Cactus - stand up!

[Paul mabbott]

Well, sort of gardening.
When we got back from holiday, one of my son's cacti had fallen over - there's a sort of "wound" but the stem had started growing properly upward:



Strange thing but don't want to throw it away so give it some water and leave it 'upright' and, after a few weeks:



Any ideas what the cactus is?

[m1.carson]

Hi,

No good on cacti, but a good guess would be to look at the plastic name tag in the pot , The damage as another guess would be a small slug.

Max.

[Paul mabbott]

Good tip - but that's just a number that my son gave it for cataloguing purposes!
The epidermis isn't damaged - I suspect that its simply a section which has rotted for some reason. I hope we don't have slugs in the conservatory .... although we did have a problem once (not with the cacti) when a stick insect escaped ....

Originally Posted by m1.carson

Hi,

No good on cacti, but a good guess would be to look at the plastic name tag in the pot , The damage as another guess would be a small slug.

Max.

[Cotham Marble]

Originally Posted by Paul mabbott

The epidermis isn't damaged - I suspect that its simply a section which has rotted for some reason. I hope we don't have slugs in the conservatory .... although we did have a problem once (not with the cacti) when a stick insect escaped ....

I've no idea on the ident' but certainly the damage looks like rot - probably the plant was left sitting in overly wet compost for too long at some point. Terracotta pots are best for cacti, not only does the heavier material make a more stable container, the evapouration from terracotta lessens the chance of 'damping off'.

CM

[m1.carson]

Hi,

Had a word with the boss, and she doesn't know the correct name, but thinks the common name is rat's tail, looked through the RHS encyclopedia and it's certainly the nearest one, apart from the number of shoots it's got, perhaps it's pot bound.

Max.

Synonym:Aporocactus flagelliformis
Synonym:Aporocactus flagriformis
Synonym:Aporocactus leptophis
Synonym:Cereus flegelliformis
Synonym:Cereus flagriformis.

[Tiggrx]

I think it is a Golden Column Cactus (Weberbauerocereus johnsonii)

[Nick T]

It's not a rats tail (Aporocactus) I'll post a picture of one of those tomorrow - bit dark to go down the greenhouse now.

I'm not good on columnar cacti to give you a name but the mark, thats easy. Sun scorch - I know, I know they are desert plants etc thing is in the wild they get more heavily spination this creates a bit of shade for them, here they dont get the intense sun all year round and so, like me and you, they need aclimatising to it. I would guess thhis occourded with the 1st spell of really sunny weather after all the miserable rain we've had - it caught a couple of mine in the greenhouses.

I'd re pot it in the spring with some fresh compost in a bigger pot and put a stick in it to support it and with a bit of luck it should grow out in a year or two. If that doesn't work in the spring cut the top off just above the scorch mark dust it with either sulphur or hormone rooting powder leave to dry for a week or so and then put it in a pot of extremely well drained compost ( mine usually consists of 3 parts grit to 2 parts john innes compost ( no2 or No3)

Again tie it to a stake to support in and leave it to get on with it - it should root in a couple of months but try and resist trying to pull it otherwise you might damage the new roots ....... It's damn hard to do though, i can hardly resist it

Try lookin on the Desert tropicals website