what should i do? cactus rotting at bottom

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 9:35 pm

I was taking a look at my cactus today to see if it needs any water. I noticed that it did kind of pick up a bit of a slant to it. I took a look at the base and found it was very soft. I pushed my finger into it, it was black inside with water coming out.

What should I do now??? The top is perfect and all green.

Mr Monopoly · Post by **Mr Monopoly** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:02 am

yeah that's rot...i think you can save it but probably not...mabey cut off the top and put that in a pot as a cutting...

Steve Stephens · Post by **Steve Stephens** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 2:34 am

I'd pull that cactus right out of the pot and cut out all the rot. If you end up with a good mass of body you might be able to root it with a lot of luck. You'll have to let the cut areas callous over for maybe a month or more. Likely you'll find rot extending up into the cactus or worse in which case it cannot be saved.

Post by **daiv** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 4:26 am

Make sure you cut it well above the rotted area or it will continue to spread.

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:15 pm

I cut it until I could see very little brown , probably about 1/2 way. It's drying right now. I plan to replant it soon. Do I have to wait until it dries before replanting??? Should I cut it even more?

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 6:17 pm

ill take a picture of it tonight to show u guys.

Bruce · Post by **Bruce** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 7:14 pm

I think the common wisdom is to cut until there's no brown at all. And a bit more to be sure.

Bruce

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:06 pm

This is after 1 day of sitting out drying out:

[img][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/ ... _00731.jpg[/img][/img]

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 10:25 pm

I sliced off about another 1/4 off of it and all the brown/black is gone. I will now be replanting it in a few days. How long should I wait until it's ready??? h

Steve Stephens · Post by **Steve Stephens** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:10 am

jacob1986 wrote: I will now be replanting it in a few days

NO, NO, NO. WAIT at least a month I think. It has to callous over and be really dry or you may get mold and rot. That's one thing about most cacti, they have to be dry when replanting.

When I repot I hose off the old soil then put the bare root cacti in a plastic flat where they sit for at least a week in dryer weather and out of the sun. Then I repot into slightly damp soil and don't water for a week or so.

Hopefully you have enough flesh left on your cactus that it won't shrivel up too much while drying.

All you experts out there, if you have any better or different information to tell Jacob please do so. I've been away from growing cactus for about 10 years and have probably forgotten a lot. Be patient Jacob and hopefully you will get your plant growing again.

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 2:48 am

thank you Steve! This is why I joined this site to get help from experts.

I will wait I promise, I'm just scared that I will mess up something once again. I will wait until it dries then ill put it into the soil again. I had to cut away about 1/2 of the cactus due to rot.

It's a small Saguaro cactus and I want it to grow nicely. I recently moved so I think that it had a bit of a shock.

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 2:58 am

Jacob,
there is really not much that I have to add to what has been suggested thus far. The time of callousing depends a little on the ambient temperature and the humidity level of the surrounding air. Here in El Paso we do have extremely dry air and the bottom of a cactus cutting will produce a tough skin (callous) quickly, like in a week or two. But your environment will most likely be different. If the cactus does have a big enough stem it can survive for a very long time without being in the soil and receiving water. I have a plant at work that has been kept as a cutting for over three years and is still alive!
However, it was a plant with a stem diameter of between 4 and 5 inches to start out with. It had almost no ribs, but now they are very pronounced due to the water loss over the years.
One thing I wanted to tell you though is, please make sure that you use a mineral soil as a growing medium, not a rich, organic type like that used for petunias or house plants. I have noticed, that my cacti, if they are sitting in soil with too much humus, will not grow well, but die of a rot. The only cacti that do well with organic matter are the "jungle cacti". Those are things like Epiphyllum, Schlumbergera, etc..
There are some good "receipes" on the forum that should help you provide a well-draining, good cactus "soil".

Harald

jacob1986 · Post by **jacob1986** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:48 pm

Here it is after about a week of drying:

What do you think? It is a little bit black on the side, I will probably just cut it away a bit there.

Peterthecactusguy · Post by **Peterthecactusguy** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 12:28 am

cut it off. Any black is bad news, it means it's rotting. What I would suggest is make sure that it's out of the light. Do not plant it til it calluses over. I know it sounds weird and you think it's going to die, but trust me it won't. As long as it dries properly out of the sun it will be fine. I just put some stems that I had to remove from a San Pedro outside and they are all rooted. I left them outta the sun for awhile I forgot about them and they are doing fine.

Good luck with your plants. In the beginning it seems hard, but cacti are pretty easy to take care of. Don't give up and remember we all are (or were) newbies at some point.

Post by **daiv** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 3:39 am

It may be too late to save this one. The brown coloring is not good either.