Gadenin日本語Get the appThere is no schedule, only a state of the compost
Every question about aloe watering arrives as a request for an interval, and an interval is the one answer that cannot be given. The same plant in a terracotta pot on a sunny sill and in a plastic pot in a cool room dries three times faster in the first case. Watering to a calendar is how most aloes are killed.
What you are actually learning is how your particular pot dries. Once you know that, the rule is simple: water thoroughly, wait until the compost is dry all the way to the bottom, then wait a few days longer, then water thoroughly again.
| Pot and position | Time to dry through in the growing season | How to approach it |
|---|---|---|
| Terracotta at a sunny window | Five to eight days | Water two or three days after it dries |
| Plastic at a bright window | Ten to fourteen days | Check with a skewer before every watering |
| Plastic in a cool or dim room | Three weeks or more | Water rarely. Consider a smaller or clay pot |
| Outdoors in summer sun | Three to five days | Water when dry, and keep it out of prolonged rain |
Three ways to tell whether it is dry
The top inch of compost dries long before the bottom of the pot does, so a finger in the surface tells you almost nothing. Use one of these instead, and use the same one every time so that you are comparing like with like.
- The skewer test Push a long wooden skewer down the inside wall of the pot until it touches the base and leave it for ten seconds. If it comes out dark or with compost clinging to it, do not water. Bone dry and clean means you can.
- The weight test Lift the pot immediately after a thorough watering, and again when the skewer says it is bone dry. The difference is obvious once you have felt it, and after a few weeks you will not need the skewer.
- The leaf test Fine wrinkles appearing along the length of a leaf, or a leaf that flexes when you squeeze it instead of feeling like a firm sausage, means the plant has started drawing on its own reserves. That is the latest point to water, not the earliest.
Aloe holds weeks of water in its leaves. An under-watered plant recovers fully within two days of a good soak; an over-watered one may not recover at all. When you cannot decide, the correct answer is to wait.
How to water when you do
Little and often is the wrong pattern for this plant. It wets only the top of the compost, leaves the lower half permanently damp, and encourages a shallow root system that then dries out unevenly.
- Soak until it runs from the bottom Pour slowly onto the compost until water runs freely from the drainage hole, then stop. A plant in a six inch (15 cm) pot takes considerably more water than people expect.
- Keep water out of the center of the rosette Water that sits between the leaf bases in the crown is the classic route to crown rot. Water onto the compost at the edge of the pot, and if you splash the center, tip the pot to drain it out.
- Empty the saucer after ten minutes A pot standing in its own drainage stays wet at the base indefinitely. If the plant lives in a decorative cachepot, lift it out to water and put it back once it has stopped dripping.
- Water on a bright morning Watering in the evening leaves the compost cold and wet all night, which is the exact combination that rots the roots. Morning watering lets the surface dry through the day.
Through the year
These figures assume a terracotta pot in good light. In plastic, in a dim room or in a cool one, stretch every interval considerably rather than following the numbers.
| Season | Conditions | Roughly how often | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spring | Growth restarting | Every ten days to a fortnight | Full soak once new growth is visible in the center |
| Summer | Warm and bright | Every seven to ten days | Full soak in the morning. More often outdoors |
| Autumn | Cooling, growth slowing | Every two to three weeks | Stretch the interval gradually as nights cool |
| Winter, cool room | Around 50F (10C) | Once every four to six weeks, or not at all | A small amount on a mild morning only |
| Winter, heated room | Above 64F (18C) | Every three to four weeks | Full soak, still only when bone dry |
Slight wrinkling of the leaves over a cold winter is normal and reverses within days of the first spring watering. Watering a cold plant because its leaves have wrinkled is one of the most reliable ways to lose an aloe.
Thin and curling, or brown and mushy: telling the two apart
Both too much and too little water change the leaves, and people frequently treat one as the other. The compost decides it. Dry compost with a limp plant means water; damp compost with a limp plant means stop, and act quickly.
The direction of the damage helps too. Thirst shows first at the leaf tips and along the outer leaves, working inwards slowly over weeks. Rot shows first at the very base of a leaf, where it joins the stem, and spreads within days.
| What you see | The compost | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaves thin, flexible, curling inwards at the edges | Bone dry | Underwatered | Soak thoroughly. Firm again within two or three days |
| Tips dry, brown and crisp | Bone dry, or a draft | Thirst or heater airflow | Water, move out of the draft, trim inside the brown |
| A leaf soft, brown and translucent at the base | Damp | Root or crown rot | Urgent. Pull the leaf, lift the plant, cut back to white |
| Whole plant yellowing and soft, leaves splaying | Damp | Overwatered over weeks | Stop watering, move to bright airy warmth, check roots |
| Leaves swollen, split lengthwise | Damp | Heavy watering after a long drought | Cosmetic. Water smaller amounts more evenly next time |
| Fine white or brown wrinkles, plant otherwise firm | Dry | Normal winter dormancy | Nothing. It plumps up when watering resumes in spring |
What to write down
Two figures turn watering from guesswork into something you can repeat. Note the date of each watering, and note how many days the skewer stayed damp afterwards. After one season you will know your own pot's drying time in each part of the year, and you will never need a general rule again.
It is also worth noting the date you last watered before any soft leaf appeared. If rot happens twice, comparing those two dates almost always shows the same mistake: a full watering given as the weather turned cold.