Will this Loph repair itself??

[OPP]

Hi everyone,

I have been away for two weeks and came home to find my only Loph (which has recently started to pup) to have fallen victim to a hungry slug??

The Loph was in a pot in the garden and has now been moved to a table off the ground.

It looks like whatever chomped on it ate through the outer soft part to what looks like a harder core.

Does it need some treatment or will it heal itself?

[Evil Genius]

If it doesnt get an infection, it should heal. However, it cant hurt to use some charcoal powder to close the wound. Make sure to keep it dry and have an eye on the wound.

[OPP]

Thanks.

Would the activated charcoal i put in my fish tank filter be suitable?

[Chef's Foreskin]

I have something I may be able to send you if the plant fails.. PM if it does

[OPP]

^^^ Thats what makes this place so great!!!!

[Evil Genius]

Mmmh, no idea. Think it should but havent really tried it.

[Chef's Foreskin]

OPP. I have recieved many poo your pants plants from here for rock bottom dollar... I know you prolly dont want it but I also have a C. Peru thread going if u want some of that?

[zelly]

OPP- Your potting soil is waaay to wet & contains waaay too much forest products. If that off white thing at the base of your plant is the main taproot, your plant may not survive unless you immediately get it out of that soil & into some bone dry mineral based potting soil.

Forest product based potting soil can be used, provided the forest products are 100% decomposed & mixed with perlite or small grained pumice.

Those tiny green plants (weeds?) growing in your soil is one dead give-away your soil is retaining too much moisture for your cactus plant to be healthy.

Additionally, a glazed ceramic pot with maybe a single drain hole in the bottom is not helping the matter at all. In those conditions the water retentive potting soil AND the glazed ceramic pot are both working hard against a plant that needs at best minimal water to grow & flourish.. Most cactus plants do not like 'wet feet'.

Ditch the pot & the soil and either go with an unglazed clay pot or something plastic AND well draining potting soil specifically formulated for cactus plants. Then add 25-30% pumice to it and no sand. Your soil should go from fully drenched to fully dry within 7 days.

For very best growing of lophs, pot size should be no bigger than plant size plus 2-3 cm between the edge of the plant & the rim of the pot.

[OPP]

^^^^ I did use a cactus mix although it was a cheap one. It was mixed with some perlite too. The drainage problem is probably due to me putting the Loph in my cacti garden and this means it is sitting on soil.

It has been moved up onto a table.

I'll go get some better quality cactus mix today and repot it.

[zelly]

On a side note you can let a healthy, rooted loph plant go six months without water & not kill it, but give it too much water & it can die in 2 weeks or less.

As per my post above, if the main tap root has sustained damage, you should un pot the plant, let the damaged portion dry out completely, then transplant into bone dry to slightly moistened soil & and be sure its re-rooted before watering again, even if it' six months later.

A head with no roots will grow roots in bone dry soil, looking for water. By the same token, giving a plant more water than the roots can take up in a reasonable amount of time will lead to root rot, especially with organic based soils.

[OPP]

On close inspection it looks like the main tap root hasn't been touched.

I'll put some charcoal on it and wait a few days

[planthelper]

i'm strongly with zelly on that one!

you had a injury to your plant, but he spotted another problem aswell.

so you can swap 2 fly's with one go.

fly 1, the damage to the loph, will heal faster and sucessfull if you remove the loph out of the bad soil.

fly 2, the soil is bad because of drainage issues, you get rid of that problem, by repotting.

take loph out of soil, remove soil, let dry for 3 or more day's, repott with fresh pottingmix.

if you keep the loph, in the same soil, it could die, do what zelly said.

[trucha]

Zellys got great advice.

I'd add that I've never seen a packaged commercial cactus growing mix that was made by anyone that had a clue about making cactus growing mixes. Typically these seems to be made by planting mix companies that are wanting another product to add to their line. MAYBE something good is out there but I have not been lucky enough to find it.

Fine sand, bark, bat guano, fir needles and peat moss are all possible to find as ingredients and not a one of those belongs in a mix for North American cactus species except maybe a tropical epiphyte.

And Zelly and Planthelper's suggestion on getting it out of that soil while your troubles are resolved is really solid. Pulling sick plants out of soil and letting them heal with bare roots works for many cactus species and problems not just this one. Most cacti will survive up to a few months without soil or water and some will last far longer than that. Avoid any direct sun on the roots of course.