OK so my first ever post on this forum (a few months back) was about my hybrid aloes that were getting thin with the leaves curling in (I see this a lot with hybrid aloes). As many of you know the problem with aloes is that they show very similar above ground form when they are being over watered and under watered. In both cases the roots die back and the plants starts to get overly stressed.
In the end, the only way i have been able to get my plants to turn around is to be very strict about how I water. I unpotted all plants and confirmed I had significant root die back. I put a rooting compound on all plants. I then potted and weighed the plants with dry soil to get the base weight. After watering, I checked the weight every few days and only watered again if i was within 10 grams of the initial weight.
You can see the results below. Pretty sure I was over watering. Maybe the cooler UK climate and the fact that they have to stay indoors is a factor here I am not sure.
My worse plant had literally zero roots at one point. Having got all three of my DZ into a good state ,I decided to gift one to a friend this weekend. I un potted it and was pleased to see the root ball was really big and healthy.
Still think i have work to do on the last one but they are definitely looking better :)
Steve

Aloe DZ
before...



after.....



Super thin one..

Aloe viper
before...

After...


Aloe Unknown
before...

after..

Very dramatic results!

Yeah great results. Another factor can some times be water quality/pH. In the summers here I water a lot with tap water which has a pH of 8-8.5 and while most plants get by on it, the effect of a few good rain showers - with a much lower pH - is always dramatic.

I have a lot of Aloes on life support at the moment as the weather has been pretty brutal despite it not being crazy hot (which of course is relative as it is still getting up to 115-116 every few days). We just have not had much rain at all so far...

ketsui73, thanks for sharing your results. I especially like the tip about using rooting compound before repotting. That will help me with the aloe vera issues I've had lately. I not only over-watered, but under-sunned my aloe!

Thanks again, I may try the rooting compound idea.

Steve, thanks for sharing your results, nice turn around. I have a curling issue when my KG hybrid aloes get just a little more bright sun then they had been use to, but I am on the edge of the desert. If I reduce the amount of bright sun they receive the improvement in leaf curl is really rapid. I haven't noticed leaf curl due to 90 to 100 degree days, the sun's intensity seems to be the main reason for curling. By the way, I believe your "unknown aloe" may be Aloe 'Donnie', also a KG aloe.

@baja
Thanks for your advice when i first got into trouble and for working so hard to help people on this forum


@codielane
thanks for your comments, The rooting compound of course could also have been a key factor. Its hard to say, I used a product called. 'Clone X' I think its just a mix of right nutrients to promote growth . I have heard people get the best results using hormone based compounds but these are not available over the counter in the UK. The product I was advised to use by an avid US aloe collector was called dip n grow.

@mcvansoest
Sorry to hear you have struggling plants at the moment. One thing is for sure , aloes are still quite hard to totally kill. My worse plant was rootless for weeks on end. I was so close to trashing it on many occasions. I always use collected rainwater on my plants. No shortage of that in the UK! I think our climate is not ideally suited to these aloes which makes them all the more appealing of course. Hope you get through your problems ok.

@oldblue
Thanks for the info on light intensity. Our summers here in the midlands are so mild (I also have my plants indoors on a SE facing window). I think its unlikely to have been excessive light in my case. The fact that there are some many variables for all of us is what makes it so interesting.
Thanks for the ID help. I admit i love hybrid aloes . But what is available in the UK is limited and usually mislabelled. I thought my plant is either 'donnie' or 'bright star'. both of these KG hybrids have similar markings. what is little confusing is that a plant that is more often sold as 'donnie' in the uk is much darker (see pic below)

I am using the weighing technique on my new plants so we will see how that goes.... causation or correlation we will see
Steve