Sulcorebutia canigueralii

[Fatich]

What's the problem with that plant ?

[iann]

Mites.

[7george]

It is strange for me, that the soil in the pot looks moist and saturated this time of year. And the plant is dormant. Assuming our friend lives in Northern hemisphere.

Looks also mites damaged the skin of the plant - the yellow-brown spots.

[Fatich]

It is strange for me, that the soil in the pot looks moist and saturated this time of year. And the plant is dormant. Assuming our friend lives in Northern hemisphere.

Looks also mites damaged the skin of the plant - the yellow-brown spots.

Yes the soil is a little bit wet, but not soaked,i know i shouldn't have watered. Should i seperate the pups ?
I bought this plant from someone who was trying to sell out her plants. I observe the same thing with Oroya peruviana, there should be something wrong with her plants. Those things will jump to other plants ?

Here is the Oroya peruviana, you can see the orange spots

[7george]

Should i seperate the pups ?

These are too small to detach for rooting, just if you are thinking to graft it on something soon.

Those things will jump to other plants ?

Yes, they crawl...

[Fatich]

So i will seperate those 2 plants from the others and try to cure the plants .
Do you have any suggestion to cure the plants ?

[Steve Johnson]

Mites.

I concur -- mites. I'll go even farther by saying red spider mites, although it could be flat mites given where the damage on this Sulco is taking place. Fatich, now would be a good time to bring up a few issues for your consideration:

1. 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:



The immediate question at hand is -- what can you do about your mite problem? Unfortunately my experience with miticides is confined to what I'm able to get in the US. Since you live in Europe (going by your name, my guess is somewhere in the former Yugoslavia), you'll need to get some information on what's available on the European market.

2. Keeping cacti indoors over winter can be a problem if they're given enough warmth to encourage mite attacks. If the damage you're seeing is recent, then the best way to discourage further mite activitiy during wintertime is to move your cacti into a place that's cool and dry. However, if this isn't possible for you, then you'll have to keep a very close eye on the situation.

3. What kind of pest mite are you dealing with? If it's red spider mites, be sure to review this. Now you'll know what to look for, and whenever you see them on the attack, spraying with Isopropyl alcohol will kill them instantly. Red spider mites are very persistent, so get used to the fact that you'll need to reach for the IPA every time you see them. While I've never dealt with red spider mites, I certainly have experience with flat mites. They present a different problem because they don't spin webs, and they're too small to see without a magnifier. Inexpensive and easy to find, so I'd highly recommend that you get a 10x magnifier in case you suspect the presence of flat mites. Good news is that flat mite infestations take longer to do significant damage. If you can catch them in the act, spray the plant with IPA. Bad news -- when you see the damage, more often than not the mites have already come and gone, and IPA won't do anything.

4. Regarding the smallest pups on your Sulco, I'd say just leave them alone. If they're healthy enough to start growing again in spring, they'll grow out of the damage. If not, they'll shrivel up and die. Then you'll have to pick off the dead pups. If the break points are callused, you won't need to do anything. If they look green, you may want to dust them with a touch of fungicidal powder.

5. Re. your Oroya, it appears that its growing point has taken some mite damage. Once again, you'll need to determine the kind of mite that did it. Although flat mites typically attack the base of the plant, I did see them crawling around on the top of my Sulco rauschii during an unusually warm SoCal winter 2 years ago -- you may find this post to be rather informative. More good news/bad news here. As with red spider mites, flat mites hate cool conditions, so they won't bother the Oroya until warmer weather could wake them up in spring. Once again, the bad news is that if indoor warmth is something you can't avoid in winter, you'll have to be vigilant about inspecting the plant with a magnifier as often as possible. If I'm correct about damage to the growing point, the Oroya will "go blind" and start growing offsets around the top. It'll make for an odd-looking cactus over time, but oddities have a unique charm that are worth cherishing IMO.

3 things to know concerning IPA. First, it'll disfigure the look of waxy-skinned cacti, so be careful about what you want to spray. Second, always keep the plant away from direct sunlight when you spray. And finally, consider IPA only as a stopgap unless you can't find more effective miticides you're able to purchase for home use. Hopefully some of our European forum members will chime in with recommendations for you.

[Steve Johnson]

Here is the Oroya peruviana, you can see the orange spots

On closer inspection of your photo, I can already see offsets that would be consistent with behavior of the plant going blind:



Red spider mites can eat cacti alive in a matter of weeks (or days, in some cases) if left unchecked, so I believe what we're seeing here is the result of a visit by flat mites sometime in the 2015 growing season. Time for regular inspections with a 10x magnifier, my friend.

[iann]

Those Sulcorebutia pups would probably root even though they are tiny. Sometimes they already have roots when they are still attached to the parent. That one at the back looks a good siz, and maybe less badly attacked than the ones at the front?

[Fatich]

Thank you all for the informative explanations my friend!

I ve took some more photographes :
I think there is only one pup which hasn't taken damage yet.



Here are the roots :



We have visitors!



Closer :



For Oroya you said; plant will go blind. What does it mean actually? It stops growing and producing pups ?

[george76904]

"Going blind" just means that the main growth point has been damaged and will no more growth will come from there. However cacti have an amazing will to survive and will usually produce pups and continue growing from there.

[iann]

Root mealies. What fun!