Mold after rain on San Pedro cut?

[tick tocker]

Hello knowledgable cacti growers,

I've got this San Pedro mid-section cutting outside that doesn't seem to be doing too well.  It's shot out a pup that's growing pretty fast and it's gone through a few rains.  It has rained again for the past two days and this time, it did not do so well.



Is this mold/rot?  What should I do?  Cut it off now or wait to see what happens?  I guess I am going to try to cover it whenever I can to protect it from rain because the skin is peeling up and rotting underneath it seems, along with everywhere else on the cut.

hmm.. any thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[JRL]

If it is just pretty much on the surface I would put it somewhere dry, give it no water and watch.

What you have to worry about is orange rot. If the stem below the cut is geting real soft and mushy then cut down to healthy flesh. Orange rot is on of the few cactus killer out there.

These suckers are tough, they really want to grow. Things move slow in the cactus world, benign neglect seems to make them thrive.

[EA-1306]

That vascular bundle looks thick and aged, the side of the plant looks old too.  It looks fine to me, the new growth is a good sign and the moldy growth is not pathenogenic.

[winder]

If you want to play it safe, then dust with sulfur powder.
It cannot harm the cacti, and it will provide peace of mind.

[tick tocker]

Thanks for the info all of you.

I thought that it would do okay outside with no covering to shield from rain.  I suppose not, or at least not when it rains and then is cloudy/drizzling for a couple days afterwards.  Thing is, I have another midsection cutting next to this one about the same size that has no mold on it at all, skin all intact, with pup shooting out, doing great... Time will tell.

Thanks again for the input.

[visionarybear]

even bleach will get rid of that mildew, its fine, long as the cut isnt fresh and it has had time to callous over then all it will do is look much worse than it is..
if water is pooling in the top i can be a worry, i have in the past cau a groove so any liquid can drain if i get a big sinking of the flesh

[visionarybear]

even bleach will get rid of that mildew, its fine, long as the cut isnt fresh and it has had time to callous over then all it will do is look much worse than it is..
if water is pooling in the top i can be a worry, i have in the past cau a groove so any liquid can drain if i get a big sinking of the flesh

[tick tocker]

Well, the black mold has been fine.  I can't quite remember what I did.. I think I did end up putting some bleach on it.  It's still black, but was growing just fine until.....

A hard freeze came through a couple weeks ago, supposedly the worst one that has ever hit my area, since people have been keeping track at least.  I was away until about a week after the freeze.  A friend told me that the cactus all got covered with ICE... along with everything else, which is a very rare occurence in my area.  Now the cactus all have yellow spots on them and now, a new development, some orange spots mostly around the areoles it seems.  I guess this is the orange rot JRL mentioned?

I guess I will wait and see what happens.. and take it as a lesson learned.  Ice = Enemy of San Pedro.

[JRL]

The orange rot works from the inside, the cactus gets soft.

Hard yellow and orange spots on the skin are callous I believe, they don't seem to be a problem.

[plantshaman]

that cactus looks fine , all mine look like that with the black stuff on top . when it first started i got all scared like 5 years ago . Now i have a dozen or more cacti doin great but the cuts still have that black mold.

next time you cut the cactus cut it at 45 degrees so any water will run off it and that will help.

[blazed123]

I've had the same experience. It should be fine.

That type of cut will tend to induce pupping at the highest areole.  The only advantage of a straight cut is you may tend to get more pups from the top of a single cutting.  

I've thought about coating the top of the flat cutting with wax to prevent the water from pooling. It's an unorthodox method, but it might work.

[plantshaman]

i get lots of pups and i always cut at an angle. i do howeverhave great growing conditions

If you really want alot of pups just plant the cuttings horizontal.