Help for my Pachypodium Please

[Tiggy]

This plant was given to me by a friend back in 2011 and this is the second time of having problems, mainly as a result that I don't have adequate facilities for over-wintering it. 2012 it suffered from a black lesion at it-s tip. I posted photos at the time and here's the link to the that post (unfortunately the photos are no longer visible due to problems that Daiv had with site at that time)-http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.p ... 71#p216571. Anyway I cut away the infected area and treated it. All seemed OK and it grew well (albeit with a scar). I have to bring it into the house during winter as the greenhouse is not warm to keep this (and a few others ) warm enough. Problem is in our house there is nowhere it can get enough light when the growing season re-starts and I have to keep moving it out to greenhouse when the weather permits during the day and then back inside at night. Not very good, but it is the only way to give the light it needs. The new growth always starts off well and by the time it is warm enough to leave it out it is usually looking reasonable (though not to say tip top as it should be). This year though the leaves have been turning brown and dying off and I see that there are little brown spots on the top of the plant. Could this be some sort of infestation? It looks very suspect.
Last year it started sprouting off-sets on the bottom half of the stem, and I remember Iann asking if the top had been damaged at some point. At that time the top looked OK. but now it is looking pretty sick.
What I would like to know is, would it be better to remove the top and let the off-sets take over? Or just try to treat the top AGAIN? Here's the pics I took today:

The top

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This is the scar from 2012

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Here are the off-shoots just starting leaf.

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It has grown so much since I've had it and I would be sad to loose it after all we've been through. Any advice would be more than welcome. Thank you.

Susi

[cortez753]

Looks like fungi or a nutrition deficiency.

[Saxicola]

How cold does it get in your greenhouse? If you can keep it above freezing it should be able to survive. People grow it as a landscape plant in Southern California where the normal lows in the winter are about 5-10 degrees C, but several times per winter we get below 5, and light frost can happen. Keep it pretty dry if you do though.

[Tiggy]

I was thinking of leaving it in the greenhouse from now on as the night time lows are not too bad now and with the little heater I think it would be happier in there where it would get more light and air circulation, but I was afraid that if it was infested with something it would spell tragedy for the other plants in there. Are you saying then that that you don't think has some type of bug? It always looks a bit sad after the winter and picks up through the summer when it can stay outside. But it does knock it back a bit each year.

Looks like fungi or a nutrition deficiency.

Maybe it's time to start and give it a bit of fertilizer and see how it responds.

Susi

[Cool Potter]

Although I can't see it from your pics, I have had similar trouble this week with my own Pachypodium. I got a binocular lens onto the spots and found to my horror that I was looking at a red spider infestation. I have in the past treated these destroyers with a paintbrush dipped in metho. It seems to do the job on other plants but I'm not sure whether to try it on my otherwise very healthy plants. I read somewhere in this forum that cacti don't like white oil, so now I'm off to check what other members have said about these infestations! Perhaps the answers I find will solve both our problems!