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Is my Cactus rotting?

alice.birkettalice.birkett Posts: 1
in Plants
Hi everyone, this is my first time using the forum but I've been somewhat stumped on what's going on with my cactus.

I acquired it a couple of days ago by re-homing it from a friend of a friend, and I'm concerned that the cactus itself is rotting. You can see the difference in colour between the main body Vs the newer growths on the top. If this is the case, what would my best course of action be? If not, should I just leave it be? The soil was bone dry so I watered it a little yesterday but I'm now worrying that I may have made things worse.

Any help that people can offer would be greatly appreciated!

Posts

  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    It's in the wrong compost and you never water cactus in Winter.
  • Slow-wormSlow-worm Posts: 1,630
    edited March 2023
    Are the roots looking healthy @alice.birkett? 
    Mike's right, but a little water shouldn't have hurt it.
    An elderly relative has neglected a whole conservatory full of cacti for a long, long time, so much so that they were very dehydrated, so I gave them all some water last month - if they need it, they need it now, not in 3 months. 

  • wild edgeswild edges Posts: 10,497
    Indoor cacti won't worry about a little bit of water at this time of year especially if they're on a sunny window sill. Just don't let them sit in damp soil and avoid using tap water if you can. Loads of my succulents are actively growing and flowering at the moment and some cacti will be waking up slowly from dormancy now day length is increasing.
    If rot is a concern though then leave off watering and keep an eye on it. You can always remove those two offshoots at the top and start again with those. Just don't let any rot get up into them before removing them.
    If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
  • MikeOxgreenMikeOxgreen Posts: 812
    It's a Mammillaria and looks like it lives in a breakfast bowl full of the wrong growing medium so it's not off to a great start.
    Reverse that and see how it goes. Mamms' are prone to leaning, they actually crawl all over the place in the wild and can actually be grown upside down quite successfully.
    You'll get better advice on a cactus page really.
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    Does the pot have drainage?  If that, don'r water gain until you've fixed that.  As for water, look how stuffed full the body of the cactus is.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
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