woopwoop

damn, spider mites are fucking crazy! I'm actually thinking about getting some beneficial insects, there are some predatory mites that feed on them, I'm thinking of spreading them around my entire property as well as directly on the cacti (doubt they'll stick around the cacti for too long, coz they aren't like normal plants, but hopefully they can eradicate them from wherever the fuck they are coming from). coz this is fucking annoying.

Has anyone here used the Tobacco Spray for their cacti? did it damage your cactus? What method did you use to make it (theres a few different recipes)? Was it effective (apparently its the most effective pesticide there is) I think I wanna use it for some spider mites, but I don't know if its a good idea because of this so called tobacco mosaic virus (I can't find a definite answer if cacti can be affected by it)

holy shit lol. that's crazy. wonder why it didn't affect the grafted part as well

sweet, sounds like more people are doing this than i thougt yeah if theres one thing i learned this year it was that cacti actually do like N, esspecially from liquid blood and bone. I am still interested in coconut water as well. I want to have a good variety of different fertilizers that i can rotate around. And i like the idea of coconuts containing all the nutrients that a plant needs to grow (coconuts being seeds) cool, how often do you usually use coconut water? like every watering or once a month or 2, or just once in a blue moon?

yes, that thread and like 1 or 2 more are all that It is really mentioned on here. I was hoping someone else might have tried it since then. I'm looking forward to trying it myself, then I can report what happened, but I gotta give these new cuttings I got some growing time before I start doing stuff like that to them

I've read only a few mentions of it, but apparently using coconut water for your cacti is very beneficial. Supposedly coz coconuts are seeds then all the water in it contains a plethora of vitamins, and nutrients. Apparently using it can induce lots of pupping and general good growth. the real question is if anyone else has used it and can confirm or deny these claims.

I didn't think that people were referring to the hydrogen peroxide as being part of the 'combined experimental treatments'. I read about the hydrogen peroxide from another cactus forum (Also did this on 2 others a month ago and they are fine so far), and it was touted as being a gold standard practice in the repotting process of all cacti. And the tomato dust was already applied before asking for help (but again, this was done on 2 other cacti a month ago, and they are still fine they haven't even been watered in a month since then and they are still plump AF) That's why once they are repotted only use yates anti rot will be used instead of the other 2 or 3 products that was origionally gonna be used all together. so the advice was taken on board mostly. Also I didn't realize yates anti rot is only for very 4-6 weeks so that will be followed, instead of every 14 days. All that can be done now is wait a week, repot in mineral mix, wait another 2-3 weeks before a first water in the spring, then applications of yates anti rot. How long do you think it would take before they died of this? btw, they aren't my plants (I don't break the law), my friend got these from a guy on gumtree. btw, the guy from gumtree had a 20 yearold one, it was prob the size of all these ones combined, didn't have any obvious sickness (like the bad one in the pics), and it was in a wayyyy too big pot, with I assume the same type of dirt. also I seem to have accidentally included the same pic twice, I was meant to post this one instead (its not the original sick one)

hey guys, I have ordered microscopy prints from kindness before (about 2 months ago), and I received them. It did take about 2 weeks for mine to come, I messaged him when I got a bit worried and he said that he had been a busy man and it slipped his mind, He told me that if for whatever reason I didn't receive them that he would send out some more. The prints came the next day haha. I'm confident you guys will receive your prints for your microscopes!

This is a follow up on my other thread. So all the lophs were unpotted (and god damn that soil was organic...). They were covered in Yates tomato dust for about 10 days. Then after unpotting and getting as much of the dirt off, the roots were submerged in 1% hydrogen peroxide for 15 mins, then rinsed and are now sitting unrooted for the next week. Unfortunately, it seems all of them had these spots kinda just below the soil level, they are pretty orange almost red tbh. Do you think this is a death sentence? (or just an overreaction) Once they are potted up, they will be sprayed with Yates Anti-rot every 14 days for prob 3 months or so lol, then might switch to a different systemic fungicide and do the same. But gotta wait at least a month to do this, coz they gotta get some water before being sprayed with that stuff (waiting till spring before first water after potting). pic 1-3: the original diseased plant, just showing better pics since now its outta the dirt (weird the roots are like that, must have been degrafted or something) pic 4-5: showing the orange and reddish spots/gashes (2 different plants) pic 6: all the plants in bare roots

good idea. I think after the tomato dust has been removed, then regular applications of the systemic fungicide and potassium bicarbonate is all that can be done. Hopefuly it doesn't spread to the others. They have all been in close quarters for I assume a few years. These 2 here were from the same area, but had been moved away from the rest of the family 3-4 months ago. They have been repotted recently (they also got 2 rounds of 5-7 days of tomato dust prior to repotting, due to some critters, and they had their roots soaked in hydrogen peroxide). So far they have not showed any signs of anything wrong. (they aren't that green, its just the lighting. but that also haven't had much sunlight due to the weather). So hopefully at the very least, the other ones in the sepearte pots do not succumb

good advice guys. So right now they have tomato dust on them (This has been done with other lophs, that had mites, and didn't damage them), which will be left for a few days. after that, they will be sprayed with the Yates fungus gun (claims to be systemic, contains the Myclobutanil), after 7 days of that, then it will be repotted in mineral mix that has 1% neem meal. Then a paint brush application of the sodium bicarbonate. After a few weeks (once it has had a good water in spring) then will apply the Trichoderma spray every month or so. every 3 months or so will apply Myclobutanil. And hope for the best.

thanks for the good advice. do you think the healthy one next to it will be alright (obviously going to separate them). What about the other potted lophs that have been kept side by side (they look pretty healthy. here is a pic of one of the others that has been kept with it (yes the soil is really bad, i'll be helping him with the soil. I think the best soil is gritmix from dr greenthumbs) also, I believe the larger pot isn't doing any favours since it would take ages to dry out

I'll admit I sorta got lost on the last half of your reply. But yes, all the pots were simply on the ground, so they would def have been easy targets for snails (or anything realy), so that could have played a part. I advised him on some better care for such plants, but will also be more hands on with helping him out (but still trying to think of the best way to help this particular plant, and don't want it to spread to the others)

There is no tomato dust in the pics, that is purely the plant. I don't know how the gash got there, I only saw this plant yesterday for the first time, its not mine. the guy just had this and about 5 other smaller pots with single lophs in them, and a bigger pot with a 20yearold mother. This is the only one that had anything like this on it (as you can see, even the other plant right next to it seems to be fine). The good things about most of the products I am suggesting, is they basically work both ways (on fungus and pests). I did notice some small crawlers around the rim of the pot, I don't know if they are spider mites or not (it was hard to see them, and mites come in various shapes and sizes). At first I def thought it was spider mites, but then sorta figured its more of a fungal thing (which the mites wouldn't help). Yes, unfortunately there is little products specifically for cacti saving, so its a matter of trying it out (and seeing if someone else has used). As for the systemic, there is a product called Yates Fungus Gun which claims to be systemic (it has the myclobutanil). Can only give it a whirl. do you know of any other systemics that could work? plan on putting 1% neem meal in the new potting mix since neem has some anti-pest/fung properties (but also don't want too much since its got lots of Nitrogen) can't hurt it.

that's interesting! So you apply it to the actual plant? Do you use a mostly mineral mix for your lophs (especially if your in a tropical location)? if so, do you still use Trichoderma in the soil of it as well?