Can someone please tell me if I should worry?

[jsyou3]

I got this cactus as a present about a month ago. I believe it's a moon cactus or a ruby ball cactus. At first the cactus was completely fine but as weeks passed, the light brown part on at the base started to get larger. I don't want my new cactus to die. Can someone please tell me if there is something wrong with my cactus?
I've been watering it about every 1.5 weeks. I didn't want to water it more or less because I'm afraid that might make it worse.



Thank You for your help~

[daiv]

Hi. That is actually two cactus plants of different species grafted together. The top red part lacks chlorophyll and can't survive on its own. Even as a graft, these plants are usually short-lived.

The bottom is a tropical Hylocereus species. This plant wants to grow into a massive climbing/sprawling/vine and so won't like to be in a little pot like that for long.

From the looks of it, you've got some hard water and the soil in that little pot is probably stale and waterproof peat. So a repotting would help.

[luddhus]

It is not easy to say what the brown spot is, but this species rot very easily, so don't be surprised if it spreads and turns into mush. If so, there is not much you can do to stop that, it is usually better to get another plant. Preferably one on its own roots and a species that does not rot as easily.

[jsyou3]

Thank you daiv, and luddhus.
I'm going to try and repot it today. And I guess I'll try not to keep my hopes up of it healing.

[ashburger92]

I have a similar problem but am not able to see jsyou3's picture. I have a Ruby Ball cactus and don't know if it's still alive? I've had it for a little over a year and just noticed about 2 weeks ago that's it's pretty discolored compared to what it used to be. The "ball" part of it used to be a nice pink color but now only the bottom half is and the top is a gray/brownish color.its also had trouble standing up on it's own without leaning for a while, but the stem is still it's original size and not shriveled like in pictures online. I was going to attach pictures to my post, but am not sure how to.

[esp_imaging]

You may get a better response if you start your own thread.
To show phots, upload your photos to a free online hosting service like flickr, and put a link in your post.

[Steve Johnson]

You may get a better response if you start your own thread.
To show phots, upload your photos to a free online hosting service like flickr, and put a link in your post.

Yep, absolutely -- first of all, jsyou3's photo disappeared because the forum's web server had a meltdown a few years ago, and its image archive wasn't backed up by admin. Best if we go with what esp_imaging suggests. Also, it's highly recommended that forum members include basic location and climate info in their profiles. Then whenever they ask for advice, respondents are more likely to produce useful answers. See the following screenshots:



Here's my profile as an example:



If you live in the US, you can reference the USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map for your profile:

http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;