(Lophophora williamsii) Identifying damage

[Rogusi]

Hello all,

I have visited the forums quite a bit for info but now I turn to your knowledge when faced for the first time with a scary setback for my cacti. One of my williamsiis suddenly has these "wounds" which I am not sure of the cause and would like to identify and even better avert and heal. I will post photos.

The only clue other than the aspect is that I have noticed this "microscopical" mite looking bugs on it. But very few and hard to spot, theyre so small I couldnt get them on photo. If not that, maybe a bird tried to get a bite?

Thanks everyone and really appreciate any help that people can give.

Cheers!

[Tom in Tucson]

A wound that large is most likely caused by a curious rodent that is out sampling for some tasty food in his neighborhood. Despite the fact that Lophpphora species are full of a number of alkaloids, they seem to survive their little nibbling forays. If they come back, there are quite a few deterents available.

[DaveW]

Depends what's the "wildlife" where you are. In the UK that could even be snail damage. Its surprising how they get into our greenhouses often carried in as eggs. However I have seen some crawling halfway up the greenhouse glass sides. Certainly as Tom says looks like something has eaten it rather than being disease related.

Lophophora's grow a lot faster than you think since they collapse the old growth at the base almost as fast as they grow it at the crown so that cavity will be lost at the base in a year or so.

[Rogusi]

Thanks both! Indeed it recovered quite fast and and was just a small scare

[Steve Johnson]

The only clue other than the aspect is that I have noticed this "microscopical" mite looking bugs on it. But very few and hard to spot, theyre so small I couldnt get them on photo.

See this:

https://www.cactiguide.com/cactipests/#spidermite

Red spider mites are very aggressive, and I don't see any mite damage on the plant. They're also pretty easy to spot. The smaller near-microscopic pest mites are flat mites, and they look like this:

45810339964_256cf25717_o.jpg (161.66 KiB) Viewed 1211 times

Not nearly as aggressive, but they can do some damage. If you have a 10x magnifier, check and see if that's what you have. The miticides we get in the US aren't available in other countries, so you can use alcohol spray to kill them.

[Rogusi]

Thank you very much Steve, indeed I think those are the little guys I saw.

I'll try to get them.