Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

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tomo
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Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:32 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by tomo »

Here's a photo of my golden barrel...I repotted it about a week ago and I think it's looking much better!
Thanks again for all the advice and support everyone! :D

And I have another beginner question...I bought this mammillaria hahniana a couple of weeks ago, and it had a blossom ready to bloom--I watched it for a week, and then, just when I thought it would open--it suddenly started to shrivel. It never opened up! SIGH. My question is, what happened? Is there any way to know why it didn't open? The only thing I can think of is we had a bit of a drop in temps in the evening here in FL (I've got it outside on the patio in the shade.) Here's a pic of it after the blossom started to shrivel up a bit. I think it has some other buds on it, so maybe one of those will bloom. :)
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golden barrel new pot Feb 2015.jpg
golden barrel new pot Feb 2015.jpg (49.38 KiB) Viewed 1496 times
mammillaria hahniana blossom.jpg
mammillaria hahniana blossom.jpg (223.08 KiB) Viewed 1496 times
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7george
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by 7george »

Many cacti are sensitive to changes in conditions around it and could react this way in case of moving, rotating, light alteration, temperature drop, etc. I'm not sure of the right way of growing Mammillaria in Florida, but the cause of this might be the rotating of the plant reg. the sun or temperature difference if it is coming from a nursery. Keep the cactus steady where it is and for next buds/flowers it will adapt.
If your cacti mess in your job just forget about the job.
°C = (°F - 32)/1.8
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greenknight
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by greenknight »

Your Golden Barrel does look happy, somehow - even though there's not much change in just a week, it just looks right.

M. hahniana produces tons of flowers, that one's barely getting started. :D
Spence :mrgreen:
tomo
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Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:32 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by tomo »

7george and greenknight, thanks re: the M. hahniana--I didn't know that small changes like moving it, location, etc. could effect the blooms but it makes sense. It seems to have been in the shade in the nursery, so I'm trying to keep the light exposure the same. That's good to know what there will be more flowers on the way! :D

And thanks about the golden barrel! It does seem happier in its new home. And (knock on wood!) I haven't seen any more wooly blobs or signs of mealies so I'm hoping that's been taken care of for now! :D
tomo
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Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:32 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by tomo »

update: something's wrong with my golden barrel! I was checking it today when I noticed an odd discoloration--it goes from green to yellow to brown--plus there's something sort of "webby" near the base (I marked it with the red arrow in the middle photo). Even worse, as I was looking at it, I tipped the pot slightly to get a better angle for the photo, and the cacti started "rolling" around like maybe it's lost more of the roots (when I first got it, it's always had a pretty weak root system that looked odd to me). I don't know if all my beginner mistakes were just too much for it to survive. I doubt I'll be able to save it at this point, but I'm more curious to know if something else went wrong, what's the "webby" stuff, and if there's a way I can avoid it in the future.

On a brighter note, my Mamm. theresae, Mamm. duwei, and Rebutia albipilosa are all blooming, which is the first time I've seen any cactus flowers, so I'm happy about that. :)
Attachments
golden barrel may 2015 3.jpg
golden barrel may 2015 3.jpg (116.26 KiB) Viewed 1418 times
golden barrel may 2015 1.jpg
golden barrel may 2015 1.jpg (65.14 KiB) Viewed 1418 times
golden barrel may 2015 2.jpg
golden barrel may 2015 2.jpg (61.75 KiB) Viewed 1418 times
DaveW
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by DaveW »

It looks as if it may be rotting?

If a cactus has troubles never be afraid to un-pot it. Unlike ordinary plants cacti can stand dry root for weeks without any problems and will come to less harm than the soil staying wet. After a week or so simply re-pot when any damaged roots will have healed and don't water again for a week or so. Unfortunately I think you are too late with that plant.
iann
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by iann »

Unhealthy looking colour at the bottom. Probably no good roots at all? You might be able to chop it back to something healthy and re-root.
--ian
tomo
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by tomo »

Thanks for the replies. I plan to unpot this weekend, just to look at the roots, but I'm not optimistic. When I first got it, the roots were always fairly lopsided--the roots were growing only on one small side of the cacti, but no roots under the rest of it. That, plus my beginners mistakes, probably didn't help. Ah well, live and learn. Thanks again for the input!
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cactushobbyman
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by cactushobbyman »

I agree to removing it out of the pot and let it dry. You may even cut out the bad part and let that heal over. Give it time and then re-pot. It looks like the soil is too wet. :-k
tomo
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Joined: Tue Dec 09, 2014 5:32 am
Location: Florida

Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by tomo »

Unfortunately, when I removed it from the pot, it had turned to a yellow-brown color, was starting to smell, and there was a tiny worm thing near the webbing at the bottom. :( #-o I'll chalk this one up as a learning experience and try to do better next time!
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greenknight
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Re: Beginners mistake quadfecta--golden barrel help please!

Post by greenknight »

Likely damage from that grub or caterpillar or whatever is what started the rot. Just bad luck.
Spence :mrgreen:
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