Hi there,

I inherited a thriving Aloe Vera plant a year or so ago and to begin with it was in really good health, all symmetrical and pointing upwards... But then my flat mate knocked it over and it's been down hill ever since. Partly because of my flat mate knocking it over and partly because it came from a 21st floor building with lots of light to my flat which doesn't have as much light...

The plant has desperately tried to get itself back on course by growing bigger and really long leaves on one side and gradually sloping over, to the point where it now definitely needs re-potting...

I thought it would be a good idea to cut off the lower leaves of the plant so that when I re-plant it would be a little less lop-sided but I think I may have made the mistake of cutting too many of them off, which has now left a 30cm long stem. If you can see the picture attached, I have cut off the lower 4 or 5 leaves, leaving the top of the plant. I do think these leaves were so big that they were starving the top of the plant from thriving, which is why I did this... I hope I haven't made too much of a mistake!! I thought I would have been able to plant the stem deeper into the soil but have since read that this may cause it to rot...

My question is - can I pot this long stem deeper into the soil so that the first base leaves are at the start of the soil? Or if this will cause the stem to rot, can I use stones from the base of the long stem to the first leaf so to provide support and help the plant start to thrive again? Or can I somehow get the stem to produce roots?

Any help or advice would be most appreciated.

Ashley