Aloe Vera plant is a medicinal plant used for treating many diseases and can also be used as soap preparation, people also make juice from this and consume it in low quantity for digestion problems. This plant is one of the plants that have many uses with the leaves, and gel from it.
Aloe vera plant doesn’t need much more frequent watering, For every 2 weeks if we water, that is more than sufficient. If we are watering in winter or rainy season, needs to water still more sparingly. One thumb rule is to check soil for moisture by hand then if required water it.
Aloe vera plant leaves droopes or wilt mainly due to overwatering, less or overexposure to sunlight, insufficient drainage, pests, pot bound, or sudden temperature changes to plant affects its leaves. Once the plants wilt or limp they won’t get healthy in the future, so you need to remove those leaves.
1. Over Watering
One of the most common reasons for aloe vera plant turning white is overwatering or very bad drainage.
As aloe vera belongs to Succulents group they don’t like much water and it should have proper drainage, Aloe vera don’t like standing water.
You shouldn’t water aloe vera frequently as other plants, and don’t assume if you water daily it will make awesome growth for Aloe vera plant.
There are two possible causes that you can over water
- Water very frequently (maybe daily)
- Overwatering in one go maybe because you didn’t water for so many days or other reasons.
above two cases you water it and you don’t have proper soil to drain well in this leads to problem for aloe vera plants
you see your plant has large or small colored spots that are squishy to touch then most likely your plant is suffering from an overwatering problem.
Before watering you need the check moisture level by keeping your fingers in the soil. If you feel sticky you should skip watering for that cycle.
How to fix the overwatering problems for the aloe vera plant?
1. Give some time to dry existing water. If it’s standing water, unload it.
If this is the problem it can be solved easily. if you overwatered your aloe vera plant you need to take extra water out of it (from pot), and let it dry.
While you are doing this activity don’t keep your plant in direct sunlight, if so you will make roots exposed to sunlight.
Meanwhile (while it is drying) you can remove the dead leaves from plant.
2. Give pot proper drainage holes and soil
Make sure your aloe vera plant soil pot drains the water successfully. your pot don’t have drainage hole at the bottom of the pot.
You can make drainage hole or shift the plan to another which have proper drainage and soil.
You should use a cactus soil mix or one part of builders sand, and the other parts use potting mix (you can also add use marble stones for aesthetics).
Pots that are too deep that holds the water longer time than that narrow or wider one.
You should basically search for a wider pot and less height pot, which is most suited for aloe vera plant while you are buying or the one you are DIY.
3. Improve Watering habits
Aloe vera plant don’t need to water daily or alter days as other plants. if you are doing this your plant is being over watererd.
You need to wait till the top 2 inches of soil should be completely dry before you water it again.
Most of the people choose to water aloe vera plant to every week or every 10 days. (depends on season).
Experts say you need to test the aloe vera plant-soil by keeping your hand into the soil to check the moisture level before you water. If it is sticky you need to skip watering for that cycle.
2. Bad Overwinter
This is caused because when we try to grow the aloe vera plant in winter, where its needs to be in dormant for time being.
You are watering more, trying to fertilize in winter which is not suggested by expert.
How to fix Bad Overwinter?
Expert says we need to leave aloe vera plant alone when it is in dormancy and cut down on watering while it is actively not growing.
you won’t even get good growth when you are growing at this season while in this season it should be best to save for the active growing season.
3. Less watering
Aloe vera plant leaves droop or wilts mainly due to overwatering, less watering or overexposure to sunlight, insufficient drainage, pests, pot bound, or sudden temperature changes to plant affects its leaves. Once the plants wilt or limp they won’t get healthy in the future, so you need to remove those leaves.
To overcome this we need to water the plant at least once in 2 weeks.
4. Wrong mix of Dirt (Soil)
Did you try all the things above and still you did not find the remedy for your plant then the culprit is the soil mix.
Aloe is succulents they don’t do well in potting mix soil.
How to fix it?
For better results, Before you repot you need to water for 2 days, don’t create a shock for the plant, and before you start to loosen up the soil and do the following.
you need to select cactus soil for potting aloe. If you are building your own soil mix then you need to add one part of the soil mix and the other part builder soil.
you can add marble stones on top of the soil to look nice (aesthetics).
FAQ:
How Much Water Does Aloe Vera need?
Aloe vera plant doesn’t need much more frequent watering, For every 2 weeks if we water, that is more than sufficient. If we are watering in winter or rainy season, needs to water still more sparingly. One thumb rule is to check soil for moisture by hand then if required water it.
Final Thoughts:
With the help of all these tips, i am able to water my plant correctly.
