HelpfulGardener.com

Hello! I'm new here and of course, I'm here cos I need help with my plants. I have a mini cactus and an aloe vera plant.
The cactus - I have it for over a year, maybe two. Before a week ago, it was in his supermarket tiny pot, never changed the soil.. and it seemed ok. Now, I don't know if they actually grow, but I thought it'll be more comfortable in a slightly bigger pot. So last week I moved it and changed the soil (with universal one). I think the little spines are getting brown but I don't know if I'm just being paranoid.

The Aloe Vera - I got it maybe 3 weeks ago. I changed the soil and pot last week (cos I heard it's good to let it adjust a bit with the new home), the same as the cactus. I put it in this huge pot cos it kept falling over one side. As you can see, it's growing very strange and all over the place, so I thought a huge pot will help to support it. I used the same kind of universal soil mixed a bit with the soil it already had. I didn't water it for a week, but I noticed it's getting skinny. It's not as plump and I'm scared it's dying. Is this the adjusting period or should I get worried?!

I know universal soil is not the best for succulents, but I read about people who use it and the plants were ok and I couldn't find succulents soil at the hypermarket I was at so I just got this. I really wanted to change the Aloe's soil so it won't die.. and I think I was the one killing it now. Can I mix the soil I have now so I won't just throw it away?

Please Help!!
also, please excuse any English errors, En. is not my first language)(

Sooo don't really consider this as your final answer, okay?
I have some useful questions though, and wanted to say hello!

questions:

What area of the world are you in /
what's the weather been like /
what kind of lighting are these plants getting?

I don't know as much about aloe vera, but I will say your cactus looks very cute/healthy to me! I like its color, and I don't think its spines look "bad" - but I am kind of a newbie too! So take that with a large grain of salt, hah.

A suggestion I would make is to maybe get a different shaped pot the aloe vera plant actually could sit in fully? This could be something like "my personal opinion" or experience. Is your aloe vera the type that is going to grow sharp spines?

(I just learned most aloe vera grew spines so... if yours isn't a rarer spineless one, my tip about the pot becomes kind of more relevant. I was given an aloe vera plant by a friend in a smaller sized pot and it got so big I had a hard time getting it out of its pot to replant it. They grow "pups" /new aloe plants from ... uhhh the bottom of themselves (or something like that, hah)? And then they grow into full on aloe plants so you end up with multiple plants in the pot if you don't remove them.

Hah! I don't want to turn you/anyone off from aloe plants. I actually think they are awesome, and I love the way they grow, but they definitely need some maintenance in the long term. (And a wide pot so you can remove the aloe pups, in my experience, or at least, I put mine in a shallow big circle pot where its leaves barely stuck out of the sides and its pups/babies also have room for me to remove them without cutting myself on their spines.)

I generally suggest you keep these away from the walkway. I got so tired of getting poked by all my MIL's aloes I had to redesign the layout of our outdoor plants to put the aloes out of unintentional reach.

My mother in law had skin cancer 8 years ago on her nose and her doctor told her told her to put aloe vera on the skin there after treatment.

She ended up with at least 50 aloe vera plants from 1
(Now that I think about it it actually is eerie to think that there are probably more like 75 plants in the 5+ pots she has the aloes growing in. )

A lot of them are literally 4 deep (not counting the ones beneath the soil) in a pot and look crazy congested

One of the most crowded plastic pots started literally bursting at the bottom. When it got knocked over it looked like it exploded and we still have a pile of aloe vera plants we need to plant.

This story might inspire me to go do that soon. They are amazingly hardy little buggers but that doesn't mean I should abuse them!

Mine is actually in flower now for the first time since I owned it, I LOVE it. The flower stalk seems a few feet long. (I went out front to check, and yep, its like 2 feet tall)

The other day I saw someone's front yard who had like 15 aloe vera plants circling a tree and they were all in flower. It looked AMAZING.

Maybe I am exaggerating on how many aloes there were/are after 8 years and that one plant in 5+ different pots! I don't know exactly but all I'm saying is I saw 10 plants pop from that one pot we knocked over and after that I'm not underestimating anything.

Sorry for double post of course !

Hey! Thank you for replying!
Glad to hear I'm just being paranoid about the cactus. Do they grow or it'll just be a decorative tiny one? I don't mind either way, it's cute.

I'm in the southeast of Europe. The spring temperatures vary between 16 to 26 Celsius. My apartment is quite shady, but I try to move the Aloe in the balcony for a bit more sun during the day. I'm scared to leave it there during the night (night temps are between 5 - 10 celsius), it's a closed balcony but it's still colder than in the rest of the apartment. The temperature is rising though, so I'm thinking of leaving it there full time and see what happens.

Haha, I knew it makes a lot of pups, but I'm scared it's dying now, so I guess no pups too soon. ) I'm planning on using Aloe on my skin in the summer if it doesn't die. I don't tan, I'm so fair that I burn and it's so annoying and painful and itchy and I heard it's good for that.. so the more the merrier. I'll look into a different pot.
Do you keep yours in normal soil or one made for succulents? Will it make a big difference?
(I didn't even know they bloom!!)

Aloe Vera like to be pot bound smaller pot with rocks in the bottom would work and a wide pot not talk would be best. As for you cactus looks good just getting used to its new home.