watering and death

[TS Hakansson]

I watered for the first time this year today (here in Sweden) and most plants looked fine, a few mammillarias,thelocacti and Isome others flowering, and lot of buds on sulcos, BUT all of my echinocacti and other odds and ends have died this winter.
It has been a milder winter than normal,the plants were placed at their normal places (where they´ve been standing for several winters) and the greenhouse has been bone dry,a mystery really. More than a hundred plants and that is not normal. Any others having this kind of problem this winter?

[RAYWOODBRIDGE]

Sorry to hear this, was it rot, fungus, or were they dry husks, and so many seems to be unusual.
I did have a fungus attack on Tephrocactus and Austrocylindropuntia 15 months ago during the previous winter which seemed to come from nowhere,which I managed to clear up and this winter did not recur .

Ray

[rodsmith]

I've had only a couple of fatalities over the winter, out of about 200 plants. Have yours rotted or become dried out husks? Is your greenhouse heated at all over winter? I've come to the conclusion that winter deaths sometimes just happen without any obvious reason. In some cases the plant just gets too old to survive (some species are short lived); in others the last autumn watering may have coincided with a cold spell resulting in damp roots all winter. If you've lost a lot of plants I would imagine there is a common cause of this.

[Peter]

A dreadful occurrence. My immediate reaction was that it was a batch of contaminated compost. That's happened before. However, of course, it is probable that other species would have died.

Strange that it's primarily Echinocacti, which I find to be robust. It must be down to late watering. My experience is that Echinocacti prefer a soil compost. Anything with peat or similar in it would retain late watering for too long in a fairly cold greenhouse. I'd like to see the roots of these plants.

[Torbjorn]

Hej,
Sorry Thord! Strange to lose Echinocerei in the winter. I lose them outdoors in a wet summer.
Bad compost is an interesting idea, but I think Thord as I do uses fresh, allmost completely mineral substrate?
My winter losses, beeing also in the Stockholm area, Sweden, is also this year, I think, due to too high temperature in my winter storage room. Species like Sulco, Frailea, some Rebutia just dries up.
Again sorry for you losses...soon time for the Scandinavian plant race to Germany, and Holland.
Torbjörn

[rodsmith]

Hej,
Sorry Thord! Strange to lose Echinocerei in the winter

Thord's post mentioned Echinocacti, not Echinocerei, I think.

[Torbjorn]

Hej,
Sorry Thord! Strange to lose Echinocerei in the winter

Thord's post mentioned Echinocacti, not Echinocerei, I think.

I just met Thord in person, and had this pointed out to me. I my opinion all the worse to lose Echinocacti.
Sorry for the confusion...
Torbjörn.

[graham]

The other question(s) to ask is how are the deaths physically distributed ? Are all of the affected plants in the same area and have other genera/species nearby shown any effects whatsoever ?

graham

[KarlR]

The other question(s) to ask is how are the deaths physically distributed ? Are all of the affected plants in the same area and have other genera/species nearby shown any effects whatsoever ?

graham

I'd look at this too. I once had a tray full of Sulcos and Acanthocalycium in my greenhouse that I found filled to the brim with water one day in February. I still don't know exactly how the water got in, but clearly there was a leak somewhere. No nearby trays were affected. Suffice to say not many of the plants survived.

It could also be a case of too late watering last autumn of course, or possibly a period of very high humidity in the greenhouse?

A shame about all the plants though!

[Julie]

Hello Thord,

I am sorry to hear you have lost so many plants all at once. What percentage of your collection were they?

I hope all the others are healthy and enjoying their first drink.