Blackrot crap

[The Dude]

I have a collection of SEVEN cacti.. and i love each and everyone of them. One is a small bridgessi with the occasional black spot, some of these have turned white alltogether which is ok, but they were worrying me when black. I probably shouldnt have done this but I cut out two small chunks to remove the black spots. They just got worse and blacker so I've done this again and left in a cool dry place to callouse. Which has begun to happen but in one hole there is a nasty orange colour. I can't get a photo now unfortunately.

This is a small stump with 2 pups. one pup has the problem. I figured if I cut it just below the mould and leave some of the pup there it may possibly create more offshoots, or should i lop it off right at the base? also, with this weather we're having now, how should i go about replanting the cut? wait for callousing then stick it in some sand?

At the moment I' have them all in pots about 15x20cm with a 1:1:1 mix of perlite, gravel and sand, and regular potting mix. It drains pretty well but i think is retaining too much moisture. I dont water them ANY at the moment as they get saturated by rain, and then i try to move them out of it. the thing is I really want to plant these (and many more) into solid ground. Is the wet season a very bad time for this? the days aren't that cold yet. Also what kind of soil mixtures do people recomend? and how deep should i plant them, i hear cacti roots are fairly shallow.

A long while ago a friend gave the advice of sprinkling a thin ring of peatmoss around them as some kind of 'organic buffer' layer. Any1 know of this, also whats a good fertiliser and how often? I realise these are all total n00b questions and maybe a bit of research would be the go. My main question though is about that one cactus i screwed and when i should transplant into the ground.

[worowa]

When I cut mine, I dust the wounds with sulfur, this helps them dry out and is anti-fugal.

Hope that helps.

[shruman]

"I realise these are all total n00b questions and maybe a bit of research would be the go."

Correct.

[Evil Genius]

Hi El Duderino,

black rot usually grows out if you keep away the water. The orange Color can be a problem but i also saw some orange colored reactions that occured at the cut-wounds. In some cases, it was just a normal enzymatic (?) reaction and didn´t damaged the cutting at all. It just looked nasty. But keep an eye on it. If it grows and damages tissue, you should remove it immediately. There is an orange fungus that is a very dangerous pest. It kills plants very fast and if you want to make sure, you should post some pics. Plants that suffer from black rot shouldn´t be planted in the ground. Keep them inside or at a dry place as long as they need to recover. If the rot has healed up, they are ready to be planted in the ground. Peatmoss is always good. It helps to keep the soil alive. It also helps them to develope a healthy root system and prevents fungal infections of the soil. There are many different soil mixes and almost all are suitable for growing cacti. Just check some out and find the best for you. You probably shouldn´t use one with too many organic constituents as this supports rot. bye Eg

Edited May 28, 2007 by Evil Genius

[t st tantra]

e d,yes your right i wouldnt be cutting cactii in our climate now.

if i do i put it in totally dry place ,even rooting cuttings ,i water once and put in a dry place til it takes off.

in our climate this rot is not usually a long term problem and rarely results in the death of a plant,unless its small and you fuck with it too much.

t s t .

[kadakuda]

by your climate do you by chance mean wet/humid?

[Conan Troutman]

by your climate do you by chance mean wet/humid?

does this nasty mostly frequent tropical regions?,

growers down south dont see to have much trouble especially not deaths caused by it..

[kadakuda]

i wonder. it happens here, not usually death, and it is certainly humid for half the year!

[t st tantra]

wet/cold winters......dry/hot summers.....southern oz

t s t .