I have a huge 3 year old aloe vera plant. Recently it was falling over and I anchored it from the bottom of the plant. After a week or so this cut off circulation to the plant. I moved the anchoring higher, however I am worried about how the base leaves have been affected, whether I have permanently damaged my plant, and whether I should just cut off the trunk and start it rooting all over (which I've never done before). The leaves on the bottom are bloated, which I thought was an inducation that they have stopped growing. Five or so from the bottom are so bloated that where they are connected to the stalk they're overflowing from ring of the leaf under it. A couple are getting one or two black spots. The rest of the 12 leaves at the top are healthy. I removed some of the boated leaves to give the leaves under them room to grow. The trunk under the leaves, after I removed them, had some black, obviously rotted layers, but once removed is white and appears normal. What is going on? Is this rot? Have I permanently compromised the circulation of my plant? Can my plant recover? Regain its circulation? Does it just require patience and will heal on its own, or is there something I should do to prevent further damage to the majority healthy parts of the plant? Thank you for your help!
It is good that you removed the lower leaves and there is healthy tissue underneath. It does sound like overwatering, they need very little water in the winter. I would give it good air ciculation, sun, and don't overwater it and it will probably recover.
