It happened again!

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Wed May 28, 2008 1:30 am

I do not know what exactly is causing this. Last year my Peniocereus greggii plant started to bend at the top and eventually the upper part of the plant dried up. However, the cactus started to grow from the point below the dried-up stem piece. This time around everything looked fine. Then overnight the top was presenting itself to me at an angle. It looked almost, as if there was a small area where something had crushed the stem. Now, almost a week later, the stem above the "bruise" is still flexible. My other plant, occupying a different spot, looks fine. It is green and shows some new growth. As you can see on the photo, there is nothing close to the cactus that it could have smashed into. We did have some strong winds, but I cannot believe, that they were responsible for the growth abnormality.

Harald

Tony · Post by **Tony** » Wed May 28, 2008 2:30 am

Hello Harald,
Could the wind have blown strong enough to bend it over and the bending of the stem caused the area to look crushed?
Maybe you could use a tall stake or a splint to stand it back up straight?
Dont those P. gregii's usualy grow up through other bushes and get supported by them?

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Wed May 28, 2008 2:49 am

P. greggii plants in the wild are the scraggliest, most beat up-est, generally scruffed up things you can imagine. The stems seem to die off at will, with new growth coming off old areoles or even from below ground, from the top of the tuber. I think any greggii grown outdoors will take on a "rough" character, just by being exposed.

peterb

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:21 pm

Thank you both, Peter and Tony,
I think, that perhaps the location of the Peniocereus greggii is not the ideal one after all. The plant has been in the ground for quite some time and it looks the same or worse one year after the other. Also, I do not particularly like the color of the stem. It is between brown and reddish-grey.
I am thinking of digging up the tuberous root and transplanting it near the other P. greggii that seems to be liking its environment a lot better.
When is a good time to do this kind of chore? Would you suggest fall, winter, or spring. When is the transplant shock small and the expected survival rate best?

Harald

Post by **CoronaCactus** » Thu May 29, 2008 8:44 pm

I would think now would be the best time to transplant it (or almost any cacti for that matter)

peterb · Post by **peterb** » Thu May 29, 2008 9:15 pm

well, for Penios the big thing is to transplant during a dry season. Not sure when that is where you live, Harald, but in AZ it's either spring or fall, two of the driest times of year. Fall is good because there is a lot of root growth and root development for all the plants, here, after the summer dormancy.

peterb

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Fri May 30, 2008 1:17 am

Those lighting conditions seem pretty ideal in my opinion. Instead of uprooting the tuber and possibly shocking it, why not snap off (or clip off) the stem just above the tuber? It will sprout a new one next spring and you can assess it then. Who knows, maybe it is just the stem that is on there right now that is the problem. By the way, I think that your penio is behaving normally. It has abandoned the upper portion of the stem and will focus its energy into a different location.

hegar · Post by **hegar** » Fri May 30, 2008 2:14 am

Well, I think the problem has solved itself afterall. Because it has been rather dry and will be until most likely July/August, when we do have our rainy season, I followed Peter's advice and started to dig up the plant. After I had freed the top growth from the soil covering the lowest part of the stem the whole stem popped right out of the tuberous root. Carefully digging around, using my hand, I discovered, that the whole tuber was very mushy, i.e. it had rotted. I do not know, if the problem developed during the last winter, when we did have quite a bit of snow covering the ground, or if my supplemental watering and the location of the plant is to blame. It looks to me though, as if I am guilty of maltreating my Peniocereus greggii. The one that does look fine is out of the way and barely ever gets any water in addition to what falls out of the sky naturally.
I did place the stem back into the ground near the healthy looking plant, after I had dipped the end in rooting hormone with added fungicide. Maybe I am lucky and the plant will pull through.
When transplanting a tree it is advised to prune back the top growth in order to balance out the root loss. Is that advice also valid for cacti? If I were to leave the whole top section intact, will it dry out the below ground portion before it has any chance of forming roots?

Harald

tumamoc · Post by **tumamoc** » Fri May 30, 2008 4:54 am

Sorry to hear about the rotten tuber, Harald. I recently had one turn to mush as well. Let's hope your other one stays healthy. I am curious about whether or not yours is a P. greggii var. greggii, as I am beginning to suspect that variety may be more difficult to manage.