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Aloe disease or over watered?
tina_harrison12
Posts: 48
I just bought an aloe as an indoor plant. It came with some brown spots, although not exactly circular spots as you can see. Is this a disease or over watered?
I will repot with cactus soil, well drained with sand, and only water when dry, infrequently.
It also just had aphids on it. I've removed them and will check if they come back. I don't think the marks are from aphids? I can't find any websites with photos that show the difference in overwater damage and disease which is specific to how it looks. I don't want to cut all the bad leaves off because there are many, it won't look good and I don't know if I'll kill it by cutting lots of leaves off? The marks on the top pic on both leaves look dry and sunken,f if that helps. Thanks for your suggestions.
I will repot with cactus soil, well drained with sand, and only water when dry, infrequently.
It also just had aphids on it. I've removed them and will check if they come back. I don't think the marks are from aphids? I can't find any websites with photos that show the difference in overwater damage and disease which is specific to how it looks. I don't want to cut all the bad leaves off because there are many, it won't look good and I don't know if I'll kill it by cutting lots of leaves off? The marks on the top pic on both leaves look dry and sunken,f if that helps. Thanks for your suggestions.
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How does the soil feel an inch or so beneath the surface? If anything it looks a bit dry as the leaves should be plumper. They do like well-drained soil, but a special cactus soil should not be necessary. I used to grow a fair few aloes in a mix of ordinary MPC with some grit mixed in, watered well, allowed to drain, left to dry out between waterings, picked off the odd dodgy leaf, but they were always healthy and produced lots of babies - I see yours has two offspring already and you can gently tease them out and pot on if you like.
Like Philippa I don’t think it looks that bad and you could soon nurse it back to healthy plumpness
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
You have a combination of physical damage - which can be caused by human mis-handling and/or insects, which ultimately caused the wound areas to blacken due to cellular damage - and a watering issue, whether now or in the plant’s past life before it came into your possession. That is why the leaves are not plump as they should be and causing the leaves to shrivel and now yellow. Either severe under-watering or over-watering can cause this. The watering issue may or may not be resolvable for the worst leaves. Hence the advice to cut those (not all) off. It will grow new ones with correct cultivation. They are pretty tough plants.
The physical appearance of the plant does not match any of the four most common diseases affecting aloes. It is possible you have some rare disease, but unlikely. You could always contact the RHS or a cacti specialist if you are still unhappy.
I am also wondering, as you have just bought it, why you don’t simply take it back and insist on it being replaced by a healthier specimen? Unless it was a reduced/bargain basement plant, in which case, fair game!
Sorry Philippa, aloe Hypochondria? I find your comments above are trying to be playful but are really passive aggressive and not warranted. I am not the butt of your poor taste joke. I am here to ask for support. Not to be put down because I'm looking for answers. I appreciate everyone's help, but that's not helpful. And FYI, I'm not insisting it's a disease, you are misreading my reply. I'm discussing angles. Because you aren't an expert otherwise you would of outrightly said what it is for sure, I am allowed to enquire further. I don't appreciate your angle that I'm being a hypercondriac.