Repotting: what's this brown stuff on the stem?
Background: I inherited an aloe from family. I've had it for about a year and only watered it when the leaves felt squishy, so maybe once every 1-2 months. I've realized that it hasn't been getting enough light because it's been growing tall, but sideways. Its stem was basically an S-curve. It was also growing a bunch of pups. After a bunch of research, I decided I wanted to:
- Cut the stem of the mother plant to re-establish roots that make it grow straight up and not sideways.
- Once recovered, move it outside to get more sun. I'll start in a shadier spot, then move it to full sun if it needs more.
- Repot some of the pups
Issue today: I pulled out and separated all the aloes from the pot and started working on the mother plant. I cut the lower roots/stem off and started pulling off the lower leaves to get it ready to sit and callous. In videos, the stem was always white. On my aloe, there are these light brown lines. The stem is firm and these lines are also firm. They bulge out a little and in some spots seem like they're coming away from the plant. What are they? Is it signs of infection/fungus that needs to be cut away? Are they the beginnings of roots that the plant was developing on its own?
One of the pups had the same coloring at the root section, but not all of them. I don't know if these are roots, or if the pup is also infected.
TLDR: I cut my big Aloe Vera's stem to let it callous before repotting and saw these brown lines. What are they? Do I need to cut above them?