Hi! My prickly pear has been flourishing over the last few years, but I just noticed these brown spots this past week. Is this a fungal infection? If so, any suggestions on a treatment plan would be very much appreciated! Additional notes: the room has a south-facing window, and the plant is about 5 ft from it. I water it once a week and have doing so for a couple years.
It looks like scales. The best thing to do is get a cotton swab and 70% rubbing alcohol and start scraping/swiping them all off. Then I would repot it, and sprinkle in some systemic granules (helps prevent future infection). Your cacti may be prone to fungal infections due to the open wounds left by the scales, so you may also want to spray it with some copper fungicide.
2 likes It doesn’t seem to be scales. The 50/50 alcohol mix isn’t affecting the spots at all. No changes in appearance. Could it be fungal?
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Cactus scale. They cement themselves onto cacti very quickly. Treat as stated above. But, review the Safety Data Sheet for the commercial pesticides like Bonide System Granules or similar which warns of lung cancer and lung damage when exposed to the granules. It requires protective gloves, masks and clothing when exposed to the granules.
1 like Thank you, both! Our ivy had scales recently, so looks like I just can’t get rid of them. I have the systemic, neem oil and insecticide soap, so unless cactus scale is different, I’ll treat them the same way.
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