Pest or fungus?

[fanaticactus]

This Echinopsis hybrid did not show any appreciable growth this year and the offsets were turning brown. Since it also seemed to be taking up the entire pot, I thought it should be repotted into something larger. When I removed it, I discovered tiny round 'things' around its base just under the soil. They look like a mass of eggs, but I see no other evidence of bugs either in the soil or flying around it. Then I thought it might be some sort of fungus. These are small pale yellowish-white colored orbs about the size of a grain of salt. Any ideas on what it is and how to take care of it? If the soil looks very wet and compacted to you, it is. It was outside yesterday when we had three thunderstorms in a row during the afternoon. The new substrate I have is much more porous and fibrous. I want to wait until I can take care of this infestation of whatever and the roots dry out.

DSC07128.JPG (120.18 KiB) Viewed 685 times

DSC07129.JPG (101.79 KiB) Viewed 685 times

[hegar]

I am not sure, if anyone can give you the correct answer to your question. There are some ascomycete fungi, that do produce small, globular fruit structures. Another thing that shows up as tiny whitish balloon-like structures would be female Meloidogyne nematodes (root knot nematodes).
However, those would be usually embedded in the root tissue. So a fungus or perhaps some eggs of mites or other earth dwelling arthropods are more likely.
Take a good look at the roots of your plant. Also, check the sides of the body that was in contact with the soil of the pot. If everything looks fine, you most likely do not have to worry about anything. Your plant may indeed just have had negligible growth, because the cactus was root-bound, the nutrients from the growing medium were exhausted, or you did not fertilize the cactus enough.

Harald

[fanaticactus]

Thanks, Harald. Once the medium dries out I will look at the roots. If there are no other questionable areas, I think I'll use a fairly strong stream of water to wash away whatever they are. Afterward, I suppose it wouldn't do any harm to at least spray the area (perhaps the whole plant) with an insecticide and a fungicide to hopefully take care of either problem if one or the other (or both) if there's something lying dormant in the root mass or on the epidermis. And, obviously, a nice clean pot with a fresh, much looser substrate.

[fanaticactus]

After the soil around the roots dried enough to fall off, I sprayed the base with some neem oil, which kills both insects and their eggs and works as a fungicide. It looks very clean now and I'll plant it in a new, even lighter mix in a wider, shallower pot. While the cactus itself has a large diameter, especially with the offsets, the roots are surprisingly short.