WTF Happened to My Cactus?

[migraineur]

I went to check on my cacti today and one of them, which is a trich, is rotting all of a sudden. A few days ago it had a nice green pup and when I checked today it was all black and mushy. The lower part of the cactus has changed colour a little too and feels soft so I assume the same thing will happen to it. I don't over water them so I'm not sure why this has suddenly happened. The only thing that's wrong with some is a bit of scale.

Does anyone know why this could've happened?

I will probably cut off the bottom and replant the top once it's ready. It's a pain in the arse losing a rooted (pun not intended) cactus though

[Evil Genius]

Maybe Insect or Mouse Damage. They can cause pretty bad Rot. I know because fucking mice killed a whole lot of Lobivias this Winter by eating parts out of them what caused secondary Infections.

Or it could have been Fungal. Fungal Infections kill pretty quick too.

Third Option could have been Larvae eating the cactus from the inside. Causes Rot pretty quickly too.

Fourth Option is Temperature. Too cold or too hot kills quickly too.

If i were you, i would excavate do an authopsy! ;-)

[migraineur]

Yeah, I saw a little hole in the soil and I wondered if some kind of bug or something was digging and then causing problems. I did also wonder if it was caused by a cane spike but I have watered which would've disrupted the soil and covered any original holes.

[CβL]

What's your potting mix / soil made up of?

[gerbil]

It can happen very quick, this is one I posted a couple of years back. I took cuts and pretty much left it to sort itself, it ended up carving out a heap of the stem to the core, but stayed on one side and I didn't lose the plant.

A combination of factors from what I interpreted, the trich was tissue damage from falling over, then I propped it back up, and rot set in. Could have been the reason for it bending in the first place, or could have come about 'cause of it. Could possibly also have been high nitrogen, and maybe it needed more potassium, grouped with heavy clay soils. I also lost large loph to trich grafts to orange rot around the same time, both stock and scion.

From the notes and memory, it was fairly wet and windy at the time.

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=20615&page=2#entry291439

"Rot set in from tissue damage due to high winds during times of moisture."

I'm getting large weeping black rot spots approx 20c piece on my in ground scop at the moment, sometimes it seems it pops up immediately after fertiliser application (this year it's been mainly chook pellets and blood and bone) but that was a fair few weeks back, though sometimes it can lag, maybe high nutrient levels and then when environmental conditions are right it hits, though oddly only a little bit showed up at the same time as the scop on some potted TBM tips (not as severe, just bubbled not weeping) but nothing on anything else, all ferted pretty much the same. The scop does get more water though as it has a tap next to it, filling buckets, washing hands etc.

Edited April 15, 2013 by gerbil

[GoOnThen]

Are you sure it wasn't sun burn from those few hot days we had. I had a number of plants suffer in my garden in those few days. They normally get a bit of shade through summer but at this time of the year they get full sun and 37.5 deg in April they didn't like at all.

Cheers

Got

[migraineur]

They don't get too much sun. They could do with more sun given the spot they're in but they aren't too deprived. I need to move them because they're at the back edge of the garden in pots and lots of snailes and slugs come out of the woodwork at night so I've had to buy snail pellets since those fucks nibble on my babies and make them look ugly. Why do they always have to climb to the top and nipple the tip?

I think I'll do some digging into the soil and see if there's anything in there that caused it. The soil is 50% potting soil and 50% coarse sharp sand. I give them fertiliser occasionally.