Cactus splitting and rotting in mild winter

[DualWieldRake]

Tips, ideas or suggestions?

 

The black scars on top are where snails got it a month ago

The white spots are soft..

 

Edited December 21, 2016 by DualWieldRake

[Micromegas]

dude why is the soil green!

 

that plant looks like it's not breathing properly and is just generally unhappy.

 

that soil looks super wet, and like it stays wet all the time, it looks like poor draining sand or something all fused together, it needs some friable material. It also looks like it is growing in a really humid, damp situation.

 

i reckon pull it out of that soil asap and put it somewhere dry, coz it looks like it is still somewhat firm and salvageable, but maybe not for long. Check the roots for bugs and rot. After it dries out you need to improve the soil before you put it back in.

 

[sagiXsagi]

which  hemisphere are you on? at first I thought its cold damage. 

 

hey trichoecereus are fighters, it might survive 

[zelly]

I'm with micromegas

 

not to mention perlite sux as a soil additive for cactus plants

[DualWieldRake]

I'm from the netherlands, it always rains here.

Made a bit of a rain shelter 2 months ago but the soil never really dries up like things do in australlia

 

Soil is perlite, course sand, and peat

 

This plant did see some frost, first time it just had a bit of tip splits

I looked yesterday after haven't checking up for it a month and this is what i found.

 

Would leaving it at the spot (and singing songs) spell certain death?

[DualWieldRake]

If i would decide to get it inside, how much roots should i try to scoop out?

[Micromegas]

!! putting it into more humidity will make it worse !! remove the teepee!!

 

imo it has to come out of the ground and go somewhere bone dry, even into a well-heated room. especially if you are heading into winter.

 

sometimes I have tried to make 'free-draining' soil out of various components and ended up making soil that never dries and clumps together. it appears this is what you have done.

 

trichos can grow in all sorts of weather, but the soil must suit the conditions. you can make better soil than that!

 

if you dig it up, spade around it about 10-12 inches from the base and lever out the entire root ball, it will just sort of pop out. see how wet it is, shake out the dirt and trim back half the roots with sharp scissors and let it dry.

 

buy a nice pot, some premium potting mix from the supermarket or nursery, pot it up after a week or two of drying, and have a nice indoor house plant for the winter which you don't water very often! then improve the soil in the summer.

 

long distance advice - i take no responsibility for the outcome!

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Micromegas
you can still sing some songs...

[Evil Genius]

Totally agree that this is caused by way too much water and cold weather. The splitting is the direct result of the plant taking in more water than it can hold and the most of the other problems are caused by a combo of too much rain, cold weather and not the right soil. The soil is the least of the problems though. I think it´s just the wrong climate for this way of growing cacti outside. If you are from the Netherlands and intend to overwinter the plant outside I do not think it will make it. Very few cacti can manage the wet European winters and Trichocereus are none of them. You will need a greenhouse or something like that. 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Evil Genius

[sagiXsagi]

Well we are still europe down here!   But yeah northern europe winter, not the best idea to leave outside. 

 

I agree with EG, if you leave it there it will propably die, and the soil is the least of the worries or propably not a problem at all. Plus perlite does not suck , IME its awesome as a soild additive, light and cheap. Not sure about all climates though... 

 

The cactus looks like my cacti once left outside with the snow on them on purpose...  The snow fucked them as they were wet and all. That's what happened here.

 

Micromegas offers the best solution with the best chances for it, bring it out of the soil with as many roots as you can and bring in to a warm room to dry the wounds. 

 

 

[DualWieldRake]

I'm worried the most about the white spots tbh

 

None of the soft white spots where there a month ago, and since they are below the skin i wonder how bringing it in will help...actually worried warmer temperature will make it spread faster

 

If i'd were to make the larger part of it into soup, what would be a good strategy to save some of it for summer?

[DualWieldRake]

Thanx for the advice. It popped right out indeed...nowhere the huge network of root bundles i expected, lol.

 

I sprayed it with 3% h2o2 a month ago trying to battle the rust spots, think it could have played a part in it's deterioration?

