Can you help me find out whats wrong with this guy?

Discussion in 'Cacti and Succulents' started by Gussimo, May 28, 2022.

  1. Gussimo

    Gussimo New Member

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    Hey everyone,

    hope you're doing well. So I have a young Echinopsis Pachanoi that isn't doing well, it was never the healthiest but I think it got worse. Just wondering if anyone has suggestions about what I can do to help it :). I'll annex a photo.

    Kind regards,
    Gustavo
     

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  2. mandarin

    mandarin Active Member 10 Years

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    What do you mean with "got worse"? There is something going on with the skin, but the plant looks dry too. Are the roots healthy?
     
  3. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    Could you provide some background information?
    How long do you have this guy?
    Did you change anything recently at the usual watering/fertilizing regime?
    How stable its environmental parameters (temperature, humidity, air movement, exposure to the sunlight, etc) have been?
    Do you have any pets or children, who could cause damage to the cactus?

    My wild guess - over watering.
     
  4. Acerholic

    Acerholic Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society

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    A saucer with water still in the bottom points to over watering. These guys prefer a free draining soil on the dry side.
     
  5. Gussimo

    Gussimo New Member

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    Hello and thanks, and yes I did a terrible job at explaining myself. So by "got worse" what I exactly meant is that when I got it, it already had a distinctive black spot (I think you can see it on the first picture) and had some discolored parts, discolored as in whitish but not brown dead looking like now. Regarding background, I have it for about a year, didn't water it all throughout winter and usually water it once a week sometimes less now in Spring and Summer. Started watering it sparingly in April again, overwatering is something I worry about and not denying it can be the cause, but I really just put the saucer with water (not that much imo but I could be wrong) let it drink and take the saucer out. Reason on the photo it has water its cause while I was watering was when I decided to do something about the little guy. The soil is about 50% cactus mix, 50% perlite plus some pebbles thrown in there. The clay balls are just on the top layer.

    Pets and children ruled out, but I have it outside since the rainy season is over (this to say I kept them inside over the winter) and last week was very windy, wonder if he could have suffered damage from that. Exposure to sunlight is pretty stable, it has a few hours of direct sunlight towards the end of the day but not more as the sun is extremely strong and summers quite hot here; temperature has gone up and down quite a bit (more than 10 celsius on occasion in the same day). Oh and I fertilized for the first time in early May, I tried to be quite strict with dosage and used a syringe to measure as I worried about over doing it, I put I 1/4 of the amount of nutrients recommended for an adult cactus. Appreciate the help and just trying to learn a bit, like I said he come to my hands already with some difficulties and should have tried to deal it in the begging but didn't pay much attention to it.

    Oh and in case it isn't obvious lol, I am not that experienced yet.
     
    Last edited: May 29, 2022
  6. Acerholic

    Acerholic Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout Maple Society

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    I think you need to let it dry out and monitor for a couple of weeks. Too often when there is trouble with a plant, people water and and water and feed. This causes stress to any plant let alone a cactus.
    Also water sat in a saucer will cause it problems. It needs to drain freely.
     
  7. Sulev

    Sulev Contributor

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    AFAIK, Echinopsis pachanoi likes to be watered seldom, but then very thoroughly. Bottom watering may not be the best way to do that. Let the soil to dry, even to the point where your Echinopsis is showing some signs of a drought stress. And then pour so much water from the top, that the soil is saturated, but let the excess water to drain freely. Then your cactus should be happy.

    Edit:
    I did not find out how many weeks ago you transferred your cactus from indoors to outdoors, but this change in location could also be the cause of the problem, if you did not acclimatize your plant with outdoors conditions slow enough.
     
    Last edited: May 30, 2022
  8. wazungy

    wazungy Active Member 10 Years

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    This cactus needs heat and sunlight, then you can water it every other day, otherwise... not.
    If it is in a sunny window, once a week soaking will be more than enough. If it is in a hot greenhouse, once every 2 days if the soil dries out between.

    These cacti can drink a lot when hot and sunny.
     
  9. Gussimo

    Gussimo New Member

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    Hello everyone,

    Really forgot to come back here after a while and as I assesed results. First of all I let it dry well and then and as Sulev suggested I stopped bottom watering and started watering from the top, letting it drain well. I thought overwatering shouldnt be the only issue as he gets plenty of sun and was watering only once a week before, so actually started watering twice a week for a while to try it out and worked very well. It started growing a lot more and appearing more robust and healthy, the brown spots seen earlier didnt go away though, but appear less deep so to say.

    Appreciate the opinions and contributions
     
    Sulev and Acerholic like this.
  10. wcutler

    wcutler Paragon of Plants Forums Moderator VCBF Cherry Scout 10 Years

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    Right - damaged tissue won't be repaired. It's the new growth you have to concern yourself with, so it sounds like you're doing well. Thanks for reporting back.
     

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