Root and Base Rot on Dioscorea

[emilleejoyce]

Tonight I discovered that my dioscorea elephantipes which had gotten some rotted roots a month or so ago had a mushy base and seemed to be rotting again. I immediately unpotted it. The base was soft and a little squishy to the touch but not mushy. I decided to do surgery on it but was really surprised to see that the flesh underneath the bark was still white. So I was conservative with my cutting but I'm worried it won't be enough. This is my favorite plant and I want to save it. I didn't cut away any of the roots because I wasn't sure if I should. The softest part of the plant seemed to be on the edges of the base but not so much where the roots emerge. I then dipped the plant's base where I'd cut and the roots in a hydrogen peroxide mixture of 1 tbsp hydrogen peroxide to 1 cup of water. I don't have rubbing alcohol or sulfur powder to disinfect the plant with but I was afraid to put hydrogen peroxide straight on the plant. Can someone please give me guidance as to what I should do? Should I cut all the roots off? Should I cut off more of the base?
Any help is greatly appreciated because I am totally at a loss right now. I love this plant so much I don't want to see it die.

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[KittieKAT]

Im NOT an expert here, but id remove any and ALL dead mushy roots u find as close to the roots beginning as possible
And after you've done that give u plant a good once over make sure its NOT Browning where you've just cut cause it could mean the infection is spreading because the knife wasnt sterilized property after every cut. if it looks fine id suggest letting it dry and heal for a few days before u even think about potting it back up
What are u using for medium? What have yr watering sceduals been like recently?
When was the last time this happened? And What is yr weather currently like where you are and temperature?

These answers could prob help people figure oit how to help you take care of this plant after the surgery and what to do with it now and figure out what was going on with it.

Hopefully u caught anything that was starting in time, ive never used hydrogen peroxide on a plant wound before so im not sure what that will do, hopefully others can tell you. I've had bad experiences with using cinnamon powder, and sulfur powder and rubbing alcohal seem to work best at times with me personally. I hope YOU get the help you need and someone gives u answers you're looking for.
Sorry i can't be much more help, I'm only able to help based on experience I've had.
But i would leave that guy Unpotted for a while to really heal those cuts up good to lower tree chance of root rott or mush again. Maybe u should leave it Unpotted until spring when the temps are better- unless your not below freezing like it is where i am lol!

Goodluck

[emilleejoyce]

My potting medium is approximately a 1:1:1 mix of store bought cactus soil, Pumice, and perlite with slightly more pumice and perlite. My watering schedule has been very sparse because I've already had issues with the soil not drying out. I think the main issue is that it's winter where I live (highs in the 20s and teens F) so my apartment stays cool and there's not much sunlight available.

When I checked the plant this morning it already looked like it was starting to callous over but I didn't touch it to see if it was still soft or not.

How can I tell if the roots are rotted? Normally I use the gentle tug test where if the roots don't come off with a gentle tug then I leave them. I'm not sure if this is accurate though because a lot of the bigger roots on this plant won't come off with a tug but still look dark and potentially rotted.

[KittieKAT]

Id say if they are dark, flat, soft and kinda feel like dried hay and hollow they are rotton and/or dead Soo cut them off their not benefiting the plant or helping much and it won't do much harm to get rid of the dead decaying roots