Playing Doctor

Ill Aloe Vera

There is another illness in the garden. The Aloe Vera is sick. Her leaves have softened, the tips of some have shriveled, the bright green has turned brownish. I don’t know what the offender might be. I wait for the soil to dry before watering, so I know I’m not over-watering or under-watering. I don’t place her in direct sun. I have not seen any bugs on her leaves or on the soil.

My only hypothesis is that there is something wrong with the soil. My instinct said to re-pot her, so that’s what I did. I transplanted her in a bigger pot, made sure to shake off as much old soil as possible from her roots, and placed her in brand new soil.

New pot, new soil.

I cut the pieces that were most damaged. I saved them for a skin lotion. I scraped out the pulp, placed in a small container with a lid, mixed with some warm water, shut tight, and refrigerated. Aloe Vera is great for scrapes and burns. I usually just cut the tip of a leaf as needed, but given that I had to remove these leaves, I decided to keep for later.

The Aloe Vera is one of my favorite plants. They are usually pretty easy to take care of, and the relief of their pulp on scrapes and burns is immediate and better than those triple-antibiotic lotions. I hope new soil was all she needed. I will update on her condition later this week.

Update on the Basil: The tobacco tea worked! I have not seen any new holes on the leaves, and she is recuperating nicely. Yay tobacco!

Basil in recovery!