Edited December 23, 2016 by DualWieldRake

[freqmod]

this is an old post but i am answering it due to the ignorance of cactus care displayed. that cactus is perfectly healthy but over fertilised.

trichocereus grows natively on rainy cold mountaintops. it is tolerant of heavy watering and cold. its why it's used as a rootstock. 

cacti dont split from over watering. they split from growing too fast. the green algae/moss growth on the soil indicates it is over fertilised. the particular pattern around which the crown has split indicates it is growing so aggressively that it's bursting out the top. give your cactus bursts of fetilizer in spring and summer. switch to a low nitrogen fertiliser before flowering and autumn. too much N keeps them soft and growing through winter. you dont want those delicious fresh soft tips during colder damp months for bugs to eat.

those pictures do not show rot. that is normal surface fungus/bacterial growth that forms on any damaged cactus. I get it every time I graft.

do not take a split cactus inside. direct sunlight triggers the formation of a callous. 

the spots are something nibbling it. birds and snails come to taste mine. the birds learn. the snails, slugs, grasshoppers die because I treat mine with a systemic pesticide, imidacloprid. the cactus soaks it up and anything that tries to eat it for the next six weeks cant navigate anymore so they starve.

cacti fungus can be treated with zaleton.

[DualWieldRake]

Good points made and noted.

 

Mind you tho this is not in Australia, here in dark, cold and ever wet Holland things like fungus are apparently a real thing to watch out for.

After i took this inside the rusty stuff growing on it quickly faded in this new dry situation.

The shallow spots hardened up mostly too, some of them did however take with them the tip of the cactus. (turned black untill where the callus stopped it in it's tracks)

 

Wet maybe fine, the prolonged cold im guessing was preventing the plant from growing out of damage and attacks (it was fully dormant)

I doubt even with proper ventilation (as in no rain tipi) it would had survived

 

Edited October 15, 2017 by DualWieldRake

[freqmod]

soft rot is a real threat. it plagues my dragonfruit. I lose large sections every year to it. 
but that is just surface fungus/bacteria. the dry air inside would have allowed the exudate to dry faster. part of cacti self defense is that the sap is saturated with calcium salt. before it can manage to form a callous the sap dries forming a layer of salt which reduces the water availability, preventing surface fungus from growing. 

i found out the hard way, grafting inside, that they need sunlight even just for an hour to trigger callous formation because my rootstock wouldnt heal and end up forming a deep cup without it, the scion dying eventually. 

although it pains me to do it, with deep burrowing damage like in those pictures, I often cut a shallow downwards V into mine to allow drainage and excise the surface to the point where it cant pull together. most of the time there's a bug still in there keeping the wound open.

the spots like the large one in the third picture are caused by a burrowing larva. I have to use pesticides because I live near a national forest. the parks service releases cactoblastis regularly to control cacti infestation. we had a problem about 100 years ago when they tried to cultivate cochineal (unsuccessfully) in australia and the birds carried the prickly pear seeds. an area of farmland larger than the whole of the Netherlands was lost to dense sprawling opuntia.

here's a picture of one of my beautiful baby girls, 2 years old.

 

[waterboy 2.0]

A few places in oz ARE wet and cold, and yep you'll have issues growing them outside in ground.

 

The repeated freeze-thaw wreaks canage on the tips, and polystyrene cups don't protect it.

 

Trichs are indoors here, or undercover at least. It's the climate restriction....

 

If that was left in ground it'd be dead.

 

Edit- under eaves of house may offer enough protection, with the wall as a heat bank

Edited October 15, 2017 by waterboy 2.0

[freqmod]

they can be grown in zone 9-10 outdoors. you may be experiencing the effects of blight fungus. it's endemic and releases a sort of anti-anti-freeze to make the cells burst at higher temperatures so it can feed on the plant. it was first identified sometime around the 50s. they noticed some crops would wilt with frost while the same crop in nearby fields wouldnt. they noticed that the ones that did wilt under the same conditions had leaves colonised with a type of fungus. the older portions of cacti form a layer of wax to protect themselves from it which is why the tips die. most of the cheap agricultural sprays are ineffective at controlling fungus because there's always THAT GUY using a low concentration and/or buying in bulk and not cycling through different fungicides through the seasons creating tolerant strains. which is why I tend to look for something that's banned/controlled access schemes/difficult to use due to allowed residue limits in commercial crops.

[waterboy 2.0]

Nah that's not the issue......