Fenestraria drying, What can I do to save it?

[colpac64]

Here is and photo of the cactus. It seems right except for the bottom wich looks like drying up.

Also I got this fenestraria 3 weeks ago, and searched that they don't need much water, only once a month. So since then I only watered once, could it be that it needs more water? I currently don't have it on direct sunlight. Could it be that it needs direct sunlight?

Do you think it can survive?



All comments are apreciated, thanks.

[Ivan C]

Have a look through this thread http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 12&t=29625" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[colpac64]

Have a look through this thread http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 12&t=29625" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That's some usefull information, thank you very much

Acording to the information of the thread, the person who was caring it, before I bought it, gave it to much water. Because it was already cracked in lot of leaves. So I decided to check out the roots, and they are rotten, hopefully I can still save it.

[greenknight]

It's supposed to be able to grow from leaf cuttings, maybe you should try that with some of the leaves.

[iann]

Mesembs very rarely grow successfully from leaf cuttings. I've never seen it. You need a bit of stem, although any tiny bit is sufficient.

When you get one that isn't rotten, they need direct sunlight, good ventilation, and very little water. They grow best when it is cool at night, below 50F or even below 40F, and they generally don't do well as indoor plants. Only watering once a month probably isn't a good idea. They can certainly survive for a month without water, but will do much better with light watering every few days and deeper watering every few weeks when the plant is in growth. All this assumes you have a suitable soil with excellent drainage, because as you found they will quickly rot in soggy soil.

[greenknight]

If there's any stem left that isn't rotten, you'll have a much better chance of saving something, certainly. I would remove anything that's rotten. If there's anything left, maybe it will grow.

I suggested trying leaf cuttings only because it doesn't look likely that there's any sound stem left.