So I am another one of those brown thumb sorry saps that can kill anything that requires air, water, and light. I started with what I thought was a pretty healthy peyote with some very healthy buttons growing around the bottom. Over the last two months this guy has begun looking very sad, with browning, blemishes, cavitations, and shrinkage. I've tried fresh soil, gentle water, backing off the water, sunlight, shade, but he just isn't doing well. Any suggestions of a steady recovery course to follow would be greatly appreciated. Please see attached pics.

I have one that is starting to look that way as well...peyote is one of those plants I am not so great at growing it seems. Hope ya can save it!

Hi idtravlr

Hey Jamie! Yes, I hope I can make he flourish. I'm sure I will get it sorted.
Will I see you at Shambs this year? PM me if so and we'll coordinate.

I don't like the look of the soil. Looks too moist and humus-ish without enough loam and sand. You want a mineral soil mix and a generic cacti fertilizer, Lophos don't like organic soil.

Thats's what the soil looks like in nature:



Shade is unnecessary, since I assume you live in Canada, this plant is a _desert_ plant. So put it in the sun, sun, sun. Also the pics are shaky and fuzzy, would it be possible to provide sharper pics? I first thought mites, but I can't see clearly, the Lopho may be also rotten due to poor drainage/too much moist.

Colour of the soil from professional cacti grower:


http://lophophora.blogsp...amsii-v-jourdaniana.html

From what I read, is that you treat your Lopho like a native Canadian forest plant, but look up where the natural habitat of the Yote is and look up the climate values of the local area for a more natural watering regimen. You might also want to check a professional cacti vendor's site and get his mineral soil mix for Lophos. There's plenty material on the web for treating a Lopho right.

soil:should be almost 100% mineral based in most climates. organic soil can take too long to dry out

but the big problem is that they have mites, spray with methanol/repeat

good luck

Thanks Ufostrahlen. I'm actually not in Canada, I'm in the PNW US so a somewhat similar climate and soil. So yes, I'm just using a traditional cactus soil pre-mix and it is very woody with some pumice in it. I wondered about the soil all along but I couldn't find any good info on peyote specifically with regard to soil. I will add a couple more clearer pics. Standby.

Here are some slightly better pics. The browning is concerning me. I don't see mites of any sort but I'm not sure what I'm looking for other than little bugs.

"Will I see you at Shambs this year?"


Uhh..yeah you will! ..sorry don't mean to take up space here on non cacti talk!

When dg says they have mites, then they have mites. I haven't seen an unhealthy Lopho in years, so his knowledge should trump mine. You can also spray with IPA instead of methanol, the boiling point is 82 °C vs. 65 °C, IPA evaporates fast, too.

My Caleas currently have/had mites and I ran out of neem oil, so I sprayed with them with 70% IPA / 30% water - evaporated in no time and the plant tolerated it.

And don't worry too much, currently only the crown is affected, not the whole plant, you could cut it like depicted in the knife pic and the crown regrows - may take some years tho. But please change the soil. I know that smart shops sell them like this, but it's definitely not the right substrate.

Thank you Ufostrahlen and dg both! I will find or compound a better soil as well as treat for mites.

One last question: Should I keep the buttons attached until this guy gets healthier or sever them now and start them fresh, on their own?

Cheers and thank you so much again!

-idt

I mean the button still looks green, cutting the crown means stress for an already stressed plant... I'd spray first and get new soil asap. Then see what happens. Maybe in two or three months the cactus is back on track and just cutting the deformed pups that hinder growth of the main button is sufficient.

Thank you my friend! Down the road to recovery I venture. I really appreciate the help!

Peace!
-idt

Good luck, may the Peyote spirit see your good intentions.

Definitely mite damage, you need a 30x scope to see them

some handy images found thru google search:
hxxp://lophophora.blogspot.com/search/label/Spider%20mites

iso spray works great, spray lightly twice a week for 2 weeks for kill adults and hatching eggs
avoid soap or oils!

good luck!

Thank you so much dg! I never would have guessed that I had mites! I have started treatment and will continue.

Peace!

-idt

My peyote grow that has been going for years i am not trying to show off but my peyote got mites bad the one in the pics we can gix it and get yours looking like mine in a few weeks and size in a few years the mites will be dead in a few weeks
but thats mites i been down thatvroad with the pics below if u need anymore help Dg knows and i know some asell lets get yours looking like mine ....




 

 

After mites killed and a few years new groth.


Take care

For mites...Spray with beer...

Replant under the shade of larger plants bushes...

In nature ...Peyote likes indirect sunlight...

Neem oil is a great organic miticide. Look for it where organic gardening spies are available. Neem is a plant that grows in India. It is used as a medicine.

you must be very careful spraying oils and soaps on cacti
for that reason not recomended

I've used MightyWash from NPK Industries on all my cacti, lophs, trichs, and others.

It works well for mites, completely annihilates them.

It does wash the glaucus coating off of Trichs though, also, there's very little information as to what MightyWash actually is. It's normally used for weed growers and the company claims it can be used on the plants till day of harvest. But again, that's one company making a claim about their own product.

Anyway, it works really well.

I'll probably try the methanol approach next time I see mite damage.