I could really use an expert opinion because I just found my one bridgesii rotting and I am worried my other bridge and pedro will follow suit. With the recent death of my peyote I am feeling bummed and kind of clueless.

Can someone tell me if these are rotting or about to rot? I really don't want to cut the roots off my pedro as I've already had to perform surgery before. My pedro started looking yellow around the edges and so I dug deeper and started to freak out. The yellow color going up the ribs is what had me concerned. I can't tell what is going on here.




http://imgur.com/5CFNdKX
http://imgur.com/JyzEWr4

Here's my other bridgesii



There's a little dark spot there... is this about to rot?

I just want to be sure before I cut anything, and I'm trying to figure out asap so it doesn't spread. Thanks for any and all help. I can't bear to lose my babies.

Also, how should I store these in the meantime? I have them laying on the porch right now with trash bags under them to collect dirt from the roots. I know that sunlight is bad for roots but I have them out of direct light. Can someone please help me? Are these two cacti alright?

I wouldn't worry, it seems normal to callous under/near soil surface.

One rule i have, if it's not soft it's not a problem.

Thanks . They are kind of soft, but it doesn't seem any squishier than the rest of the cactus when I poke it. I was just panicking and wanted to make sure I don't inadvertently kill my plants. My other bridge definitely had some rot, so I cut the base and will have to re-root it. I just want to protect my babies!

When I have found a plant rotting, I have had no doubt whatever. Flesh turns into soft slime - which does not appear to be the case here.

I had a damaged pachanoi. I nursed it back to health, it does fine for 2.5 years, it sprouted many pups, then I notice a brown discoloration under its skin.

Then, while watering a few days ago, I bump into the stalk, and it feels like wet cardboard, so I take a razor and slice it open, and the inside is liquid...

I saved the pups and any unusable plant matter...but lost the stalk.

Not sure why this happened...Though for the future it would be nice to know what went wrong...

-eg

Thanks, I appreciate it!


Dang, sorry to hear that. I have had too many problems with this through the years, with both of my pedros when I started and then with my peyote, and now my bridgesii. Although I know my bridge had some nasty bruises when I got it, I am wondering if it might have been able to heal itself. Better safe than sorry, I guess.

How often do you water your pedro? I try to let it dry out completely before giving a decent amount of water. I think my soil has been retaining too much moisture so I am going to use even more perlite when I repot.

I water once a week, sometimes if it's really hot and dry I give them a little extra water...

This cactus had rotting issues previously, was revived, then succumbed to rot again, I saved all the pups, and ran an extract on what was left, I did not go through the effort to obtain mescaline HCL, but got a decent total alkaloid extract from it...

It was sad to see my cactus friend reduced to a pile of tan powder, but in the end, when I enjoy its gifts, I should be less upset about the death of the cacti....

-eg

Rot is usually caused by excessive watering.

bridgesii is the most delicate of the Trichs, ime.

What the hell am I doing wrong?







So I just checked on my plants and found this... I don't know what is going on. I have not watered them since I re-potted them just last week. My bridgesii seems to have randomly developed sores and I don't know how it happened. Should I just leave it alone? When I got my bridge cuttings they were riddled with black sores from obvious spine damage and improper storage. They recovered fine from that so I am wondering if these will heal themselves. I think I should have maybe left my other one, but the black spots were larger and the base seemed to have them. This bridge is still nice and firm, it's not soft on the ribs around the spots.

My pedro suddenly has these black spots... they look like trauma from where the branch bent while I had it laying on the ground. You can see the horizontal stress marks from where it was bending. Although the branch is kind of soft, the whole plant is kind of soft except the stalk. However, he has not been watered in a while so he's probably thirsty. It's not really squishy, just not firm.

Am I freaking out over nothing? Please enlighten me, O great nexians.

Could it be the heat and humidity? It has been incredibly hot of course. It's always humid in the summer here.

More breaking news- I just checked my bridge that I cut and it also has developed some black spots. They are pretty small, but this is the plant whose stalk I cut because it had large black spots. I have no idea what is going on here. Do bridgesii spontaneously get sores? I really don't want to have to worry about my plants like this. I keep them elsewhere since they don't get sun in my apartment.

I am confused.

This kind of black spots are not unusual IME, so i wouldn't worry too much. Indeed, heat and humidity seem to make it happend even without any trauma. It should cork with time (it could also spread here and there, though)
IMO, you found out by yourself the origin of the bruses on the pedro and here again i would not worry too much.

I gonna repeat what i said earlier in this thread, if it's not soft it's not a problem.

I know it's difficult to not overcare your babies but they are quite tough and self-healing. Just check sometimes if they don't become squishy and if this happen you still can save them by cutting and re-rooting them.

Thank you for your response! I appreciate the insight. I am just super cautious now because one day I looked at my peyote and it was in such bad shape I could not save it. I still don't understand how it happened, it looked so green and healthy and then it just rotted suddenly. I didn't think I gave it too much water... so I feel kind of confused about how I am doing things. I know that trichs are different but I've never grown bridgesii before and my pedro has never gotten bruised too much.

It is so humid out right now that there is a foggy mist everywhere.

Yote is a very different beast, much trickier (more sensitive to humidity). Most of the thing is in the soil so you can see if there is a problem and when you see it, it's too late, you can't take a cutting to save it.

With trichs, most of it is out of soil and it's easy to treat or cut and re-root before deseases spread. IME (and what i read on STS), Bridge is more sensitive to rot so i water them less than Pedro&Peru.

Is it ok to re-pot my other bridgesii with its little bruises? Some of it will be under the soil. I just want to be safe.

Why do you want to re-pot it ?

I cut the bottom off my other bridgesii because it looked like it was rotting... it had some large bruises on it and they went down to the base. So it's currently sitting out now... my other plants are in pots. Dunno if I clarified that very well. I have two bridgesii and one pedro. I didn't want to leave it to rot since it happened so quickly and I panicked. It might have been alright but eh, it will grow anew.