my cacti are growing cotton

[dephighance]

this doesnt look normal. it has been growing for a few months now after plants have had serious neglect. anyone have any ideas? these are trichocereus pachanoi

[Stonehenge]

I never saw that before. You are sure it's not fungus or something? Hard to say from the photo. I'd venture a guess that the growths may be mutated flowers trying to form but that's just a guess.

[dephighance]

yea jrl mentioned that but it seem odd that they would try forming on the inside of the rib, the indentation part.. as you can see they are branching out the wazoo

[JRL]

Now that I see it, it doesn't look like flowers. It's a new one on me, too.

[winder]

Are those mealy bugs gone apeshit?

[dephighance]

i dont know how do i find out? is there a spray i can use on them? i hear cacti will hold chemicals in them for a long time or forever?

[Jacko]

Squish the material with your fingers, does it squish like a bug?  It looks like mealies gone bad (check your roots if that's the case, it's tough to beat once they get into the roots ... spray roots bare and use a toothbrush to remove all of the little buggers).  There are a  fair number of natural pesticides that'll kill off mealy bugs, check out wormsway.com for a fine selection or whip up some tobac tea mixed with Dr. Bronners peppermint soap and  maybe a dash of tea tree oil and spray that on 'em.  Good luck and don't let shit like that grow for weeks without checking it.

[dephighance]

it squishes literally like cotton.. it kind of just rubs off easily but i dont know if its worth rubbing all off if its just going to grow back

tobacco tea works? i have some menthol tobacco i could make up some. i also have neem which works well for most stuff..

[anti-light]

wow... dephighance.... how have you been???


damn.... ive never seen that fuzzy stuff before.....

its looks like a mold or fungus of some sort.....

with a cactus... you could hit it with all kinds of stuff...

neem oil..... sulfur (if mold).....

maybe its a damn mutant???

[CJ]

Come out of the woodwork for this,do not use neem oil,it burns cacti. Fine on other plants,but I found neem oil,and for that matter,safers,to be very detrimental. Both...very.

     Sulphur.. yes,but ive never seen anything like that..awful,knock it off. try everthing non evasive,sulphur,or even a trick someone taught me primarily for tips,ice cold water,if it be in the animal kingdom.

[Jupe]

Hard fine spray of water?  Really looks like mealy bugs......they live underneith the cotton stuff, but are pretty obvious......don't have any cotton fields nearby do you?  Could be blowing around?  Just a thought.....

[CJ]

The idea is to take a large glass of ice water,water chilled very cold say in a pitcher,something like that,and pour over the tip of the cacti. That kills and/or stuns most pests,where they are most likly to reside.

     I have yet to face 'mealy worms'. Prolly never will. My problem has been mites,and one other critter,tiny but 'long'.

     Latley ive spotted another insect,larger and very active. I could swear it`s ladybug larvae. The tips look good now,so I jus` keep an eye on the situation.