Hello everyone, thank you for accepting me and congratulations for your very well tended plants.
i have been following this forum and has given me a lot of answers for my questions every once and a while.
my latest cactus is the one on the title and i only have it for 2 weeks now.
the last 2 days it started a yellow - pink discoloration on the top, i read its not a long lived one so im worried that its time has come?
its around 10 cm in height and from the moment i planted it ,(half sun) it showed no reaction. just this color change. im adding a photo , please if you have any idea of whats wrong let me know.
There's a few potential causes, but it's unlikely to be old age. If this is new growth it could be a lack of sunlight. If it were all over the plant it could be too much sunlight, but that isn't the case. Your soil mixture looks quite damp and like standard cactus soil - could be overwatering. Check the root system. Is it healthy? Do you see any pests?
no its not a new growth, i bought the cactus from Germany , it arrived 2 weeks ago and it was all green excactly the size it is now.no growth. the roots seemed pestless, but if its a critical question i will digg it up and make a picture? just to make sure.
the plant was watered just earlier before the picture and the soil is , black soil, red soil, perlite and coconut soil.
since i planted it , it is outside in a shady pergola with lots of light , heat and direct sunlight only a bit in the morning and a bit at sunset.( i live in Crete - Greece).
watering in these 2 weeks , i think 2 or 3 times in total. should i try touching the top part to see if its soft?
thank you very much for your effort,
i cant tell how the dry part is supposed to be?
i noticed 2 more things maybe they have something to do,
if the rest of the cactus has a hint of glossy look, the top is mat. is that dry?
and the spikes on the top are easily removed , the rest of the body no , they are firmly attached.
the cactus was more than 10 days in a dark box, (travelling from Germany to me) but then again was outside in the patio around 2 weeks with no problems.
shall i move the pot inside the house for less light?
As you don't know for certain how the plant was grown in Germany, it's difficult to tell what's going on. It sound like you put the plant straight outside after potting it back up? You're definitely going to want to acclimate it slowly to full sun depending on where you're at.
you mean full light ? cause the cactus is not on full sun but yes the cactus stayed one day inside the house, then next day repotted and outside in the shaded patio.
temperatures here between 30 - 35 degrees.
I hope, your plant did not get damaged in transit. To the best of your recollection, was the tip of the cactus as thin as it is now? Usually, the top of the plant should be having about the same diameter as the rest of the plant. If it is visibly thinner, it could be, that your cactus did not have enough light for some time, resulting in etiolation.
The apex would also shrink, if the plant loses turgor pressure in its cells, due to a puncture wound. If that happened, you may end up losing the cactus, if an infection (bacterial or fungal) did enter through the opening caused by the mechanical injury.
To the best of your knowledge, is the discolored, softer? area expanding? If so, the only hope probably would be to cut the stem about 1 cm below the border of the discolored part or even lower, if there is still a discoloration of the plant's interior visible. The final cut, which exposes the healthy tissue, should be made with a cutting instrument (knife) that had its blade sterilized. You can use rubbing alcohol, bleach or even heat by flaming the knife blade, in order to kill any pathogen, that might be adhering to the knife blade.
I hope, that you will be able to save your cactus. It seems, that it was going to produce a flower soon and it would be a shame to lose it.
i didnt see anything weird when the cactus arrived, but i cant say 100% that the top was same diameter as the rest of the body.
infact , i think it was slightly less.. and i thought it was new growth
the packaging was really really good, ( i had more cacti in same order ) and each one was individualy wrapped , no room inside the box for them to maneuver.
still today its in the same condition, though when i checked the roots i potted it in a smaller pot and placed it in a less light and no sun position.
i did another photo today to compare with the first photo and i think it is stable now??
if it is light problem , what do i do? monitor and if problem continues , i prepare surgery?
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In my opinion it looks like the cactus etiolated (was grown in insufficient light) and now that you've exposed it to proper light the new growth has become stressed and sun burnt. If it is just stressed growth then the plant should recover and grow normally after a while.
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