Loph under attack Help!!

[Jack]

I applied fungacide to my 2 largest plants today.

I come home from work and first thing i see is that 1 plant is covered in ants

there is a trail of ants going from the side of the pot onto and into plant into the gaps between the buttons and all over it.

Then I notice there are some chunks missing, pics below

I squashed all the ants I could find, and will keep an eye on it. Is there some treatment that I might be able to use if they are still a problem in days to come?

Any ideas what may have caused this attack? a bird? I know its not the fungacide as the other plant has no such wounds.

Is there somthing i should treat the wound with to stop infection? I am keeping it dry.

[ 06. October 2004, 19:31: Message edited by: Jack ]

[occidentalis]

I can't see your pics Jack.

[smogs]

i cant help with problem but curious to how big that is

it looks huge!

[Rev]

Kinda looks like Rodent damage

They are bastards they take a bite then change their mind but at the wrong time it can be disastrous for secondary infection

Keep it in low humidity till it calouses and put out of reach of rodents

[Flip]

I agree with the rodent damage

look at the long tooth marks that gouged into the plant.

best to buy some traps

as they might come back for another nibble

nice plant otherwise

let her scar over

I had a possum behead all my friends young cacti after he watered and fed them all one evening.

he ended up loosing far too many due to the damage and resulting infection :mad:

it was a real trial on his ethics and who had the right to

eat his plants - that he's still dealing with.

too bad traps don't come "possum sized" that bastard would be a gonner

[ 07. October 2004, 04:49: Message edited by: Flip ]

[planthelper]

i had the same problem,

the rodent's mistake them for some palm / macca nuts or whatever nut's, no doubt for me that, it's the shape of the loph that makes them do this mistake.

small bitemarks, the cacti will survive, but all of mine with chunks missing died...

makes me think if mice took my sceletium seedpots aswell....

and yes, ant's sometimes attack small seedling peyote, they bloody carry the baby loph off, overnite!

[ 07. October 2004, 08:36: Message edited by: planthelper ]

[Jack]

Forgot to mention that they must have had a nasty suprise, as my cereus peruvians and t.spach were knocked over, hopefully the bugger got some nasty spines stuck in it and wont be returning

[smogs]

if it is a possum theres a product called "poss off" thats sposed to deter possums... i was thinking of getting it because my entire garden was getting obliterated... they take 1 bite of all fruit and vege and leave it.... and then nibble all the seedling tips so they die

grrr

i woulda been happy if it just took a tomato now and then... anyways i think i made up a very hot chilli juice and sprayed it all over my plants.... it never ate any of them again after that

[gerbil]

smogs:

if it is a possum theres a product called "poss off" thats sposed to deter possums... i was thinking of getting it because my entire garden was getting obliterated

Did anyone see the abc nature doco the other week? It had a section on possums and they tested out a heap of deterents and basically came to the conclusion that none of them worked well. They showed the poss off you are talking about smogs, don't think it did much good, though i can't quite recall the exact verdict on that one.

[Jack]

It wasnt a possum as it was during the day.

[planthelper]

ok, now i can see the pic.

that doesn't look like rodent damage at all,

that's normal loph base rot.

the redish color points towards a smelly (fungal / bacterial) rot!

how fast did you discover the damage,

because a fresh damage does not have any red sunken foldy skin!!

but if an injury gets unoticed and you watered the affected area than rotting away will happen fast. see with the problem is that your caespitosa pups "have created a swimming pool" from where the water hardly drains off, and now your puddles of water cause all the rotting.

stopp watering overhead, keep the affected area as dry as possible. dont even water the pot, it could worsen the condition.

[occidentalis]

There is a bit of droopiness but there is also some very obvious bite-like chunks taken out. Can that be caused by rot?

[Jack]

I am quite sure its not rot, the plants have not been watered for at least a month, and mainly sheltered from the rain, the fungacide was applied selectively to effected areas only with a paint brush.

The redish colour has been confirmed by garden world to be a fungal problem.

It was definately attacked by some sort of animal as I mentioned above the animal knocked over 2 other cacti in the process and hopefully got more than it bargained for with the spines and all.

Will post some more pics when i can.

[Rev]

I thought Quassia chips were used to keep possums off rosebuds and fruit

Quassia amara

http://www.rain-tree.com/amargo.htm

As an intensely bitter tea it is sprayed onto buds which apparently possums cant stomach

As its so intense id say itd be fairly economical if it works

but mousetraps are cheaper

what about laying rat traps? it wont kill a possum but itd give it a sore hand/nose,foot/tail for a while and scare the shit out of it

or put al the comumnar siky obnes around teh edge and the spineless ones proteced inside the circle

There are Quassia amara trees that produce fruit in Flecker botanic gdns

Dont know if itd grow down here though

[ 07. October 2004, 22:46: Message edited by: reville ]

[devance]

Nasty varments come in two flavours. Birds as in blue jays and rats which can be frustrated by using stainless steel tape around the nearest tree their claws can climb up.

[teonanacatl]

could spray them with chilli juice, jus use a really hot chilli like habaneros. surly it would make the animals mouth burn.......unless it was a bird or reptile

[smogs]

do birds and reptiles not get the same heat reaction?

thats interesting

[Rev]

Ive had some Trichs massacred by Chuffs

(a Bird)

Come out and theyle pecked the guts out of one side

only option sis to cut and throw away the damged but and re root whatever remains

its worse when its a species that doent take easy from cuttings

[Flip]

kinda off topic... but

I had a small dog devour a san pedro years back

I didn't notice the damage right away but did remember the dog acting strangely

(running around the back and barking at flies?)

He had gnawed the plant down to the stump and eaten everything green (!?!)

(that bastard!) this is the same dog that seemed to like tequila

so I should have known that he was capable of doing this...

I managed to place the pot up where he couldn't get at it anymore

where it eventually recovered and sprouted a pup from the one areole left.

the dog seemed to be a wacky as ever.

[ 09. October 2004, 04:58: Message edited by: Flip ]

[woof woof woof]

lizards and birds do seem to be curious towards the peyotes,....

they investigate by picking or scratching the lophops.

have also had a problem with snails and lophops. snail pellets worked perfectly.

nowadays my lop hops are protected by chicken wire in a plastic tray

[Jack]

I forgot to put the plant back on the bbq after i was doing a few things and last night the bastards were at it again, this time less damage but more smaller bites. This is war I think i will set some rat poison around the place as well as some sort of mesh protection.

[Rev]

Until it can be sorted i suggest you take it inside or fashion a wire mesh cage from aviary wire to put it in

[smogs]

traps are better than poison..

then you know they are dead

also u dont want them to eat poison then wonder off... maybe under your floor then die

stinks big time

[ 11. October 2004, 12:04: Message edited by: smogs ]

[teonanacatl]

i just had this happen to my little 1.5cm babies, 2 got little chunks bitten out of them. im worried i took them outta the soil and set them bare rooted on a piece of paper near a fan, they are feeling a little squishy and im worried. any sugestions???????