Tephrocactus geometricus

[Benjy]

Gained a head - lost a head :-)

This is the 2nd time ive lost a geometricus head to - bortrytis ?
I have 3 T.geometricus plants, this has now happened on 2. a couple of years ago on the other one.
I havent had this on any other Tephro.

Benjy

Tephrocactus geometricus
[attachment 18764 T.geometricus.jpg]

[Benjy]

[attachment 18765 2.JPG]

[Stuart Estell]

Yes, botrytis, or "the dreaded black rot". Most opuntias can get it, and I've had selenicereus stems succumb as well. I've found with true tephrocacti in the past that it'll sometimes dry up and the plant will carry on as if nothing has happened, although it's safer to remove the joint and bin it. The various Cumulopuntia boliviana forms seem quite prone to it as well in my experience.

[Ross M]

Looks nasty, but at least the plant is otherwise fine. Isn't nature strange!

[Benjy]

Ross M Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Looks nasty, but at least the plant is otherwise
> fine. Isn't nature strange!

Yeah, the black marks 'faint' appeared a few days ago, this morning the
gunge oozed from it, the head was chopped off this morning
and was completely clean at the join, its been hot today and by tonight the cut is already dried and healed nicely.

Benjy

I took this picture 5 mins ago.
[attachment 18768 Tephrocut.JPG]

[ralphrmartin]

I dont think this is botrytis. I get it sometimes. It generally starts as a grey-green mould on dead flowers, and can get into the whole plant. I've even had whole plants (usually succulents, but even the occasional cactus) end up turning to mush, covered in grey-green fruiting bodies...

Its usually worse in late autumn when it's humid.

[Mike P]

See this thread form last year.
http://www.bcss.org.uk/forum/read.php?1 ... msg-106204
I have had this on a few plants.
Mike

[Benjy]

Mike P Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> See this thread form last year.
> http://www.bcss.org.uk/forum/read.php?1,106204,106
> 204#msg-106204
> I have had this on a few plants.
> Mike

Thankyou Mike, Interesting, thats a great dissection photo.

As Dave says, i too have seen similar in Trichocereus,
that heels and doesnt cause any problems, just scars.
In Tephros, maybe because of their small size, if left it spreads easily. Segments can easily be removed early stopping any spread.

Just a shame on a such a small plant like this, when 1 segment maybe all you get in a year.

I thought botrytis too - after reading Michael Kießling's Tephrocactus book.

Benjy

[lancer99]

Ah, I think this explains what happened to my Cylindropuntia spinosior...potted up from dry root and seemed fine, then overnight developed nasty black gungy bits where the stems joined. Then two days later, dried and healed:

[img]http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii24 ... damage.jpg[/img]

...and now growing new segments.

Just the same, is it worth binning the plant to make sure it doesn't spread?

Thx,
-R

[Julie]

Yuckity yuck! *shudder*

Different from what did for my Forby - it was dry black rot... not wet or oozy at all.

Benjy, that new pad (?) is so sweet! Lovely little plant... I bet he will recover okay. I wonder why he only makes spikes on the new growth... do they fall off with age? Was the main body ever spiky?