CactiGuide.com

Hi I think I have a Pilosocereus pachycladus I will post a picture tomorrow at some point. It's got a light and darkish long discoluring. Like a yellow white coluring I think. Don't know what it could be. Its been ok for a long time untill I check on it for the first time in over winter. Maybe it's underwatering or the feed I been giving it which I have all ways used.. bugs or burns. You will get a better idea when I post a photo. But if you could help untill then thanks.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/6udo82xwfbsv ... 6WoY1HdpFa

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/pzxlyjrygrzg ... W8vxQWfZOa

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/w1ppauzcy8fw ... MAWBLIw9la

Is it squishy, because that looks a lot like rot. But dont start chopping until someone else weighs in.

george76904 wrote:Is it squishy, because that looks a lot like rot. But dont start chopping until someone else weighs in.

I will check but I am sure it's hard. Thank you

There is a type of black rot that isn't soft, creates hard dead patches. It spreads much more slowly than soft rot, sometimes a cactus is able to wall it off and it stops spreading at all. Tiny fruiting bodies will emerge and release spores, though, so it can infect other plants.

The only way to get rid of it is to cut it off, sad to say.

greenknight wrote:There is a type of black rot that isn't soft, creates hard dead patches. It spreads much more slowly than soft rot, sometimes a cactus is able to wall it off and it stops spreading at all. Tiny fruiting bodies will emerge and release spores, though, so it can infect other plants.

The only way to get rid of it is to cut it off, sad to say.

All most all of the plant has it where do I cut and that? plus how does it get this in the first place? Thank you

That's a tough one. If too much of the plant is involved, you may not be able to cut it off and have anything left. As for how it got infected, hard to say - where I've seen it before was on cacti that were somewhat etiolated, weak, soft growth is more easily infected. Maybe you were growing it too soft, too much water and/or fertilizer.

I've seen plants that lived for many years with dead, black patches, after their growing conditions were improved. You might be able to get enough healthy growth in the top to make a cutting of it. You could cut it back to a stump and hope to get a new shoot or shoots from it. There are just no easy answers.

Well, I too would take a look at the root system and the buried part of the plant. If that looks good and no softening of the below ground stem and the roots appearing healthy, the problem is most likely a localized one and may not need any treatment at all.
You can go ahead and cut off a piece of the black scab, which will give you an idea about the health of the underlying tissue. However, do use a sterilized blade. The lesions may be just "cosmetical damage" and will not spread. Keep an eye out for any changes, i.e. increase in lesion size or appearance of additional ones. If that is happening, you may have to take drastic action immediately.

Harald