How to : How to Revive a Dying Aloe Vera Plant

• Loosely hold the base of the plant and the bottom of your pot. Tip the pot upside down, and continue holding the plant with your other hand. Hit the bottom of the pot with your hand or knock it against a table ledge (or other hard surface).
• Depending on the size of your plant, you may need another person to help you. One person should hold the plant base with both hands, while the other person tips the pot upside down and hits the bottom. Jostle the pot back and forth until the plant comes loose.
• If you still have trouble removing your plant with two sets of hands, run a trowel or knife around the interior of the pot and try releasing it again, or push some of the soil out through the drainage holes in the bottom of the pot.
• If your plant still does not come out of the pot, you may need to break your pot.
• While releasing the Aloe vera plant from its pot, hold (don’t pull) the plant gently. Hitting the bottom of the pot will keep your roots intact, and gravity will push the plant downward.

• If you see a lot of healthy roots and only a section of dead or mushy roots, you can likely save your plant without too much trouble.
• If you notice that the majority of your plant has damaged roots, it will take a little more effort to save the plant, and it may be beyond saving. In this case, you can try to save the plant by removing the largest leaves (with a knife). Cut away about half of the plant. This method is risky. However, with fewer leaves to nourish, the small amount of undamaged roots can better direct nutrients throughout the plant.^[9]

• The roots of Aloe vera plants grow horizontally, rather than vertically. ^[11]
• The pot you choose should also have plenty of drainage holes on the bottom so that excess water does not sit in the soil.^[13]
• A plastic pot is best if you live in a dryer climate, while a pot made from terracotta or clay is best for cooler or humid areas.^[14]

• You can also create your own soil mix for your Aloe vera plant by mixing equal parts of sand, gravel or perlite, and soil.^[16]
• Although you can use potting soil for Aloe vera plants, they will thrive better in a mixed soil. Potting soil is more likely to hold moisture and could therefore cause root rot.

Place your plant in the newly prepared pot and cover the top with more of the potting soil mixture. Be sure that the entire root ball is covered with the soil mixture, but don’t bury the plant deeper than it was in the first pot.

• You can also layer small rocks or gravel on the top of the soil, which helps reduce the evaporation of water.

• If your plant is typically in a position to receive artificial light rather than sunlight, reposition the plant so that there is a greater distance between it and the light source. You can also try moving it outside so that it is getting some indirect natural light, rather than artificial light.