Question
Hello! My name is Laurel. I went to Hawaii in the Winter and to prepair my skin for the sun I stupidly went tanning and burnt myself to a nice red crisp. (I don't tan anymore:>). However, I bought myself an aloe plant for it's healing properties for burns and etc. I call him Theodore because he is the hugest aloe plant I've ever seen. He has about 12 stalks or leaves that are at least a maximum of a foot long and they seem too heavy and are falling over, one even broke because of the weight. I live near Portland, Oregon and there is little to no sun here for my Theo. When the sun graces us with its presence I try put him on the porch.
My first question is... are the stalks drooping because it's unhealthy or because it's just really big.

Second, I replanted Theo when i first got him and there were a whole bunch of little tiny roots sprawling through the dirt. I plan on repoting him into a bigger pot. Do i need to break those off and only keep the ones that are big. And what is a root ball?

Third, the plant store people told me to water him when the soil is dry. Do i assume the soil is dry if the top soil is no longer moist or is it still wet through-out and how often should i water him because i know it doesn't rain much in the desert.
Thank you so much for you time and possibly helping me restore my theo. hhe hee!

Thanks,
Laurel

Answer
Dear Laurel,

Sorry about the sunburn, but I guess we've all done that in Hawaii (snorkeling got me). Anyway, about your Aloe, It's hard to say whether or not it is unhealthy without seeing it, but from your description, it sounds like the leaves are just heavy. They will eventually shrivel up and fall off starting from the bottom.

You don't need to break off the roots, just loosen them up. You can do that by running a screw driver vertically down the root ball which will loosen the roots. A root ball is basically the roots and dirt that stay with the plant when you pull it out of the pot that its in.

Actually, you will need to stick you finger into the soil to see if it is dry, or use a popsicle stick and leave it in for a few minutes and see if it gets wet. Even though your particular Aloe doesn't come from a desert, they are very good at storing water, which may be the reason that the leaves are so heavy.

If you want, you can send a picture to [email protected] so I can see if it is in good shape. Let me know if you have any futher questions and thanks for writing!

Sincerely,

Greg