Help please!!!!

[erasmus666]

[attachment 13983 PICT0043.JPG]

This hopefully shows the parts of the plant that are turning white.

[erasmus666]

[attachment 13984 PICT0041.JPG]

These show my other cacti, none of which have ever flowered. All they seem to have done is get bigger and bigger and .....!

[Robert K]

it looks like that it has been eaten by something

[Peter]

Cold or in a draught?

[Sue]

Have you checked for RSM?

[IanW]

Most of it just looks like the natural woodish effect opuntia get as they age? Personally for me the woodish effect of many old opuntia is what I find most attractive about them. This is why I particularly like Brasiliopuntia brasiliensis as it's the most tree like out the lot although seeing some of the mature galapagos opuntia recently has renewed my interest in more than just B. Brasiliensis in the overall opuntia group. See here for an example of what I mean and why not to worry if your opuntia is going woody:

Opuntia, Galapagos Islands

Right at the top of the opuntia looks like there might be fruit/flower pod(s) that have perhaps failed to flower.

The rot pic I'm guessing due to cold, if it got cold and wet - maybe at some point it was pressing against the window where condensation was on a cold night? - then that's probably what caused it. The main thing is it looks like it's healed and survived it's ordeal.

They all look like they may be rather etiolated which means they're not getting enough light, hence also why they probably aren't flowering and hence why you have what appears to me at least a failed flower/fruit pod. Etiolation looks particularly prominent on the furthest left one where it's much fatter and healthier looking down the bottom.

[erasmus666]

Thanks for all your help on this. I've got a small leanto greenhouse outside my house. Should I move the cacti in there, either during the winter or permanently? I never thought that it might be getting old like yours truly. I've stopped watering it now as other threads on your excellent forum seem to indicate that one should stop now.

Regards

Michael