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I've had this cactus nearly 10 years. It's gone brown around the base. Is this corking or rot? It doesn't seem to be mushy or squishy although hard to get to touch the flesh due to spines! Also I'm a newbie - what actually is corking? Why does it happen?l

I've now realised that keeping 3 cacti in one pot is a bad idea! As they all have different watering and light needs and space too - so I have repotted them separately since pictures.

Hi,I'm sorry I can't comment on the brown on your cacti as i feel i am not knowledgeable enough on that topic but the soil your cacti are in doesn't look great,may i ask what it is.Also do those pots have drainage holes in the bottom?

Poke it with a stick. When you can't touch it with your fingers, use a pen or something to see if it's soft. However, if the roots looked ok when you repotted it there's probably nothing to worry about.

The top part of a cactus is the only active, growing part. The bottom part a of columnar cactus just gets old and woody, then you see corking. On globular cacti, the old part shrinks up, that's how they manage to remain the same shape as they grow bigger, instead of being shaped like a light bulb. Some are kind of in-between in habit.

CactusMad wrote:Hi,I'm sorry I can't comment on the brown on your cacti as i feel i am not knowledgeable enough on that topic but the soil your cacti are in doesn't look great,may i ask what it is.Also do those pots have drainage holes in the bottom?

It's cactus and succulent soil, however the ingredients look very similar to regular compost so not sure what to do. And yes there are a few drainage holes at the bottom

A lot of what's sold as cactus soil holds too much water, needs more grit added. See the "Cultivation" forum, lots of good information on soil mixes there.

"Cactus & Succulent compost" *is* regular compost. With perhaps an extra cup of perlite. It isn't worthy of the name, and if you want to grow more than an occasional vigorous succulent, you'll have to find something better.