So a few weeks ago a buddy mailed me out a cacti that I had on my wishlist, it was in excellent condition under their care... You know how you hear of those horror stories where things get lost in the post? Yup, this happened. Anyhow long story short, the post office "lost" this package and they magically found it the other day, I opened it up and the cacti looks like this. Its clearly been in a dark box for weeks. This yellowing of tissue in the middle has me concerned, should I hack above and below or is it just stress from being trapped in a box?
Would appreciate all your expert advice as to what I should do ...
It doesn't look too bad. To me it looks like mostly stress from shipping from which it will likely recover over the coming months. So I wouldn't start sharpening the blades just yet (unless your aim is to root 2 cuttings) . Seeing as it is likely dormant right now I would say it would probably be best to just leave it to its own devices until spring when it wakes up.
Really you dont think it looks bad... Im kind of panicking over it and upset that its in this condition. I gently squeezed on the yellowing areas and other parts of the plant and is soft and squishy but not mush in the rotten sense? Not sure how else to explain it. Do you think the yellowing is due to mechanical damage or possibly a fungal pathogen found its way in? The thing is this plant doesnt have an established dormancy, and I'll have to keep it indoors for the next few months 67-70ish during the day and 55-60ish at night.
I was planning on repotting tonight and watering lightly in a good 10 days. Will be ordering grow lights at the first of the month.
It could very well be mechanical, or even cold damage (I have no idea what it is like where you are as we don't know your location but zone 5 assuming USDA is liable to be pretty cool right now.
I agree. The cutting doesn't look fantastic but it doesn't look all that bad neither. If you are cautious with amount of water you are giving it to start off, you should be ok. I know that first instinct is to give it water to help it bounce back but I wouldn't water it too much until spring rolls around again. Are these cuttings or do they have roots?
George I hope you are right and its nothing serious, who knows.
Jmoney- It doesnt look good I know :/ It actually has roots, beneath that yellow sunkin in area the tissue looks normal, and above it, the tissue looks normal. The whole plant feels slightly spongey if I squeeze it. My first instinct is to sharpen the knives lol and then yes water it... Since it will be indoors and mostly warm would watering it periodically still be ill advised? I dont want to lose it ...
I would water is sparingly until you know for sure that it is doing a bit better. Who knows, maybe after a tiny bit of water it will start to bounce back. How long was it lost at the post office?
Yeah I'll pot it up, say a prayer, and dash it with a bit of water and keep it relatively bright.... Hmmm it was supposed to take a few days ended up being 4-5 weeks?
That is quite a layover in a box...I don't think it is that bad off. A little water and some sunlight would probably do it some good. I would suggest just staying fairly light on the watering until you see it improve.
Wanted to do a quick update since it looks like its getting worse unfortunately.
I gave it a splash a water about 2-3 days ago and tried to take some clear pictures.
The sunken in yellow tissue is quite firm, the rest of the plant above and below is quite squishy.
New orange-ish circles have shown up in the last few days.
Please advise. https://goo.gl/photos/Zj7BaUdifEkX6QD97" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; https://goo.gl/photos/M42apUwgiaMXSoQ8A" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; https://goo.gl/photos/6oVzSMj3aVNyrgh16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Cacti can be very resilient. They can shrivel a lot and still recover. Cuttings often look very distressed before they decide they can be bothered to root. The same probably applies for something that's been in a darkened box for a few weeks at the start of winter.
One strategy would be to leave it alone somewhere bright but with no or minimal heating, so it's frost free, and give it no water,or almost no water, until spring.
I don't see any obvious rot or infection, so I don't think that cutting the yellow areas out would help.
esp_imaging wrote:Cacti can be very resilient. They can shrivel a lot and still recover. Cuttings often look very distressed before they decide they can be bothered to root. The same probably applies for something that's been in a darkened box for a few weeks at the start of winter.
One strategy would be to leave it alone somewhere bright but with no or minimal heating, so it's frost free, and give it no water,or almost no water, until spring.
I don't see any obvious rot or infection, so I don't think that cutting the yellow areas out would help.
I agree with all of the advice 'esp' gave you here. Be patient. Hold off on the water. If a splash didn't do anything, you don't want to keep 'splashing' it or else you'll just make any issues worse.
. Seeing as it is likely dormant right now I would say it would probably be best to just leave it to its own devices until spring when it wakes up.](./images/smilies/eusa_wall.gif "Brick wall"){kind=small}
The thing is this plant doesnt have an established dormancy, and I'll have to keep it indoors for the next few months 67-70ish during the day and 55-60ish at night.