Aloe Vera: root and stem rot — what does it look like?

Leaves pale, water-soaked and translucent near the base. Whole rosette flopping outward. Brown mush at soil level. Cut above the rot. If any firm stem remains, let it callus for several days and replant into gritty mix.

Aloe Vera: sudden sun exposure — what does it look like?

Leaves turning red-brown or bleached white within days of moving outdoors. Sunburn, not disease. It survives but scars permanently. Acclimatise over two weeks next time.

Aloe Vera: cold and wet together — what does it look like?

Soft translucent patches after cold nights on an unheated windowsill. Cold alone is survivable. Cold plus wet soil is not.

Field Guide/Aloe Vera

What went wrong

Aloe Vera

Aloe barbadensis

A desert plant, kept on a windowsill, watered like a fern.

Aloe is a succulent from arid ground and it wants to be thoroughly soaked and then left completely dry for weeks. In a standard pot of moisture-retentive potting mix, watered every Sunday, it rots from the base. The leaves go pale, then translucent, then collapse outward in a rosette that no longer holds itself up.

The second-commonest death is more sympathetic: the plant is put outside in full summer sun after a winter indoors, with no acclimatisation, and scorches within days.

Usually one of these

3 Likely Causes

Ranked by how often it is actually this.

01
Root and stem rot
Most common
What you saw
Leaves pale, water-soaked and translucent near the base. Whole rosette flopping outward. Brown mush at soil level.
What it means
Cut above the rot. If any firm stem remains, let it callus for several days and replant into gritty mix.
02
Sudden sun exposure
Seasonal
What you saw
Leaves turning red-brown or bleached white within days of moving outdoors.
What it means
Sunburn, not disease. It survives but scars permanently. Acclimatise over two weeks next time.
03
Cold and wet together
Winter
What you saw
Soft translucent patches after cold nights on an unheated windowsill.
What it means
Cold alone is survivable. Cold plus wet soil is not.

The question you actually have

Dead or dormant?

Aloe stretches and pales in poor light without dying — that is not death, that is complaint. Squeeze the base of the lowest leaves: firm and fleshy means alive. If the whole crown lifts away from the soil with a wet brown base, it has rotted through and only offsets or a firm upper stem section can be saved.

If it did not make it