astro cancer?

[upside]

My astro has this big hole and its getting bigger. The wound is hard so not sure the best way to deal with it. Any help would be appreciative. Thanks.

as you can see, within a week the damage is quite noticeable...

[bogfrog]

Tricky... Hmm i would almost leave it be.

Unless you wanna get a scapel and pirouette it around the damage.. Its tricky to do without causing more damage and a bigger, uglier hole, but if you really wanna save the plant its probably your only option.

[upside]

Thanks Ceres, I wanted to leave it,, but its getting bigger (no pun intended) I don't want to cut it up as I had a loph a cupl years ago with same issues. I tried the dust etc with no luck, then decided to try n cut it out. Lost my loph by doing this. Is there a chance I could divide it into rib sections and try to graft the pieces?

[bogfrog]

Hmm dunno, you could give it a go, but really that would be like doing an aereole graft so u wanna make sure you have read up on that first. UTSE, i remember seeing a couple threads with good info on aereole grafting, i have never managed to get one to work, but other members make it look easy.

[Jox]

Hey upside, that does not look good.

Like Ceres I think letting it dry out & get plenty of sun might help. I have ever heard of anyone doing a areole on A myriostigma before & imagine it would be difficult to pull off, I am excited to see if you pull it off. If you decide you are going to give the areole graft a go please take photos & keep records of your experiences, I don't know if your in Aus or not but if you are I have a heap of A.myriostigma seedlings ready to send out, I will put a couple aside for you if you like.

Good luck mate.

Cheers

Jox

[Evil Genius]

Fungal. It probably wont survive. Never seen one like that make it. You could use hardcore fungicides but you would still have a moist pocket of shit inside the Astro.

Edited September 10, 2013 by Evil Genius

[myco]

It's most likely got root rot Astros are notorious for it

it starts in the roots rots and makes its way up through the core

Unfortunately they tend to look perfectly fine and healthy until its to late

I've lost a few from it I've had one myriostigma and one asterias survive it they still don't look healthy now but they're still goin

I found one of my variagated asterias with this problem today sliced him open and the entire core was rotted as usual

I attempted 3 areole grafts with it hopefully they take

[Rum and Monkeys]

Shite, that sucks!

I guess I will now have to change my Astro soil mixture to something with absolutely NIL organic/water retaining material... That's a nice size plant

[upside]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I'm gonna just leave it to nature I think, poor lil thing. Hopefully it will survive, but its not looking good.

I got this and another Astro from bunnings, the other is bigger and healthy. Also got some A.acuminata tube stock from bunnings same time, so go check your local!

Thanks for the offer Jox, Im a bit skeptical about plants in the mail these days. Anal WA laws.. I've had seeds sent no problem.. maybe I'm over cautious? Does anyone else have plants sent from east to west these days?

I have had some asterias and super kabuto sprout last week :-) stoked with that, very good germ rate.

Thanks again everyone.

[upside]

Well, it didn't take long :/

Wipes tears away from eyes,,, definitely a pocket of shit inside!

[bogfrog]

Bummer! Sorry for your loss.

I'm half tempted to graft all of my astros this season to avoid the perils of such a rot-prone species.

[Hellonasty]

Use loose, well draining mix free of almost any organic matter. The bacteria starts through organic matter and spreads. The easiest way to grow astros is this, mimic the environment they live in.......

This is where they live, a very dry and harsh environment, they are extremely hardy plants that don't require much attention at all. Keep them dry and they will tell you when they need a drink.

Astro and Lopho growing together

[GoOnThen]

Well, it didn't take long :/

IMAG1919.jpg

Wipes tears away from eyes,,, definitely a pocket of shit inside!

This is the most depressing thing with growing cacti especially when you have one like this with what you think is a small problem and then you eventually take a knife to it and the whole inside is mush.

I feel for you Upside.

Bummer! Sorry for your loss.

I'm half tempted to graft all of my astros this season to avoid the perils of such a rot-prone species.

I have lost more grafts to this rot than I have on there own roots.

I have become a believer about 18 months ago in what Hellonasty is saying about the mix that these cacti should be in. It has taken me some time to get my head around it and so each mix I made up has less and less organic mater in it to now it would have max of 10 to 20% in a mix.

Cheers

Got

[upside]

Thanks peeps,,, a sad loss indeed. I think it had this rot already by the time I purchased from bunnings. it had been watered but I never gave any in the time I have had it. The other astro is looking fine. I will defly use that advice Hellonasty, and repot the healthy astro asap! I have some really nice coarse sand I seived so I'm gonna use that.

Thanks again

Upside

[bogfrog]

Looks like i better up my game when it comes to cactus soil mixes!!

This thread has made me very paranoid about my favourite astros, now i'm looking at every little brown spot as potential death

Bunnings are shockers when it comes to drowning cacti. I think everyone who buys plants from there should make a point of finding out who looks after the cacti & succulent section and letting them know that their gross over-watering is killing the plants which they are selling. Some staff take offence, but when you point out all the rotten cacti sitting on their shelves it seems to sink in.

[Hellonasty]

I made a lengthy post at Aus Cacti Forum regarding soil mixes that was directed at Ariocarpus which are particularly difficult, however the same general principles apply to any of the Mexican miniatures.

http://forum.auscactiforum.net/t486-re-the-genus-ariocarpus