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Repotting Aloe Vera

ByNell Foster Published on

I had an Aloe Vera plant that was not looking good. See how I made it a whole lot happier by repotting it and moving it out of the sun.

I love my Aloe vera and use it almost every day. It’s truly a plant with a purpose! It was in a warm, sunny spot my front garden and both the plant and pot were looking a wee bit sad. It was time to take action and make my beloved plant a whole lot happier. By the way, the pot will get a facelift one of these days.

Here’s the Aloe vera & the pot before the re-do. You can see all the dried & discolored leaves as well as the roots growing out of the bottom. The painted had almost completely peeled off the pot. Not a pretty sight.

A couple of Winters ago we had a 4 day cold (around 35 degrees…brrrrr) and rainy spell, not too common for us here in Santa Barbara. The succulents were saying: “what’s up with this?”

That in addition to the fact that my poor Aloe was getting too much direct sun and needed repotting had caused the leaves to turn pale and orangish. Here’s something you need to know: the leaves of the Aloe Vera will turn orange if they get sunburned.

I’m sure the environmental stress of that cold rain didn’t help either.

Here’s the baby, or Aloe pup, which I removed off the mother plant.
The baby in it’s new pot. It lives under a Coprosma & next to a bromeliad so it’s mostly shaded. It’s starting to green up a bit too.

If you want to watch me repotting this Aloe, see what potting mix I used and learn how to remove the baby, then be sure to watch the VIDEO below. Lucy had to help me pull it out of the pot and quite a few of the roots were lost but no worries, this is a tough plant. Almost 3 months later, it’s firmly rooted in and greening back up like crazy.

Related: Answering Your Questions About Aloe Vera

Here are their fat, fibrous roots. They store a lot of water in those roots & leaves so don’t overwater them.

Repotting Aloe Vera

They’re succulents so use a fast-draining mix. Again, refer to the video to see the recipe I used.

They root deep so don’t use a shallow pot, they need room for their roots to grow down. Wait until the babies are a good size to remove them.

Don’t place in hot sun after repotting. Sun is fine as long as it’s not hot & there’s not too much of it.

Don’t water frequently. I water the baby every 3 weeks because it’s in a small pot. The mother gets watered thoroughly about every 2 months.

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Here’s the new digs for my Aloe vera. It’s a tricked out, painted plain terra cotta pot. I love to use glass chips as adornments. My plants so deserve an artistic home!
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This pic was taken 3 months after the making of the video & the plant now lives at the base of the stairs leading up to my front porch. It gets nice bright light with a bit of filtered sun & has greened up already. I can easily snip a leaf when I need it.

Thanks for reading,

Signed by Nell Foster

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32 Comments

  1. I have brown limp leaves at the bottom of my plant. Should I cut them off?

  2. Hi there,
    I recently put my aloe vera plant outside in direct sunlight with the intention to bring it back inside a few hours later but forgot about it for a day and a half. I am assuming it’s sunburned or just very stressed out as the leaves on the bottom of the plant are all very purple and drooping (the newer growth stayed green though). Will those go green again once it’s no longer stressed or should I cut them off?

  3. Yes you can Roseann. Pull or cut any brown leaves off. Limp, brown leaves on an aloe vera can be due to over watering. Nell

  4. Hi Kay – If they’re not too badly damaged, they’ll most likely turn green again. Mine turn orangey-brown in the winter because of cold temps but return to green when the weather warms. The drooping leaves may not recover. Nell

  5. Thank you so much! I bought my first aloe vera plant at my local Walmart and ass-u-me-d it needed full sun. Luckily, with the info you provided here, it is now rescued!

  6. Laura – Yes, they change color in full hot sun & the leaves get smaller. Plus, they don’t contain as much gel. Mine are in shade here in Tucson! Nell

  7. My Aloe is orange, not all over, but definitely something going on. I have an open plan bright flat, no outside space. I had it on the breakfast bar and it was green but got really leggy and someone suggested it needs more sun. I now need to move it back, is it possible my flat isn’t a good home for this plant?

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