BCSS - Forum

Hi all It's been a while.

I posted last year about some old (presumably) cacti my father-in-law acquired from his old workplace (viewtopic.php?f=1&t=164726)

The middle plant, Cleistocactus strausii or Espostoa lanata, is possibly not well. The other day I brushed my hand against it by accident quite lightly, and found my knuckle covered with embedded spines!

The pictures in the other thread show it is quite etiolated in places but has branched out. I only had a macro lens on me when I took photos today and couldn't get the whole thing in the photo.

I have attached photos of the tip and base. The spines came off from the base. It doesn't look like it's rotting and I can't see any pests in the photos. I haven't tried seeing whether the spines come off from further up the plant, because while it might be relevant... it did kind of hurt :p

Apparently it was last watered at least a few months ago. It doesn't look shriveled up to me, so I'm not sure that's a problem.

Well it looks healthy enough. Very often, cacti do lose spines from old growth, especially if brushed against, they can detach quite easily. I shouldn't worry too much, it certainly doesn't seem to be rotting.

I find Cleistocactii need an occasional drop of water during the winter. The growing point seems to dry up very easily if I don't.

Diane wrote:Well it looks healthy enough. Very often, cacti do lose spines from old growth, especially if brushed against, they can detach quite easily. I shouldn't worry too much, it certainly doesn't seem to be rotting.

Ah okay, thanks

cactuspip wrote:I find Cleistocactii need an occasional drop of water during the winter. The growing point seems to dry up very easily if I don't.

Done! This seems a good reason to separate the three plants.