Rot from top - Discocactus

[abhikjha]

Hi guys, in one of my mature Discocactus, rot started from top from the point where caphelium was growing. I guess the reason for that was there were some cuts on the skin through which water seeped in and resulted in rot. I threw it in the compost bin but later my wife pushed me to do some surgery on this to see if I can save it. So I used a sterile knife and cut all the rotten parts from top. I then applied rooting hormone powder to stop spreading any infection. Here is it looks after the surgery. What do you guys think if any life is left in this? Can it throw some pups out of the aeroles?

[hegar]

Hello abhikjha,
I noticed, that nobody did respond to your question. Well, I believe, that is because the situation with your cactus looks rather bleak.
First off, rooting hormone most likely will not do much good on top of the plant. It should be applied to the base of it to hasten root growth.
The top of your plant died, because either a fungus or a bacterium managed to invade it from the top.
I fear, that the left over part is not going to grow and produce pups, because your plant is already too far gone. Tossing it was most likely the correct decision.

Harald

[PaytonManningsshirt]

Hi everyone, i thought instead of making a new threat id follow up with my own issue. First off im an avid plant afficionado and love taking care of big plants. My apartment is full of them (windows 2,45m high windows glas windows)

That said, recently during a coldspell my cactus developed something that looks like ...well i dont know what. Take a look at the posted photo and see for yourself. The shrunk part is bonedry and rock hard. The appendage that crows from that part is still well attached and seems to be doing ok. The hardening process has stopped by itself and does not seem to progress, however id still like to know what caused it. Too much light? draft? Bad breath? Bad house vibes?

[ohugal]

What's your watering regime? Looks like underwatering. Was the rest of the body of the cactus very shrunken when this happened? Did it happen slowly of very sudden?

[PaytonManningsshirt]

What's your watering regime? Looks like underwatering. Was the rest of the body of the cactus very shrunken when this happened? Did it happen slowly of very sudden?

Thanks for the reply.

I water every 2 to 3 months. Depending on the season, but my go to rule is. (As with all my plants, water them and let them dry properly before even thinking of watering again.

It happend all of a sudden, id reckon that it went from slightly yellow (which i initially thought of as sunburn) to this in less then 3,5months.