Here it is almost May and I've just noticed your post. We were all beginners once; I lost about 30% of my first plantings, and continue to loose one thing or another from year to year. In most instances it was over-watering in summer, and ill-timed watering in winter. In the end, I developed a policy that, after a killing freeze, I would replace the dead plants with duplicates of whatever survived. This moved me away from a one-of-each look, to a more coherent look; unplanned, but happy results. And fewer and fewer specialty plants that I need to cover each winter. When you put on frost cloths, raise them with long stakes so they don't touch the plant. If they touch, you will get a frozen spot on the plant at any point of contact. Use clothespins to anchor the cloths to the stakes, top and bottom. With new plantings of cacti and succulents (May is the season for planting these), be sure to orient the plant so whatever side was facing south is still facing south in its final position. This will minimize sun damage. Yes, cacti sunburn. Then drape them in cheesecloth their first season, at least into the middle of monsoons, preferably all the way through to late September. This will help them adapt to their new compass orientation. While many of the cacti sold locally are frost hardy, adding cups on frosty night to the growing tips of post-like forms is a good idea. Most succulents sold locally, are specimens from milder climates, should be covered or brought into a porch (and still covered) or indoors when temperatures drop below 33. In a freeze, the water in the cells expands -- just like ice cubes in an icecube tray -- and ruptures the cells, causing the plant to turn to mush when it thaws. For these tender plants, I now limit myself to small ones I keep in pots, one I can load into a couple of beer flats and whisk into the laundry room on frosty nights. But they do like to be put outdoors again when the temperature gets back up to 40. Not always convenient for me when there are a succession of frosty nights. By now you may have heard that some parts of town are colder than others. Quite true. Cold air sinks into the valley, and it also flows to lower places such as hollows or along washes. I live next to a wash, and get more frost on that side of the garden than twenty-five feet away on the other side of the garden. Also, tiny differences in elevations can sometimes make a difference. I inherited a rock garden (well, all rocks, no plants, when I bought the house), and find that a difference in elevation of two to three feet from front to back makes a difference between frost and no frost. Also, south or west facing walls that are such brutal situations for plants in summer, can release heat through much of a winter night and make a slight "warm" patch on a night when a difference of one or two degrees makes all the difference. Consider the losses part of the learning experience, and have a great time developing your desert garden. Good luck enduring the coming summer and next winter.

Hi I thought of fiberglass but don't think it will adhere to plastic. Finding the crack is tough particularly on the inside .I put marking pen on it on the outside but need a magnifying glass to see it lol They make adhesives specificly for different kings of plastic BUT you have to know which kind They melt the material so they combine much like PVC glues. Could melt a piece on the crack which would also provide strength . Much too expensive to experiment with though. Thought of using plastic bags but the interior bottom is not flat sure it won't hold the weight. Think I'll go with the Flex seal seems like the best all around answer and costs 12 bucks as opposed to 150 for a new barrel lol Thanks for the help!!! gary

Looks quite like my aporocactus flagelliformis. If accurate, then it's not etiolated but definitely in a waterlogged soil mix. The central brown section looks suspiciously like rot, but the tip looks salvageable and perhaps the base as well unless there is also subsurface rot. You might give the brown section a gentle but firm press with a Qtip to check for rot. Rot will be indicated by the "skin" giving, releasing moisture and a squishy texture to the tissue. If it is aporocactus, good news is they are very easy to root even with just small sections. You would, however, need a coarser soil mix. Strange that rot would originate in the center. I wonder if it was recently placed in a sunny window after a period of time in less light- causing a sunburn which was set to rot by sudden watering? Good luck. Aporocactus is a knockout bloomer and very much worth efforts in care.

Thank you all for your responses. I do not think it is spider mite damage because I do not see the usual signs of mites and have dealt with them in the past...but I did have some bad soil last month that I found fungus gnat larvae in (I always inspect soil before bringing it in my home) but that issue was resolved quickly and there have been no signs of an infestation. I did a hydrogen peroxide and water treatment to all my plants just to be safe and the bad soil was removed right away. I have felt the cactus and it seems to be firm still and there is little added texture to the cactus. Another thing I have noticed is that it doesn't seem to be changing, I noticed the discoloration last week and it looks exactly the same today. The cactus is an Opuntia and commonly goes by "Snow prickly pear" or "Snow ponytail". As far as watering goes, maybe two times was too much? when I got the cactus the soil was bone dry and pulling from the edges of the pot, so I re potted it and watered the next week. Then I waited 30 days and gave it another watering, this time with the hydrogen peroxide and water like I did for all my plants. I really appreciate the responses. I am going to continue to watch it closely and for now I have moved it away from my other plants just in case. I have around 70 plants and don't want to risk something happening to them. One final thought I have is that maybe it is sunburn? my other plants in the same location are having no problems though.