Cactus has disease/fungus/pest problem?
I've got an old cactus with some issues. History: I bought this thing
when I was a kid, maybe 9 - 10 years old (I am 29 today, so this cactus
is definitely pushing 20 years old). My mother took care of it after I
lost interest as a kid, and it continued growing in its own weird way.
Now that I'm gaining an interest in plants as an adult, I re-adopted the
cactus from Mom to see what I can do for it.
This thing has always had the scarring around the base, and over the
past decade or so it grew attained the bizarro bulbous shape you see
today (guessing it was pot bound when it was younger, or some other
stress caused the scarring, and it just grew up into a green balloon on top of that damaged tissue). But, I'm actually interested in the white
stuff on top. I suspect this plant is sick with something.
The entire album is here:
http://imgur.com/a/9TVcC
The white stuff on top is powdery, and I can brush it off with a Q-tip.
Here, you can sort of see it running down the grooves at the sides
A few years back, the main cactus started growing a new cactus on the side. It too, has the white stuff on its crown:
Some of the white stuff is in the form of...pillars or towers. I
initially thought the cactus was trying to grow more escape pods, but
these things actually fall off. Maybe they're pillars of disease bugs or
something?
This cactus has had several problems...it was pot-bound for the longest
time, and I'm pretty sure my mom was over-watering it (once or twice a
week), which would explain the green soil it had when I rescued it. The
plant seemed to be doing ok though, because it even started flowering during the summer
within the past couple of years. But now, the white stuff seems to be
spreading, and I don't know what it is. I thought it might be mealybugs
or something, so I've doused this cactus with ortho garden pesticide a
few times, but the white stuff is still here.
Anybody have any clues what is wrong with my Quasimodo cactus?
Comments (16)
Polypompholyx
8 years agoUser
8 years agoThank you for the reply! It makes sense that those are dead flowers - I poked them with a q-tip and knocked them all off this morning.
The reason I was concerned is that these white parts are very powdery, and I can cause them to fall off just by blowing on them. That dusty characteristic, combined with the appearance of white spots forming around some of the areole, are what got me concerned about pests. I just went outside to get some better pictures of the fuzzy parts, and I spied this tiny red looking spider (circled in yellow) crawling around. Maybe I've got red spider mites too?
Back to the white fuzz: I bought several small succulents at a flea market back in May or so. They have all thrived over the past few months, except for this one (not sure of the species). One of the green things died after I transplanted him into that white pot. The other ones grew bigger after that, until they started dying off within the past 2 months.
I brought the cactus to my place and re-potted it around the same time, so I can't help but wonder if I infected the flea market plant. These pics are from today: notice the little white powdery tufts around where each of the green spines comes out of the body.
The white powdery parts on both plants, and now the appearance of the red spider-looking bug: Do either of these resemble symptoms of pests you fine folks have encountered on your cacti and succulents?
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Cactus disease/fungus?
Comments (1)I have had a few instances where some of my plants developed dark brown or black patches. If they remain small, about 1/4 to 3/4 inch and are small in comparison to the rest of the cactus, as they appear in your image, then I would leave them alone but keep my eye on them. Sometimes when a cactus is taken from inside a store and placed outdoors, even a little direct sunlight can damage the plant if it is not used to it and can cause burnt patches, but I do not think this is what your plant is suffering from. I could be wrong. for general growing conditions you might check http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/Cactaceae/Cereus_peruvianus.html How often have you been watering it and have you been letting the soil dry out completely between waterings? If the dark spots continue to grow and the underlying tissue is rotting and threatens to expand to the core of the plant you might want to cut the section off and apply a coating of sulfur to the remaining clean tissue. I would also suggest you check both the plant and the roots for insects which can stress the plant. Root mealy bugs can destroy a plant and remain hidden from view as they do not live above the soil. A stressed plant may succumb to fungus or rot....See MoreDisease/Fungus/Pest ID?? Please
Comments (13)Leafminers burrow between cell walls. This means they are protected from pesticides. You can use a systemic for vegetables from Bayer, Ortho, and other companies. Not necessary unless you want pretty leaves. As said here before, we eat the fruit not the leaves. Aim for pretty fruit. This link gives you detailed info on the leafminer and has a photo of your leaf! Here is a link that might be useful: American Serpentine Leafminer...See MoreHelp ID Mint problem/pest/disease
Comments (5)Hi and thanks for the responses. The cutting is in a different batch of soil than the original, however I have maybe a half dozen other plants in this soil or a mix containing this soil and they haven't shown signs of any diseases. I'll try rinsing it, it is a very small cutting. It's growing a lot slower than mint has grown for me in the past :/ I live in the city, not very close to a nursery but maybe someone at the farmer's market will be able to help me out! Thanks a lot :)...See MoreWhat disease(s) and/or pest(s) are making my sedums sad?
