Erwinia (bacterial soft rot) heat treatment
Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2021 12:08 am
Hello. I degrafted a couple Lophophora diffusa from Pereskiopsis last year. And I left them in the cold dry basement over the winter before I finally tried to root them. One of them started developing a soft spot on the side, poking at it revealed it was rot with that distinct Erwinia smell. No idea how it came in on the side (it hadn't even developed roots yet), maybe an insect bite or something spread it, but in my experience it's a death sentence for these small globular cacti.
So anyway I'm gonna try something different. I read that Erwinia is eradicated around 45C (113F), so I put the little guy in a zip lock bag and am submerging it in water at 113F for a few hours. Hopefully it doesn't die. I'll post an update if it survives. Has anyone tried this before?
So anyway I'm gonna try something different. I read that Erwinia is eradicated around 45C (113F), so I put the little guy in a zip lock bag and am submerging it in water at 113F for a few hours. Hopefully it doesn't die. I'll post an update if it survives. Has anyone tried this before?