Lophophora Doctor

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soundtrack
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun May 09, 2021 8:59 pm
Location: Ukiah, CA, USA

Lophophora Doctor

Post by soundtrack »

I’ve recently moved from a drier Northern California climate to a more humid one in the LA area. I started to notice this on my lophophora and would love some help diagnosing it. Please shoot me any questions and I’ll respond timely.
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Lophophora Lover
Jangaudi
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Location: Gent, Belgium

Re: Lophophora Doctor

Post by Jangaudi »

Had this also on one, I cut it, all brown inside under the skin. Considering you moved to a humid environment, I'd go easy on the sand in the soil. Can retain a lot of himidity. You might wanna try to cut one, and see if you can take out a nice chunk without rot, and reroot it.
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mikethecactusguy
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Re: Lophophora Doctor

Post by mikethecactusguy »

Question is? Is it soft or hard? Soft, fungus, hard , just normal corking. Humid in LA? I lived in the San Fernando Valley for 30 ys. Canyons of Beverly Hills, West Hollywood for 33 Years. Unless you live in Santa Monica or Venice, Where is it so humid it causes rot/fungus growth? A few days here and there, but nothing like Northern Ca. Ukiah was on the coast. I Don't see the need to start cutting up this specimen if its corking.
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Steve Johnson
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Location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)

Re: Lophophora Doctor

Post by Steve Johnson »

Jangaudi wrote: Fri Jul 08, 2022 9:13 amI'd go easy on the sand in the soil.
Better yet -- get rid of the sand completely. I'm growing the vast majority of my cacti in a 60% pumice/40% granite gravel mix, and here's what it looks like:

Image

Soundtrack -- to give you some geographical perspective, I live in Jefferson Park just south of the historic West Adams district. Here's little old me somewhere in the green box:

Image

The humidity in JP is on the high side, and if I grew my cacti in straight pumice, it would take way too long to dry out. The granite gravel acts as a "moderator" in the mix, so the wet-to-dry time of about 7 days is pretty much perfect. Aside from the moisture retention problem, sand in the mix tends to suffocate the roots (the soil isn't doing you any favors either), but if you switch to a soil-less pumice/granite gravel mix, the roots of your Lophs will enjoy growing in the well-aerated mix. For good or ill, everything starts out in the roots.

If you decide to go with the soil-less mix, it's essentially a hydroponic approach, so you'll need to fertilize your cacti every time you water. Check this out:

https://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=47212

MikeInOz is a professional horticulturalist with a deep knowledge of cacti and succulents -- the best explainer of ferts I've ever seen, and that's why I make it a point of sharing what I learned from him whenever I can.
If you just want photos without all the blather, please visit my Flickr gallery.
My location: Los Angeles, CA (Zone 10b)
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7george
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Re: Lophophora Doctor

Post by 7george »

So many offsets and elongated stems: this plant grows in shady spot or soil is too rich of Nitrogen? Weakened plants become vulnerable to pests and conditions. Might be just stem corking but when plants are grown compact, flat with the ground (like mine) that part is not visible.
If your cacti mess in your job just forget about the job.
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keith
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Joined: Wed Jun 12, 2013 3:50 am
Location: S. CA USA

Re: Lophophora Doctor

Post by keith »

60% pumice/40% granite gravel mix like Steve shows and add ~ 20 % compost to this if you don't want to go hydroponic. That's what I do and Fertilize less often because I'm a little more lazy with fertilizer. Sand is useful for seedlings and re rooting cuttings which you may have to do ? Not straight sand and not all tiny gain size. Sand not good for mature cactus in Pots for all the reasons already given. That grey green color on some of the stems is often a bad sign of rot. I would re pot the whole bunch of them and put them out of direct sunlight until they grow new roots.
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