Comments (9)Yeah I think you're right about the white; looked again today and it was gone. The scale on the last plant if there is subtle, but how about the numerous non-subtle brown spots, some of which look eaten into the leaf? Some kind of mite? If so, here's the combo I've come up with: Acephate - Amazon: "97UP 1lb bag Generic Orthene Insect & Fire Ant Killer" - http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/insect/05507.html says "Insecticide with some effectiveness against spider mites. Systemic." Forbid 4F - eBay: "Free Forbid 4F Miticide Spiromesifen 1/4 OZ free gift when u purchase 3 pipettes" - "Like Avid, it is translaminar. The active ingredient, spiromesifin, while not systemic (i.e., it does not move through the plant’s vascular system like, for example, Merit does), is absorbed by the plant’s leaves and will move from the tops of the leaves to the bottoms where the mites feed." A lot of the more mainstream systemic products use Imidacloprid, and while they don't claim to work against mites, they also don't mention that one reason that spider mites become a problem is insecticides [such as Imidacloprid] that kill their natural predators....See MorePolypompholyx
8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoPolypompholyx
8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoI have seen photos only of non-spiny A. subulata.
Here is my A. subulata - at least that's the ID I got here - last summer:
Same plant this year - after being outside in lots of sun, it doesn't have as many leaves:
Rina
Polypompholyx
8 years agoPolypompholyx
8 years ago1. main plant
2. branch cut from bottom of main plant
3. new plant from local store
They are staked because they have a tendency to lean after they are repotted. I changed my mind. Now my plants and Jack's don't look etiolated.
paracelsus
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years agoPolypomp
I see some difference between your plant and Jacks:
Yours on left, Jack's on right.
I don't know it Jacks is etiolated, or is it different variety?Rina
Polypompholyx
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago
asclepiad_fan
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoThe first picture shows what looks like frostbites. The "pillars" are flowers which failed to pollinate. If they did, they would have a wide base and fall-off only when ripe, giving many tiny black seeds. The offshoot looks healthy, it could have been the cactus was lying somewhere close to the ground and some bugs ate portions of the ribs. Do you see the ribs actually have missing portions, or did the skin just dry-out?
If you're concerned about spider mites, this is how their damage looks like:
http://www.cactusnursery.co.uk/RedSpider.htm
The damaged skin turns into a rusty-color bark. Often cacti recover from that scenario and show a healthy growth tip like the Lopophora pictured in that page.
This is my cactus (Coryphanta?) which suffered from spider mites last year. Plant roots looked sturdy (the plant did not come-off when I nudged it) so I figured it could be an above-ground insect. I watered it overhead (Mites don't like humidity) and in the spring a new growth tip emerged. Now, a whole new section has grown above the old bark.
User
8 years agolast modified: 8 years ago@Polypom @Rina
Thanks for giving me a hint for the species, as well as sharing the pics of your plants! You're right, mine have no spines nor prickly parts whatsoever, and they aren't near as thick or rigid as yours look. I had never seen this type of plant, and only bought it because I thought it was neat. Maybe I bought the genetically inferior result of some mad botanist's cross-breeding experiments? :-x
As for sunlight and etiolation, I honestly don't think that's it because I've been growing my A. Subulata in the same conditions as my other succulents, same July - October sunlight on my back porch. In fact, they were all sitting in a row on the same porch railing throughout most of this. I typically use the "finger dipstick" test to determine when I should water, but I've kept these plants dry for the most part. Maybe they get watered once every 6 - 10 days at most?
The plants pictured below in the black plastic containers are the ones I bought at the same time from the flea market lady (this was dated 7/18/2015), with the baby A. Subulata in the middle. It's a blurry camera pic, but I'm pretty sure I had 5 - 6 of the plants in that pot when I started.
...and these are those same plants now, with the little black container for reference.
I'm pretty sure I used the same Miracle Gro "Cactus, Palm, & Citrus potting mix", for these, but it's possible I cut it with Fox Farms Ocean Forest potting soil (I probably did for the big cactus just due to the size of the pot). I know that's not ideal for a desert plant, but surely poor drainage / incorrect perlite mixture would have made my babies pictured above look like this sickly baby pictured below!
Maybe A. Subulata is more finicky or sensitive to something in this N.C. weather? I repotted all of those flea market plants the day after I bought them...I didn't know that A. Subulata was many plants, so I was surprised when they all came apart in my hand when I pulled them out. One of the A.Subs died within a couple of weeks of me re-potting, but I chalked that up to my novice plant-handling skills. The others held on, but then started doing the "loch ness monster" dip/grow back up/dip more/grow up/die cycle since maybe late August or so?. That's why I suspected disease or pests, just because it took so long for them to start declining...but maybe they hated that soil, and it's just taken them this long to say "I give up" and die?
@Asclepiad_Fan
I didn't see what my mom did with it on a day-to-day basis when she owned it, but it always stayed in a pot either on the back porch (wooden, 2nd story off of the ground) or inside in a window sill in the winter. Honestly, it's always had some form of scarring and it's only gotten worst as time went on (summer or indoors!). Anyways, here's some pics in bright sunlight (maybe it will show something that my previous rainy-day pics don't?)This is the front, where there is less scarring visible:
This is the back, which looks worse:
And here is a close-up of the off-shoot: even its base is showing that same scarring!
Not sure if it matters, but this guy has always had more spider webs on it since I assumed ownership and re-potted it. Some mornings, I would see one - two threads on the other succulents, but this guy has always consistently more inside of his pot compared to the other porch-rail succulents. Is it because it's a bigger pot / firm spines make better anchor points and the spiders look for that? Or, maybe I do have some spider-mite like pest? It sure looks like something has been sucking this poor dude dry his whole life...
Polypompholyx
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agorina_Ontario,Canada 5a
8 years ago
Polypompholyx