My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Trouble shoot problems you are having with your cactus.
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Nic
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by Nic »

A similar thing happened to my harrisia fragrans, I repotted it and it turned yellow, checking the roots revealed rot, and after surgery, the plant dried up and died. I have a picture of the plant starting to turn on the first page of my member topic, in the end it turned completely yellow.
There is no cactus you can't eat, but you just might regret it if you eat the wrong one.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by ElieEstephane »

mmcavall wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 4:48 pm I’ve changed from sandy soil to pure grit. It stops growing. I’ve changed again to top soil + grit, but the plant did not respond.
I found that some species respond terribly in a gritty mix. Stetsonia coryne is thriving but others like mammillaria nivosa, some Pachycereus pringlei, euphorbia horrida and several others did not grow all season. I expect they will have lost their roots by spring.
Also aloeae did not do so well. The will grow but require very fequent watering and the leaves will stay curled.
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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WayneByerly
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Location: In the north end of the Sequachee Valley, 65 miles north of Chattanooga Tennessee USA. Zone 7a

Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by WayneByerly »

ElieEstephane wrote: Thu Feb 01, 2018 5:01 pmI found that some respond terribly in a gritty mix. Stetsonia coryne is thriving but ... euphorbia horrida and several others did not grow all season. I expect they will have lost their roots by spring..
That is BAD news for me...

Both Hegar AND Steve Johnson suggested that I go with a much higher mineral content, with Steve recommending that i go to a strictly , i.e. pumice, for my Astrophytum asterias (which it got, mixed with turface). I bought a 15 pound box of pumice in order to make some of my soil mixtures a much higher mineral content. Which also got used on my Euphorbia horrida. One says one thing, and one says another. Which is not to say that both of you aren't right. Just for different species. Well, it's like I've said for quite some time now, that no general rule can be applied to all species. Each one of them have their own peculiarities, and we have to learn those peculiarities for each species, all by ourselves. It helps having advice from people here on this forum, but even then, some of it can be very confusing.

Elie ... i'm actively soliciting YOUR advice here regarding my Euphorbia. Should I go ahead and unpot it ... again ... and put it in a less mineral mix than the 80-90% pumice that it's in now? And go back to my 60-70% mineral (pumice, volcanic rock & coarse sand), 30-40% organic?

BTW... My Stetsonia has not been re--potted. It's still in the same soil mixture that it has been in for several years. it also seems to be improving some... Making a transition to a darker green...
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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ElieEstephane
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by ElieEstephane »

My experience with euphorbia horrida is very minimal and it didn't grow all that well in a mineral mix. However, all plants i got from this seller took way too long to actively grow after being repotted. When a plant is used to being nurtured and cared for, an abrupt tranisition to the hard conditions can knock it off quite a lot.
In my own limited experience (which in no way should be considered the norm), i don't use a strictly mineral mix except for fussy species (like your asterias) and growimg seeds (it helps grow a stronger root system and reduces greatly the risk of rot). For all general purpose cactus soil, i use a 2:1 mix of grit:compost (66% grit). And by compost i mean decayed plant matter not potting soil also called compost. I like this mix because it's free draining and rich and by the end of the season most of the compost will have deteriorated. Someone once told me when i asked about an all mineral mix that we are trying to grow the plants, not starve them for nutrients. So i don't see why when a plant grows very well in a good mix, you use an all mineral mix and have to fertilize every time and deal with all that.
My opinon in short:
Fussy plant= 100% mineral
Regular plant= mix with high mineral content
Non succulent/cactus plants will also love the extra grit in their growing medium. I've had a wisteria explode with growth when i repotted it in 50% compost 50% grit
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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WayneByerly
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by WayneByerly »

ElieEstephane wrote: Fri Feb 02, 2018 5:32 pm My experience with euphorbia horrida is very minimal and it didn't grow all that well in a mineral mix ...
...I've had a wisteria explode with growth when i repotted it in 50% compost 50% grit
All the advice that I have gotten from you so far has been nothing less than stellar. So I'm going to pull my Euphorbia horrida noorsveldensis red and replant it in some 60-70% mineral mix that I have set aside. Probably will add some pumice to that to increase the mineral content (and draining ability) to 75-80%.

Several years ago I built a rather primitive 12 foot by 12 foot Arbor. Just a place to sit in the shade. And I planted Wisteria at the Four Corners. Would you like to see pictures of that? It's been 7 years since I planted the Wisteria, long enough for it to start flowering which it did last spring.
Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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ElieEstephane
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by ElieEstephane »

of course! i'd love to
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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DuarteDave
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by DuarteDave »

Same with mine. I'm going to repot later and take a picture of the roots. Thanks for any help.
Dave
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DuarteDave
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by DuarteDave »

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DesertSun
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by DesertSun »

I have two Stetsonia coryne cacti and they are both doing great in a fast draining mix with plenty of organic inside, but of course it all depends on our specific microclimate and cultivating habits. I water once a week in the summer and leave dry in the winter. I would repot and add some organic, those are vigorous cacti and need a richer soil mix.
"The best fertilizer is the gardener's own shadow"
Chinese proverb
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WayneByerly
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by WayneByerly »

Hello DuarteDave

Although your Stetsonia coryne seems to have gone much yellower (is "yellower" a real adjective?) than mine did, I have what I hope is good news for you. MY Stetsonia coryne eventually developed into a completely green specimen ... I'm not sure what I might have done to it (since I originally posted on this topic back in February) that might have influenced it to go back to being green, but the yellow DID go completely green after a while.

I can think of NO reason why our cacti should have done this "turn yellow" thing. I know that SOME cacti will go dormant if it gets too hot ... does Stetsonia coryne do this? I don't know. I only mention this thinking that PERHAPS it's an environmental thing as SEVERAL members here have had the same think.

DesertSun says that this species is a "vigorous" cactus and suggests that you add some more organic material, although mine is in an 85%/15% mix and is doing extremely well. in fact, here's a picture that I took took yesterday so I could post it today just to prove that mine is now OK.

Is your soil mix a 100% (or close) inorganic mix?

P.S. the roots on yours look good to me ... anybody else have an opinion about those roots?

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Stetsonia coryne.jpg
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Make the moral choice & always do what's right. Be a good example. Be part of the solution & make a contribution to society, or be part of the problem & end your life with nothing but regrets. Live a life you can be proud of! Zone 7a
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saboten
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by saboten »

Hi Wayne! Nice to see you posting again. I feel like it has been a while since I saw you post, hope everything has been alright!
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mmcavall
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by mmcavall »

Mine decided to grow after maybe 1,5 year stoped and yellowing. I believe that this is a response to the changement from clay to plastic pot.
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TimN
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Re: My Stetsonia coryne is turning yellow.

Post by TimN »

Frost damage generally occurs on the extremities of cactus; on the outside edges of the ribs, the top growht point, etc. How would air cold enough to damage the plant make it past the ribs to cause damage in the valleys?

There are a lot of S. coryne planted in landscapes in this area and they don't seem to be particularly frost tender.

My question, these plants that are turning yellow, have they been fed regularly?
Disclaimer: I'm in sunny Arizona, so any advice I give may not apply in your circumstances.

Tim
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