I have been telling myself for a while that Aristaloe aristata needed a repotting and I finally got around to it today. Once the pot was off, I found something unusual:
It's normal for these aloes to make offsets and grow in clumps but this offset was growing downwards into the pot instead of up. It's white because there was no light inside the pot. There was also a suspicious amount of ants - anytime you see ants, you need to investigate and so I pulled back some of the dead leaves.
As usual, an aphid farm. I sprayed the plant with insecticide and I'll also use a systemic once I start watering in a week's time, that's the only way to get rid of these and they are deadly for aloes.
I removed the weird offset and another more normal one - the big white one already has its own roots. I will leave it completely out of the sun for the wound to heal and for the leaves to green up. Once it is green, it can gradually be exposed to more sunlight and then planted.
The parent plant is now in a more appropriate-sized pot and I will also leave it dry for a few days, then start watering and add
systemic insecticide granules to the soil. I am pretty sure the too-small pot is what caused the aphid attack, plants that are not stressed don't usually get severe pest infestations like that
First posted here on my blog in WeKu
