A little yellow at the base moon cactus

[DaTwista]

Good morning folks!

I never knew of this forum and there is a ton of information here I will be reading through. I wish I had found it earlier though before losing a cacti or two previously.

I'm an avid collector of cacti, succulents and carnivorous plants. Have quite a large collection at the moment but my wife brought home 4 moon cacti which she bought for dirt cheap - who could blame her?

And as an obedient husband I need to be, I am tasked to look after the plants she wants too - hello pansies and moon cacti.

I have a photo which is not as clear as I hoped but at the based of the moon cacti, the stock has shown some yellowing. It is slight and only noticed this it this morning. We have had these moon cacti now for about two weeks only and I've placed them in a new pot. I only watered them a week after and two days later (today) the one is showing the yellow. Very distinct line between the slight yellowing and the healthy green above. I suspect it's due to overwatering and I have removed them from the pots and placed them back into dry soil. Roots appear to be healthy, stiff and white from what I can see without disturbing them too much. The soil in the photo is what was used at the nursery. I didn't completely remove it when repotting.

As for the soil I use, it is a well draining sand/gravel/potting soil/perlite mix peat a touch of peat moss. Usually after watering, the soil dries out quickly - two to three days maybe since it is hot and humidity a little low.

I'm a little concerned and would like to cut and reroot the stock if this is going to rot. I'd rather catch it early but not too early if I can leave it a day or two and would probably come right. My first time with moon cacti but I generally don't have a problem losing cacti in the past. But hey, this is my wife's plant I'm talking about here - I prefer to keep her happy.



Suggestions or am I paranoid?

[george76904]

Do you mind posting a picture? I can't quite get what you are saying. There is a yellow mark above the soil line that appeared after you watered? Is it firm or squishy? The rootstock of moon cactus is usually hylocereus undatus and is actually pretty forgiving of water. Another question. Are you keeping them outside, and what is your weather like?

[DaTwista]

My post has an image in, you should be able to see it.

About 4cm above the roots, the stock has turned light green to yellowish. You can actually see the two shades on the stock meeting at a distinct line across and around the stock. It's actually more light green than yellow.

I keep them inside on a cabinet by a window. The lace curtains we have act as a shade cloth which is working well since I have mimosa pudica seedlings there too and they haven't burnt out. We have usually 30+ celcius here most days and the sun is not forgiving with the heat which I do tend to water a lot more than I liked to admit - but usually when the soil has dried out completely.

At the moment, I've dried the soil out it was in and repotted them back into the container I put them in when I got it. Also removed a lot of the soil the nursery used since it is probably the worst stuff possible but it was bone dry when I first repotted it and that is why I didn't feel a problem to give them a soaking after repotting.

[DaTwista]

Anyone?

[jmoney]

Has it looked like since it was brought home? Or has this condition developed over time? If you suspect that you have overwatered it, then let it be without adding extra water and see if the condition/color improves. It would be fine without extra water for a bit and if it improves, then you have your answer.