Whats wrong here. Sick cactus.

CoffeeAddict · Post by **CoffeeAddict** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 4:20 pm

Well, I have this Gymno Ragonesi in a small clay pot. I have been watering it about once every 7 days but no sooner. The soil is dry, dry when I water it. At first I saw a little wite discoloration around the base. The following week after watrering it the discoloration crept upwards and in fact has turned orangish at the upper area where it meets spines. I unpotted it to see if I had rot but it does not appear to have any.

hob · Post by **hob** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:24 pm

difficult without being there, not that many roots on it

i stopped watering almost all of mine a month ago.

which part of the world is "hard to tell"

without a point of reference to work on knowing when and how often its watered is not a lot of help.

is that brown underside soft to the touch ? does it smell bad ?

CoffeeAddict · Post by **CoffeeAddict** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 5:55 pm

Chicagoland area. It is a bit soft on the underside but it does not smell. It is kept inside the house. I was planning on stopping watering them in after next week.

phil_SK · Post by **phil_SK** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 6:21 pm

looks normal to me - fewer roots than I'd hope for but they look sound.

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Sat Oct 27, 2007 9:31 pm

Is it hard water deposits?

Post by **daiv** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 2:56 am

I don't think it looks normal for a plant like that. I wonder about hard water too. It is clearly comming up from the bottom. How is your soil? Did you put lots of pearlite or pummice in it for drainage?

hob · Post by **hob** » Sun Oct 28, 2007 5:46 pm

CoffeeAddict wrote:Chicagoland area.

as in zone 5 mid to north usa ? if it were me i would leave it unpotted for a while to keep an eye on it, if it's rot you will lose it quite quickly, if not i would pot it in dry well draining soil and no more water until spring.