Look great hunnie, now you can put pebbles ontop of your soil as a pot topper, :-D goodluck

You don't think the pebbles would keep it damp? It seems to have dried a lot just over the past hour

I think they look fine. When you water it should pour out almost immediately. The 50% inorganic is pretty much what I use for all my cacti and succulents.

Looks pretty good. Did you take off most of the soil from the roots? If not that could be a problem, as both areas will dry at different rates, and you wont get the benefits of faster draining soil.

And wet at different rates.

That's what all of mine look like, and they're doing really well. I do find when I water that I'll need to wet the top a bit, give it a minute, then come back and water again. The dry perlite can "resist" the water initially, but then the water absorbs and distributes itself through the soil, coming out the bottom once it's saturated. The plants will be much happier with the fast drying time. Enjoy!

Pebbles on the top do a couple of jobs. They weight the light dirt down which is needed when watering, thus keeping soil born Bacteria in the soil and not splattering on the plant. It acts as a layer of insulation the hot sun. One is not looking for evaporative drying as much as drainage. Rocks are prettier. One can pick for color , texture if you wish. This rock layer is especially important is you are doing outdoor gardening of C&S.

Yes I did get all the soil off the roots. That process was tiring and time consuming I felt like I was defusing a bomb lol!! But I noticed it seemed a little damp still this morning so I got them outside its kinda cloudy but I'll see how dry they are later and I'll decide about the top layer of rocks I will also post pictures of my aloe minnie belles and Zanzibars later I gotta get them repotted as well still

Notice middle pot with the aloe vera, is that too small for both those plants? There was plenty of room for root growth so figured it was okay but if I need to repot down the road I will

The middle pot is not too small but repotting is not long down the road.

About getting soil off of roots. I use a gentle hose to wash the soil off. I also have used a tinny brush thing I have. After washing the soil off, I let them dry for a couple of days. If any roots are bruised , they would have callused over. This step really minimizes the rot that can come from damaged roots. I always get rid of soil that plants come in. It is good plant hygiene. I do not want other peoples bugs, and you don't want mine. sometimes I use this time to spray with a systemic pesticide. and fungicide before drying.

Just now, I had a huge Aloe cameroni that had gotten blighted by my son leaving the door to my winter warm space open during a cold front and this plant half of it was dying from rot. I decanted it and the roots were a large mass of mostly rotted shizz. Helf the plant had dissociated itself from the dying half and was putting on a growth spurt. I did severe washing and cutting of the roots looking for ALL the dead and dying, but out of a large hydra headed plant O still have a nice large plant and five rosettes to re root. They are dosed with fungicide and bayer 3 in one. and drying eating to be potted. The rosettes are being misted and I am waiting to see root nubs before I plant them. One can be pretty rough with aloes as long as you let the damage callus by letting things dry up. They will grow more roots.

Ok thanks for the information I'll do that next time I did a pretty good job except for my big aloe carmine "plant on the right" in the pile of soil from the roots had several little strands of roots I hope that's not a bad sign but the plant has a huge root structure for its size

Also whats a good way to tell its time for a bigger pot? And I don't even think I can find one bigger than these!

If your 2 aloes in the same pot start crowding each other out, it will be time. Beware that the roots may be tangled by that time, but with care you can untangle them. Let them heal, like wontonamara said.

Also, when you see roots coming out of the drain hole. I've also had the plant growing higher in the pot and the soil is disappearing. The plant get pushed up by the roots. Of course, if the plant is having issues it is time to look at the roots and this is the perfect time for new soil/medium.

This guy was a bit of both - roots coming out and pushing up the aloe. I may have waited a little long!

Ok thanks! I'm gonna get the others later today I'll post pics of roots

Ok guys so I just checked my soil after being in sun all day and seems pretty damp???? It dried faster without the perlite I think!??

On the surface in warmer light yes soils do dry faster. Gravity is also a water moving helper. If you want remove the tissues and let set over night to see if any remaining inside soil water leaves a water mark on the saucer(s).

What was your mixture? I need to do some repotting some cacti and could use some help on a soil mixture for them. Thanks

Half cactus succlent soil and half perlite

That soil looks much better now.