Sick or not? Ech. texensis has pink area..UPDATED! Final Chapter.

[Steve-0]

Here's two pics. Last week and today. Subtle change over a week's time. Weather here is cooling at night into the 40's F. Highs near 80F with bright sun everyday. This one is in partial shade. Watering is decreasing, however it's fairly plumped up VS flat and dry. I've had it since late spring. Old mature specimen from Texas from a friend's collection. I have two other large ones and two small ones. All doing well.

The color changed area is a little concerning . More sun? Less sun? This area faces East and the 12:00 section faces south in this photo. In other words the left side gets the morning sun.

Keeping an eye on it for now.


Oh, and it's rock hard all over...no soft anywhere just like my others .

My thoughts lead me towards old age maladies . Maybe

Any ideas?

Thanks, Steve

[Steve-0]

And it is big. About 10"width spine to spine.

[keith]

Sunburn ? Usually sunburn is white so not really sure ?

[greenknight]

Not sunburn. There appears to be some old damage to the cactus there, maybe just part of the scarring process.

It doesn't seem to be spreading. and it's not soft. so probably not a problem.

[Steve-0]

This afternoon I started the cactus migration to winter quarters. About 30 cold hardy plants are staying outdoors and I separated the innies and outies...when I noticed MORE PINK?

This is a Coryphantha scheeri purchased from a local nursery, Intermountain cactus, up north of me. She claims that all of her plants are cold hardy to our winters.

So looking at the basal area ...pink. Now what. This plant stayed 6 feet away from the horse crippler all summer. It is about 4" wide and tall.

[Russell99]

Could it be sunburn and cold damage

[Steve-0]

Your guess is as good as mine. While I have sunburned two Ech. grusonii this summer, I really don't have cold exposure experience with any cactus.

The previous 5 plus years with only a few cacti was easy. Bring in the big Ech. Grus. for the winter leave the others on the patio concrete on their own...basically ignored until spring.

We've had sun continually for 3-4 months will very little rain. But nothing cooler than 50 at night.

Until today....rained most of the night and just clearing now. Snow on the mountaintops. Looks like 9,000 feet and higher. Cool this morning.

So my winter migration timing is spot on. The water sensitive Pedio simpsonii were covered with a tarp last night. Good call.

Fall weather is here with some freezing Temps at night this week.

The Mexican and S. American species are coming indoors today....wahhh.

[Steve-0]

Looks like this old gal is taking a turn for the worse . I brought it inside to warm it up, (we have freezing Temps at night) dry it out (we had rain and snow recently) and perhaps un pot it to check the root system and the underside.

Lots of color change since the pink area a month ago.

Please look at the pics at advise.

Especially what not to do.

My options:
1 do nothing...observe...let nature take it's course
2 un pot it and look for rot
3 major surgery

[Steve-0]

Oh ...and no mushy going on . The flesh is firm, the spines are stiff in place all over...green, pink, brown the same with the spines.

Also , some obvious corking is going on due to age.

[MikeInOz]

Almost always when something goes wrong like this there is a root issue. I think the best way to find out the possible cause is to go back the Coryphantha which obviously has the same problem. Examine that closely to see if you can find clues. Un-potting it and cleaning the roots will probably be required. I do see though, that there seems to be a beginning at the aerole. That could mean some pathogen has found it's way in there (unlikely) or there could be a salt issue (too much fert, water no good) or even a deficiency of some kind? Or plain old sunburn??? But that doesn't look right to me. Cold damage? I don't know what the looks like.

[Steve-0]

The water used on all my cacti is the same. Never tap water.

Always these choices in season: Rainwater, snow melt, pond or creek water from healthy sources.

The rain and snow water is supplemented with diluted fertilizer during the growing season.

I wear reading glasses for regular duty 1.00 to 1.25....for work on watches, I start with 2.50 and go up as needed.

I grab a Loupe if necessary

So I'll put on some 3.00's and take a closer look at everything exhibiting off color.

Then I'll check the Coryphantha out closely, too. It will be the easier of the two to un pot and do a root check. No others in my collection are affected this way.

Is it possible to be a genus or species related issue?

Weather wise ...we did have a hot, dry summer with one big rain then back to dry for a long spell . Of course, I watered as needed,

The Echinocactus texensis is known for its ability to absorb a lot of water without rotting .

I was perusing other images and saw many with pink areas around the base or one side as if it is sun exposure related.

This just looks worse than that to me.

[Steve-0]

Should I take some macro pics of one or two areas?

[hegar]

Hello Steve,
I agree with Mike's suggestion to take the cacti out of the growing medium and closely examine not only the root system, but also the whole bodies of the plant, especially the base.
I did have a beautiful Echinocactus texensis, a large plant, which was already outgrowing its 5 gallon pot, when I transplanted it into the ground of my front yard. It did well for a good number of years, continued to grow, flower, even produce nice red-colored fruits.
Then our roof needed to be replaced and a roofer stepped on the plant's crown. That was the end of the flowering. The cactus then started to produce offsets at the top. Then, for a to me unknown reason, I noticed one spring, that something was wrong. The whole bottom of the cactus had rotted.
The relatively new offsets still did look alive. However, the rot had already spread into them too. I did lose the whole beautiful plant.
I am still sad about having lost that cactus and do not have any good replacement for it, only a smaller, flowering-size plant with less impressive spines and smaller, paler flowers and a seedling "horse crippler", which will not flower for a good number of years.
I hope, that your plants do not suffer from a rot, but the last two images certainly do not look good at all.

Harald

[Steve-0]

Well, there may be a silver lining. This image is from June this year. I saved the fruit. And two days ago did something I promised myself not to do.

Start seedlings ...and today I peeked. There's something green in there! A little nugget of green on one side. Took a few pics and closed it back up.

It is Ech. tex seeds. I put half on one side untouched and half on the other side of the split Tupperware container which I chipped open the pointy end of the seed as per a Germinating Sclerocactus Seeds video. Also did a tub of Sclero whipplei seeds. Fingers crossed.

The other silver lining is my other two mature Ech Tex specimens are doing very well and bloomed this summer, too.

I'll dig in and inspect the Cory first, it's small. Then the big ole gal.

[Steve-0]

I unpotted the Cory. sch. ( pic above ) which was also showing pink areas similar to the Ech. tex.

Looking around here and the web I see many specimens with "the Pink" going on. Like it's normal...maybe sun related?

Anyway, the Cory. roots look healthy to me. But I'm no root health expert. No bugs, no nodes or weird growth. Normal looking, IMO, but dry.

After a quick inspection I put it back in the pot.

Next would be the big Horse Crippler's turn.