Opuntia Subulata - sick or pests?

[Qball-jim]

Was checking this one over tonight and found white flossy material arround some of the joints where this years growth joins last years. One of hte new shoots has died and gone black at the tip and a few little lobes at the tip of another have started to go black at the tip. Do I spray with insecticide or should I be doing something else? Any advice gratefully received

IMG_0015.jpg (28.17 KiB) Viewed 1016 times

IMG_0016.jpg (32.92 KiB) Viewed 1016 times

IMG_0017.jpg (22.54 KiB) Viewed 1016 times

[m4rkz0r]

It looks a lot like the damage I get on some of my opuntias from caterpillars. They attack my other cacti too and killed my double headed grafted astrophytum caput-medusa. It actually burrowed a hole into it and weaved some of the tentacles together and made a little home in the center. They seem to focus on my opuntias and pereskiopsis though.

Those bastards are hard to find too. I think they eat at night and hide from the sun during the day. I found one on a cactus cutting I had inside on a window sill. Look on the shaded side of the cactus during the day or between ribs.

I'm not sure how to deal with these guys other than smash them. Maybe systemic insecticide?

[Qball-jim]

Look on the shaded side of the cactus during the day or between ribs.

Thanks for the tip. Had a look in the 'branch' joints and in the middle and found 6 or so party crashers. Have removed and sprayed with systemic insecticide. Luckily it doesn't look like they've done too much damage.

IMG_0019.JPG (62.36 KiB) Viewed 986 times

IMG_0020.JPG (46 KiB) Viewed 986 times

[majcka]

Nasty!

[tikipod]

I suspect you have a case of Mealy Bugs, which are a type of soft body scale. The females look fluffy and are either white or grayish white and remain on the plant while the males, which are tiny like gnats, fly around.

The one pictured looks to be an adult, the babies are very small. Anywhere there is that white stuff is bound to contain either eggs or babies. I have battled these before.