OT: Can I save my aloe vera plants?

I would be grateful for any advice, I really hope with all the geographical diversity of the forum members I might hear something encouraging.

For the past two years I have had an aloe vera plant which I really love, and I've planted dozens of its shoots to separate pots and given them away to many of my friends. During this summer I've decided to keep most of the shoots and grow them myself for my own increased needs. The plants live in the conservatory which is not on the central heating system like the rest of the house and does not get used during the winter that often.

The past couple of weeks have been extremely cold and I've decided to bring the plants inside and scatter them round the house, but to my utter dismay they have gone from the beautiful, vibrant, strong, spiky, flashy leaves to the soft, limp green stuff hanging down the sides of the pots. Imagine dead flowers in the vase - looks something like that. This is the plant of the warmer climates and it has been extremely cold here lately, I am obviously too late with bringing them in and I cannot forgive myself for that, my only excuse is that I've been really poorly myself this whole week and signed off work because of the nasty flu.

What I believe has happened is that all the water in the plants (and they are rich in water content) must have frozen and then thawed.
The plants are now inside, in the room where I made it cold so the change is gradual for them, but I'm now really upset and keep checking on them to see any signs of recovery. I admire how resilient these plants were in the past, but this is the most extreme thing that could have happened to them. Is there any hope for them? I've never had frozen plants before.

Sorry for the long post, I'm just hoping someone might share some wisdom and give me any idea what I can do to help them recover or point me in the right direction for further info.

15 years ago

Becky

Veteran

I'm not sure. I have grown aloes before, but only in the house, so I've never had one freeze. I would give them time, though, to see if they come out from the roots eventually. I would guess the spikes that have frozen won't recover, but maybe the roots are still alive and will put out new shoots.

Aida

I don't think having the room cooler is a must, since they like warm weather the warmer temps should be fine. I would suggest cutting off the frozen/limp strands because I don't think new growth will come out of any part that was frozen. Unless the roots also froze, you should get some new shoots from their roots; if the roots also froze on some of them you're probably out of luck with those ones. Good luck! They're pretty resilient, hopefully they'll recover!

Kristine

Is there any chance you overwatered them? Limp plants sometimes mean overwatering. Can you ease one out of the pot and see how the roots look?

MsMaven

Frozen succulents are a common plight here in the SF Bay area. Aida's advice is good. If the roots froze the plants are gone. I'd wait to trim the damaged parts off. Put them in a cool shady place and whatever you do, don't water them again for several weeks--maybe not even until spring. If you do, they will rot.

Laura (rhubarbgirl)

(website)

I thought of what Kristine said too. I've had this happen with succulents, although the frozen issue may be the problem instead. I agree with MsMaven - don't water for a while and wait to see which parts are permanently dead and which parts you may be able to save.

Kate

We have lots of aloe plants outside, including one in a pot, and they've been quite hardy, even though it gets cold (sometimes below freezing) at night. They get the most water in the summer (monsoon season) and almost none during the winter. I have no idea how this translates to yours, but I would agree with the advice to not water them for a while and see what happens.

MsMaven, why a cool shady place? My aloe get sunlight and heat almost every day, so it strikes me as odd to try to keep them from getting sun, even if the roots are damaged. I'm not challenging your knowledge, I'm just curious.

Ornella

Thank you all so much for taking time to read and provide solutions.

Aida, thanks for your advice. My pots have been in the cooler room overnight, so I hope this had minimized the shock of another temperature chnage. I have cut off everything that's limp and appears lifeless and I've also put the pots in the bathroom. It's warm and gets humid there, so that should help. My yoga teacher who gave me my first aloe vera plant once mentioned that the plant she had in the bathroom was a real monster which she had to trim more often than others, so those must be the good conditions for them. We'll see.

MsMaven, it also works well in terms of following your advice for 'cool shady place', but I'd be interested to hear why not sunny place?

Kristine, I cannot recall the last time I watered them, but nevertheless this is a good point for the future - to leave them alone during the winter. I am reluctant to disturb the roots, but while cutting off the strands that were lost I have been checking the roots by touching them and they seemed fine, especially the oldest or the mother plant as I call it.

Kate, thanks for your input. No water till spring by the look of things.

It's funny how just two days ago they were perfectly all right when my son accidently touched a hot pan and had a minor burn. The beautiful plant provided the relief to him immediately and I had been telling him this was why we love these plants so much and why we should be good to them. (He always helps me when I'm replanting the shoots btw, any excuse to get messy is a good excuse.) As I was too tired from my own flu I had made a mental note to take all the plants in as soon as I feel a bit better, but I guess the temperatures that night were just too much. Lesson learnt.

Thank you all once again.

Petra

Member

Is there a way of saving over-watered aloes? I took mine out of the pot today, removed all the pups (12 of them) and when repotting the mother plant it can barely stand up. the outer leaves drape over the rim and the center which is app. 16" tall just falls over.
Also, do I water the pups when I replant them? I love this plant and do not want to lose it. Any help would be appreciated.

12 years ago

lyn*

I always overwater mine, I just stick it on the deck in a nice sunny spot and it seems to do okay by itself. :p

Beth Ann

Buahahahaha! I clicked on this link thinking, "What in the world are aloe vera pants?" I just had to find out. Were they in a botanical print? Did they moisturize the legs of the wearer?

Hee. You made my day.

I have a green thumb outside, but I'm the death of houseplants, so I'm no help at all!

MsMary

Beth Ann, I thought the same thing you did! LOL

Ornella, succulents are very hardy! I'd suggest cutting off the frozen parts and engaging in some benign neglect for a while!

Sveta

Yes, cut away the damaged tops, it will promote growth if roots are fine - and they should be fine. You need pretty low temperature for some extended period to freeze the roots - pot and soil provide protection.
Fingers are crossed for you beautiful and useful plants!

Anonymous

No answers for you. I can't seem to keep an aloe plant going, but want to wish you luck.

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