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Cacti & Succulents

Cactus Woes (help me please)

8 years ago

Hi friends,

I've been having a problem with one of my cactii at work here. I think it's probably overran with some sort of critter - it was in the center of a pot along with a few other plants. It has fuzz all over it (you can see some of it below), and I've found a few bug skeletons (they don't LOOK like mealybugs... but I'm so new to this I have no clue).

It's covered with this rusty growth, and is pretty dreary looking. I think it's RIP for this cactus, but I'm concerned about my other plants. The fuzz on it is hairy with like a black sporey thing in the middle.

Any ideas what I'm dealing with here? (doesn't help that the pot has no drainage so I'm really learning the hard way with water + light, and I'm pretty sure this is a critter issue).

Help needed - thanks all!

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Comments (3)

ealdwood (10a)
8 years ago
Hmm I had mealybug problems and they didn't leave any shells (that I could find), they left little transparent blobs of stickiness on the leaves (pretty serious degree of infestation), that would stick to whatever you poked at it. They also left tiny cotton balls. They have many different phases, the easiest phase for us to identify and remove them at is when they're crawlers at which point you can just poke them off with a stick or pair of tweezers. Or just kill them with q-tip with rubbing alcohol. Or mix like 1/3 rubbing alcohol with 2/3 water (do a google search) and spray the plant (try not to get any in the dirt).

They infested my graptosedum succulents though, not any of my cacti. (And also my cayenne chilli plant.) Symptoms are: disfigured young leaves (they would grow but look really messed up and eventually die) and the crawlers like to hide among the joints under leaves because they don't like sunlight.

Anyways long story short, I don't think mealybugs is what caused ..what I think is a ..cereus tetragonus 'Fairy Castle' cactus...to become like that. Unless you spotted some tiny mealybug crawlers? That cactus really, really needs well-draining soil. Some people have an easy time keeping it and some people (e.g. Me) don't.

How did the roots look like? Rotten/soft?
Justin L.
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks so much for taking the time for the thoughtful response.

The roots looked fine, but I suspect a little rot as there was a little odor as well as the underside which was soft in certain areas.

Another thought I had was possibly red spider mites, or possibly some form of fungus causing that brownish/rust growth.

You're right though - the drainage of this pot considering it's indoors where I can get seemingly good sunlight but there isn't a lot of heat makes it a tough situation. I'm going to monitor my other plants carefully over the next few days to see if what I'm dealing with moves to any of the others.
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The pot it’s in is a glazed pot with an attached tray base with holes allowing water to flow out from the soil. I don’t let water sit in there. I do have the pot sitting on top of another tray which I fill with water. There is no way (as far as i know??) for this water to get into the soil because the pot is glazed and there are no holes through the bottom (they’re on the sides inside the attached tray). I read that it’s a good way to give the plant some more humidity. Is that not true? I like the glazed pot because it seems to hold more moisture than unglazed but not as much as plastic. The way I check the soil is just by touching it a bit below the surface. Is there a better way you’d recommend? Any ideas why the soil would look so old and deflated after only a year? I mixed in a significant amount of perlite. However greenclaws up above mentioned it looks “peaty” and sure enough i just looked it up and the base mix I used is mostly peat moss and peat hummus . What do you want in the mix instead of peat? I will look for an African violet mix. I have never found a good potting mix for this plant, I hope i can get African violet mix here. I would love to make my own potting soil but have not had luck finding the separate components. I felt lucky for finding a bag of perlite! It’s all just pre-made bagged stuff. Even at greenhouses. thank you all for your input. I wish I knew what was the primary stressor on the plant. Was it the direct sunlight? Sounds like the cold isn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t looking great even before it got cold. Is it the potting soil being all used up or whatever is wrong with it? I can repot and then put back in the room where it gets good light but protect it behind a sheer curtain. Does that sound like a good plan?
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laticauda
8 years ago
Cut all the gross stuff off til all that's left is firm, bright green flesh. Throw the rest of it away.

leave what's left sitting on a counter in a bright but not direct sun light.

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