On 10/04/2013 23:08, Bob Hobden wrote:
"CactusPaul" wrote


I have had this cactus since i was 9. It is now 22 years old and in big
trouble. I have come back from travelling for 3 months and it is in a
terrible condition. It has been in the greenhouse over the winter months
and i fear this has contributed to the damage. It appears to be rotten
at the top as half of steam looks eaten away. The bottom i am not so
sure of. I gather that some breads do tend to go a little brown at the
around the bottom anyway. I am just wondering what the best course of
action is. Can i cut the top off where it is rotten? If so, should i do
this and repot the remainder of the plant? Any advice would be most
welcome as i have previously had no trouble with the plant so i am not
knowledgeable about treating them.


I was given a decent sized cacti (no idea what) in the early 70s by an
elderly lady because it never flowered and she thought I needed a
challenge. Some years later I noticed it was rotting at the base, it got
wet during the winter due to dripping condensation which I hadn't
noticed. Using thick gloves I lifted the sound top off the rot and
scrubbed out all the rot. I then left the clean top on the bench for a
week or so to callous over. which it did. I then placed the top onto
fresh dry compost and screwed it into same, gradually introducing
moisture after some weeks as the temperature increased. That plant is
still with me and is now flowering every year. No trace of the near
disaster shows.

Very often the stress of a rot attack will provoke flowering in a
stubborn mature specimen. They can survive a couple of years or maybe
more with no roots at all once they are 6" or larger. Its strategy of
reproduce before dying is a last ditch attempt to propagate the species.
In extremis if no roots can find water in a very long drought they will
put all remaining resources into that last flower and seeds.

The small offshoots that were not affected by the rot I just repotted
and those too have done well.

Unless it would disfigure the plant it is always worth propagating a few
pups and giving them away. That way if something ever happens to the
original you can get a bit of it back from a friend.

--
Regards,
Martin Brown