Sick San Pedro - fungus?

[bioluminiscent]

Hi everyone,

I'm new in the forum and browsed through the archives to see if I could find some help regarding the unknown disease which is affecting my cactus, but to no avail. I figure it must be quite common, and I also noticed the same spots on my English Ivy leaves.

I don't know how dangerous it is for my plants/cacti, but I figured whatever it is, it's slow growing.







The last picture shows something that I can't figure out if it's just dryness or lack of some nutrient or yet another pest.

Any help is much appreciated.

[Nic]

I do not see anything wrong with your cactus. The brown at the base of your cactus is typical corking, while the other marks appear to be scars from previous injuries.

[ElieEstephane]

Some of the spots look like physical damage and some others look like armoured scale damage. In my experience, i had only a couple of them. I heated a large needle and pulled them out but you can look into systemic insecticides.

[bioluminiscent]

I do not see anything wrong with your cactus. The brown at the base of your cactus is typical corking, while the other marks appear to be scars from previous injuries.

Hi! Thanks for the input. I'm sure they are not scars as I've seen the same on my English Ivy and some even have kind of a black "cut" in the middle, like an opening. I think they must be the armoured scale insects the next user is talking about...

[bioluminiscent]

Some of the spots look like physical damage and some others look like armoured scale damage. In my experience, i had only a couple of them. I heated a large needle and pulled them out but you can look into systemic insecticides.

Thanks! I looked it up and indeed it looks a lot like armoured scale insects. I will pull them one by one as it is still possible. However, since I have a lot of Neem oil at home and I'm not so keen on using chemicals I was wondering if it would be safe to make an insecticide mix of some kind with it and rub it on the cactus or just apply it as is in the affected areas? Thanks for the input.

[ElieEstephane]

http://www.cactiguide.com/cactipests/
Check this page out.
I don't think a spray would be too effective on scales.

[Nic]

I guess I was looking at the wrong thing...