Pleiospilos nelii

[Aloenut]

This will probably need a bigger pot in the spring.
[attachment 1707 Plei_nel.jpg]

[iann]

That's coming along nicely. They get to a pretty good size, don't they?

[Mr Crimson]

Hi Aloenut,
glad you posted this. I bought these 3 this summer, they were marked "Lithops".. (i also bought genuine lithops).

These seems to be in 3 different stages, but I keep them in winter rest together with my other succulents.

[IMG]http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/5060 ... ca5.th.jpg[/IMG]

[Mal]

I,ve left some out planted in a large trough outside, and so far they seem surprisingly hardy. thats near heathrow. Mal.

[Julie]

I'm glad someone mentioned nelii... I was just about to start a thread "Help!!! Nelii is going bad!!"

My nelii was bought leaning over in the pot and had been packed with cacti and therefore has a few holes on one side. One hole is about 1cm deep and despite being well sulphured, there is (after 2-3 weeks) a bad patch about an inch wide and half an inch deep around it. This is 90 degrees around from the fissure, and above it (just), but does not appear to have spread to the inside of the leaf. The area is wrinkled and brownish, and a side view shows it's sunken in too.

I think I could in theory cut off one leaf level with the bottom of the fissure... I am assuming that the new leaves are no higher than the fissure? The base of the fissure is concave.

Ian, Frank... is it likely to survive such surgery? If the rot is as deep as it is wide, I think there would not be enough thickness in the middle of the leaf after cutting, to support the top of the leaf, although the top seems healthy enough at the moment.

This may or may not be my imagination - but it could be more wobbly on it's roots than it was. The bottom half inch of the cone feels solid.

Am I okay with a clean Stanley knife and ethanol, and cleaning the knife with each cut? Is there something special I need to know when chopping up mesembs? Will sulphur and root powder be OK as a dressing?

If no cries to the contrary, I'll do the operation tomorrow in daylight, and pile on the powders. Do they bleed like rubber plants? I will cry!

Best case I guess it'll be little and flowerless this year, worst... I have some experience (and mental toughness) with cutting things up.
[attachment 1722 nelii-rot14-1-07.jpg]

[Julie]

Here is a lesson to turn plants frequently!!! I should have spotted this earlier.

And here's nelii from the side... maybe someone can guess how far inward the rot has spread from the concaveness? My gut feeling is that it's not good.....

And the burning Q - can they survive with one leaf chopped off?
[attachment 1723 nelii-side14-1-07.jpg]

[Phil_SK]

I'm not convinced that's as bad as you might think. If it's dry and not mushy it's probably OK to just leave. A spine wound doused in sulfur would look like your pic if it had just calloused over.

[Julie]

Phil, I'm afraid I prodded it with my (clean) Stanley knife and made the cut a little bigger.. it is quite squelchy. However I don't know what healthy nelii tissue should be like...

[iann]

I'm also not convinced that it is rotting, I think it has just dried out and scarred over around the wound. Old P. nelii leaves get really manky at this time of year, or will do soon. But you are there and can tell better.

They can certainly survive with most of a leaf cut off but you will be removing energy from the plant and it will be smaller next year. If you really think it is rotting, I'd start cut out around the hole with your knife. Healthy flesh will be green, it may be quite soft at this time but will be able to maintain its own shape. It is not likely to bleed to any great extent. Rotting flesh will be dark, very soft or liquid, and likely to ooze. Remove as much as necessary to reach clean green flesh.

Try not to cut into the centre between the leaves, if you cut off the growing point then you plant is caput.

[Julie]

Ian, thanks. I was worried it was a goner! The other leaf looks really healthy and unwrinkled.

I'll leave it alone and have sulphured my prodding heavily.. let's see what it does. I just thought that I might need to act quickly.

The inside seemed wet but green. As the surface by the cut was quite dry and tough it's hard to tell how firm or squishy the flesh is, but my idea was that it gave no resistance to a fairly new Stanley blade.