Koyote
Thanksgiving Cactus, please help!
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Thanksgiving Cactus, please help! | Pests, diseases and problems | Comunidad de Planta
14 comentarios
AdrianDid you recently repot it? These can be prone to shock. I would check the roots for rot or detachment asap.
1 me gusta- Koyote
not repotted, maybe i will to check on the roots
0 Me gusta- Adrian
Please check the roots. I can walk you through how to propagate it or treat it for root rot if the roots don’t look too hot upon inspection. Do you know what type of soil it’s in, and how many days you tend to wait before you water this plant? It’s an epiphytic plant, so if the soil isn’t very well draining, or takes a long time to dry out, that could be affecting its health rn.
2 Me gusta - Koyote
water definitely goes right thru and out the bottom,if you click on the linked plant you can see it’s watering history and whatnot, i follow the app recommendations
0 Me gusta - Koyote
so about every 4 days. not sure what type of soil, it’s in the same pot it came in
0 Me gusta - Adrian
Ok if you’re watering every 4 days, then Planta is having a glitch and telling you to water way too often. I water mine no earlier than every 11-14 days, and it’s typically closer to 13-14 for the soil to dry out as much as it needs to. I’ve reported this glitch quite a few times, but keep seeing it happening, especially when the start of the new month changes the watering schedules. I would definitely check the roots for rot. If there’s rot, lemme know and I’ll walk you through how to treat it
0 Me gusta
- Koyote
o wow ok, gonna alter that now the roots don’t look rotted but they don’t look super white and healthy
1 me gusta- Adrian
That’s good. I would pick up some Bonide’s Rooting Hormone Powder from a Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware, or your local nursery, and sprinkle a good amount on the roots, remove a good amount of the moist soil and repot it with fresh, DRY cactus mix. Let the soil completely dry out for a few days. Some of the leaves might not recover, but that’s ok. It’s very easy to twist damaged leaves off and propagate this plant, so if they don’t recover within 2 weeks, twist the most damaged ones off so the cactus can focus on new growth and recovering. If you wanna check for any signs of rot, I’d get some hydrogen peroxide and spray or pour some onto the roots. If the roots start making a sizzling sound, there’s some bacteria or rot lingering, but the peroxide will kill it. Gently pat it dry after about 10-20 minutes, then add some rooting powder if you’d like and put it back in the pot with some dry cactus mix. Hopefully it will start to recover within a week or so. The rooting powder is optional, but will greatly increase the chances of your plant recovering faster, and will help with developing new roots if there is any rot or damage.
1 me gusta - Adrian
Replacing it with a dry cactus mix will help it dry out much faster and lower the chance of rot. And if the peroxide does make something sizzle, you don’t want to use any previous soil that has lingering bacteria from rot that could spread. To test when it’s dry enough to water, wait at least 11-14 days before you plan on watering it after the repot. I use a bamboo/barbecue skewer and stick it all the way into the bottom of the soil. If the soil sticks to it, wait at least 2 days then test it again. If it comes out clean and dry, it should be safe to water. Don’t be afraid to let it completely dry out, even for an extra day or two if it’s been watered so often lately. This is an epiphytic plant, meaning it gets it’s nutrients from the water in the air and needs a very well draining soil to survive as a houseplant, so letting it dry out is great for this plant. It’s not naturally grown in soil in the rainforests it’s from, so making sure it’s in a well-draining mix and dried completely out between waterings is key. While it is a jungle cactus, that just means it takes less time to dry out between waterings than other cacti. It still should completely dry out between waterings like any other cactus.
1 me gusta
- Matilda
The purple colour means it’s in too much sun- can you also move it somewhere with more diffused light
1 me gusta - Adrian
well, with the purple color, it is called “sun stress” when that happens, but that isn’t a bad sign with cacti or succulents, and the leaves will simply turn back to green in lower light conditions. It’s simply an effect from the lighting conditions, and sun stress is often positively associated with what gives the cool colors on succulents, or jade plants. The sun stress wouldn’t be what’s causing the problems for this type of plant. If you like the purple color, it’s not hurting your plant, and having it in bright light will help it dry out faster, but if you prefer it stays green, then putting in somewhere with a bit less light will turn it back to green
1 me gusta - Koyote
Insanely helpful Adrian, thank you so much!!
1 me gusta- Adrian
No problem! Hope it recovers soon!
0 Me gusta
The plant guyHi don’t worry your Thanksgiving cactus can still be safe it looks super thirsty first check if the soil is dry if it is give a slow deep drink of water make sure water drain out of the bottom of the pot no soggy feet if the giant hard soak the whole pot in a bowl of water for 15 to 30 minutes so can we hydrate and let it drain well in a bright spot but not indirect hot sun and don’t water again until the soil was mostly dryit might look up in the day or two you got this
0 Me gusta