I have had an Aloe for a few years now. It's had a rough time, so I was surprised recently to find it was throwing pups! This (while it was wonderful) seems to have come at a bad time because I had just replanted and am still trying to figure out the watering schedule. I went from typical soil to cactus/succulent soil, so the watering is different and the poor Aloe has suffered a bit at my hands, going soft and mushy at times and losing a leaf every few weeks. Soft and mushy is from too little/too much water?

I read online to separate the pups at about 1" tall, let them callous over for 48 hours, and then set on top of soil and mist. I now think that 1" was much to small. I separated 4 pups, put them in their own terra cotta pots and misted. After 3-4 weeks, only one seems to have developed roots and the rest kind of look deflated and brown. Can I bring these pups back to life? I left three pups around the mother plant and they are thriving and about 3" tall. I read that crowding the mother plant can encourage blooming, but mostly I am just afraid that if I separate these pups they will go the way of the others. Can I get any advice?

Also, I have a Christmas Cactus that I recently noticed little buds on. I paid extra attention to it, excited at the thought of it blooming. However, it has been about 2 months and the buds seem to have frozen in time as small little pink spots on the tips of some of the leaves. Additionally, a few joints have fallen off and were really soft. I usually keep the soil moist and have it sitting on a moisture tray for humidity, but there were a few days where it was much dryer than it should have been when we were out of town. Does this account for losing some joints? Is there any way I can get these buds to grow again and become blooms?

I know it's a lot of questions, thanks for your help! :) You guys are so helpful to those of us who were not born with a green thumb but who still love to nurture growing things! :)