hello

[bezza]

hello from bezza.
completely new to computers and struggling to find my way around the site. I've kept cacti in a very amateurish but sucessful way for about 30 years and love them to bits. My getting this computer has co-incided with the appearance of a weird looking growth on a cactus so I'm seeking advice. Afraid my skills do not yet extend to sending photos. T he cactus is a Ferocactus pottsii v. alamosanus , according to the label , and there is a pale yellow fluffy ball on a thin yellow stalk growing from the side of it.Without the aid of a photo does anybody out there want to hazard a guess at what this is and what I should do about it? The cactus is extremely difficult to handle (major nightmare when I had to re-pot it!) but it's one of my favourites so if this yellow thing is a danger to it I'll do whatever you advise .Thanks in advance , hope to hear from somebody soon.

[AnTTun]

Welcome aboard bezza. I'm affraid it will be hard to help you without a pic of plant. You should try to upload it to some website like imageshack.com, it really isn't too hard to learn how. Good luck.

[Aiko]

and there is a pale yellow fluffy ball on a thin yellow stalk growing from the side of it.

My first guess would be a seed pot. Has your Ferocactus been in bloom? Although the yellow seed pots would just sit on top of the plant instead of on the side, and on a thin stalk... Are you sure this yellow thing is organic?

If so, and it is really something growing from the side like this, I would think it is not a Ferocactus at all, but probably something like an Echinopsis?

[MikeT]

Bezza

Hi. Welcome to the forum.

Is this yellow thing coming from the plant itself or from the soil? If it's from the soil, I'd say it's a fungus and harmless. If it's growing from the plant, I'd be concerned that it's a fungus and bad news. Usually fungi the shape you describe will be growing on dead organic matter in the compost, rather than growing on the plant itself. I've had similar fungi growing in pots with cacti in the past, they don't do any harm.

There was an article in the journal years ago on this line, anybody able to pin down when it was?

A thin stalk with something on the end doesn't sound to me like a flower/fruit on a cactus. Ferocacti flower at the top rather than down the side.

Regards

[Aiko]

Bezza
A thin stalk with something on the end doesn't sound to me like a flower/fruit on a cactus. Ferocacti flower at the top rather than down the side.

Indeed. Therefor this makes me think (depending on how big 'the thing' is) this is not a Ferocactus at all, although not based on much. But I guess a photo will make all clear!

[EddieA]

Welcome Bezza

If you can get a digital photos it's very easy
When you are composing a reply look at the 'tabs' beneath your editor - look for the 'upload attachment' tab then browse for your photo on your hard drive and 'add file'
Here's a post on photos

To post a picture on the forum
To display an image on on the forum the preferable way is to click on "Upload Attachment" just below the posting box, click on browse and navigate to the location on your computer where the image you want to display is stored and click on it once, click once on "open" then click "Add the file", then put your curser where you want you picture to appear in the post click and then click "Post inline", your image will then appear in your post when you select preview or submit.

What kind of things do you like to grow?

[bezza]

Firstly, big thanks to everyone who answered my post.Sometime this week I'm going to get someone to show me how to put my pictures onto the computer , then I'll follow the instructions from Mike and hopefully get to show you the Thing. Meanwhile the good news is that it hasn't got any worse. It hasn't flowered , so deffinitely not a seed pod. Thanks again for all being so helpful. Bezza

[bezza]

Long time - sorry. It turned out to be a soil grown fungus thingy, and it died - the fungus I mean, not the cactus! That's very happy and healthy. Thanks to everyone who offered advice.

[MikeT]

It does sound like a fungal fruiting body, but the fungus may well be alive underground, and show again later in the year. The plant looks fine, but it doesn't look much like a Ferocactus. I'd have thought a Gymnocalycium from that picture. Anyone else able to comment on ID?

[SimonR]

looks a bit like g. multiflorum to me