Aloe Vera Growing Sideways

[Pav941]

I have had this aloe vera plant 2 or 3 years and I re-potted it about 6 or 7 months ago. I noticed the bottom half of the plant was sideways and the top half was straight. I uncovered the roots to get some pups out and noticed the whole root system was laying on its side.then the plant took a sharp turn straight up.

I'm not sure when this happened but I wanted to correct it since it was pressing some of the lower plant into the dirt. I re-potted it again this time with the roots straight down. This obviously made the top half almost lay down in the dirt. I propped it up as much as I could while still keeping the base level so the roots go straight down.

Finally my question is will it correct itself when it reaches for the sun?

It will normally reach for the sun but I'm not sure if it will be able to correct this much of a deviation.

If there are any experienced Aloe growers here what would you do in this situation?

I'll try to upload pictures soon but I just found this site and have no idea how to do it at the moment.

Before the replant

[Pav941]

After the replant



^This is the bottom half of the plant which is now straight.^







Here are a few pictures from both sides showing the deviation.

It almost makes an L shape with how crooked it has gotten. The original pic was crooked at the bottom but you cannot see it very well. Any advice on this?

I'm very worried about my plant I've grown attached to it.

[applestar]

Other people are more experienced with succulents, but my opinion with this is that you would have been better off leaving the straight upper portion straight, and leaving the bottom sideways. It would take a long time and carefully manipulating the light source to get aloe to grow in a different direction, and still remain symmetrical, etc.

It really doesn't matter which direction the lower stem is growing except as visual-- you probably have a pup that grew sideways in a mass and was cut off for individual planting. I would just cut off leaves digging into the soil that interfere with settling the straighter portion straight. Then in the future, remove older leaves as they deteriorate, and bury the bottom part of the stem until it no longer becomes an issue.

If you want to 'correct' immediately, strip lower leaves and plant deeper in a deeper pot.

Did the aloe send up the flower stalk in your care -location is bright enough- or did it have that already? Be sure to rotate the pot frequently to keep the aloe from seeking the brighter light.

...just re-read your post... if you had it for a couple of years, then I would guess that it fell over at some point and was not straightened right away/propped up and supported, so it grew upward from that angle.

[Pav941]

I got it when it was pretty small from Walmart of all places. One of those smaller ones they sell in bulk.

It bloomed in my care and has given me many pups. I cut off 5 recently when I found out the roots were sideways. I think the problem was not rotating the pot. It went a while without being moved and I'm pretty sure it bent towards the light over time.

I considered stripping the bottom leaves and doing as you said. When I saw the thing going sideways I got a little antsy and may have messed up trying to fix it. I have it positioned so it will have to reach the opposite way for the sun. I think I'll give it a week or so and see how it is and then possibly replant it. The bottom half was really messed up anyway. The leaves down there are pretty thin in places because they were basically buried for a while.

I'm pretty nervous about touching it because I don't want to injure the plant. I had an aloe for a bit before I knew much and it fell apart in my hands while I was trying to re-pot it. Ever since then I've been really scared to touch the old one.

Thanks for the reply, any tips are welcome no matter how experienced you are with aloe. I'm pretty sure you are more knowledgeable than I am currently.

[MikoDel]

I feel your pain brother. Got this baby tied up with a yosemite bowline on her business end and a clove hitch on the window latch. We'll see...

[Gary350]

Judging from the picture your pot is too small and the skinny plant needs fertilizer. You need to feed plants if you want them to be healthy. Aloe Vera will turn a transparent brown color if it gets too much direct sunlight but that does not hurt the plant much. If that were my plant I would re plant it so the plant above the soil surface is setting level and not worry about the angle of the roots under the soil.

I started out with 1 tiny $1 plant from Aloe Vera Lowe's in about 2 years I had over 400 plants. I planted my Aloe Vera on the East side of the house between the house and a 6 ft tall fence it got direct sunlight from about 9 am to 11 pm the coolest part of the day. I watered it every day and gave it fertilizer once a week. My plant was 12 inches tall in 6 months and making lots of babies. I transplanted all the babies they were 12" tall in 6 months and making babies too. The mother plant kept making babies and was 3 ft tall in 2 years. Aloe Vera grows very fast and makes lots of babies. I had over 400 plant of all sizes when I realized there was too many to deal with I put an AD on CL and gave them all away.

You can not keep a plant is a small pot and expect it to stay small that would be like refusing to buy a small child larger clothes to force the child to stay small.