, always do it carefully with a sharp knife or scissors so as not to cause additional damage to the plant.
Can Sunburn Kill Aloe Vera Plant?
As we mentioned above, too much direct sun can cause great damage to your plant. Of course, it won’t work for two hours, however, if your plant is positioned, for example, on an east-facing window all the time, it will get sunburned. This sensitive plant will definitely not survive such conditions.
This will lead to yellow leaves, then to dry leaves, and eventually to leaf drops. Your plant will then be bare. And you can try again to start its growth process from “what’s left”, but most of the damage is small that it will succeed. In any case, keep your plant out of the strong afternoon sun.
How Does A Dying Aloe Plant Look Like?
We learned above that the most common reasons for these issues are overwatering and slow-draining soils. Due to that information, since we know what overwatered plants look like, they will usually have yellow, brown, and droopy leaves.
History And Interesting Facts About Aloe Vera Plant
It originates from North Africa, and the first records of aloe vera exist on tablets from Mesopotamia from 2200 BC. Kr. Throughout history, it has been used for the treatment of various skin injuries, and orally as a laxative. The Egyptians called it the “plant of immortality”, which is why they gave it to the pharaohs, and Queens Cleopatra and Nefertiti used it as an addition to their baths.
In the 1st century, it was described as a means for beneficial and soothing wound healing and as an effective laxative. The first scientific research began in England in 1850, and the most important ingredient, aloin, was identified in 1851. Aloe vera increases air humidity, thus refreshing the space. It absorbs electromagnetic radiation and chemical compounds, which makes it desirable in office spaces.
In-home preparations in which it is used, the most popular are drinks with chicory, honey, red wine, and alcohol, according to the recipe of St. Hildegarde or the Russian Doctor Stravinsky. Aloe vera is approved as a natural flavor enhancer by the US Food and Drug Administration.
According to legend, Alexander the Great conquered the island of Socotra so that he could secure sufficient quantities of aloe vera to treat his soldiers. The name aloe vera is probably of Arabic origin, “alloeh” which means bitter, or from the Greek “als-alos”, which means salt, i.e. reminiscent of the bitter taste of seawater.
Wrapping It Up On How To Revive Aloe Plant
That would be all for today’s article on how to revive aloe plant and its care guide, which surely gave you a detailed insight into the care of this wonderful plant.
Sometimes problems with this plant occur due to inadequate growing conditions, sometimes due to “nature” that we cannot influence, etc. However, today we learned how to prevent and treat these problems, and I hope that this article was useful to you.
If you soon face this problem, although you shouldn’t because you learned how to prevent it today, save this article “to hand” and find the solutions to the problems at the first click.
At the very end, we brought interesting facts about this plant, which I personally found very interesting to read, I enjoyed it! I hope you are too.
See you soon with more similar topics and plants.