My Girlfriend and I have had this cactus for about 2.5 years now. When we got it, it was about 12in tall. It has grown alot since then, and its now about 3ft tall. We've repotted it acouple of times, but a couple weeks ago it started to lean. We kept putting off fixing it and I guess it just got too top heavy to support itself, and fell all the way over. When it fell, where it hit the rim of the pot, it split open pretty bad. I used some string to tie it in a way that would hold it up, and sort of close up the split. Is there anything I should put in or on the split to try and seal it up? My first thought was to fill the gap with caulk or something, but I decided to ask here first. Did it fall over because it got too top heavy? How big of a pot should it be planted in? Should I replant it in a "deeper" pot and try and make it "shorter" for better support? This cactus has some sentimental value, so we really appreciate ANY input/advice.
if it's broken, you should separate the two pieces completely if they're not already completely apart. check the broken areas for rot and if there is any, cut it away until you get to good/solid plant. let the top part sit out and air-dry for about a week and then plant it in soil - don't water!! let it sit in the dry soil for a week to ten days and then water it. if the bottom part isn't rotted, then it will dry out on it's own and you'll probably see new growth from the top part where the break was next spring/summer. if there is rot, cut it away and hopefully it doesn't go all the way to the roots and you can salvage that part as well as the top piece. yes, being underpotted can cause them to end up falling over if they get too top-heavy. so can over-watering which results in root rot or base rot. there are also diseases and bugs that can attack the plant and both of them may cause weakness which can result in the plant falling over. can you post a pic of it? i'm curious to see what it is as well as see if it can be determined if the problem is rot or other disease or just that it got too heavy.
Thanks for the quick reply. That is interesting advice. I wouldn't say it's broken all the way through, but the "skin" has split open. I'm gonna try and get some pics up tomorrow.
please post some pics if you can!! is the split sideways or vertical? if it's vertical the only thing you can do is wait for it to callous over on it's own. just make sure to keep water away from the open area - you don't need rot or fungus setting in. make sure there's good air circulation as well. if it's sideways, then you can separate the two pieces and root the top part...just check for rot and remove any that's there before letting it sit to dry.
Do not let the plant sit on soil for a week to 10 days before watering. Leave it dry until you know it has set new roots down. Wet soil will only add the chances for rot occuring. The plant may have gotten overwatered and split as it drank too much. Such things can be fixed up and the plant recovering. But lets see the pictures.
The split is horizontal, and now that I've actually measured it , I guess its actually only about 2ft tall, but whatever. I can't imagine that it could have fallen over due to rot. We are located in Austin Tx. and have been experiencing a steady heat wave since May. The high temps have been hovering around 100deg for the past 3months and the humidity has been on average about 35%. I repotted it into a bigger pot after it fell over, but only added enough soil to fill in around the sides. In the close up of the break you can see some discoloration/disfigurement. Those spots have been there a long time, and all of the new growth hasn't had those spots. It might be hard to tell from the pic, but the break is alittle less than half way around the circumference of the cactus and only about 1/4" to 1/2" "deep" If ya'll would like to see more, or better pics I can take some more. NP So should I break the rest off and try to root it? Will I be better off breaking it the rest of the way and rooting it? (i.e. a stronger overall cactus) Or is it possible that the break will "heal"? If it will, should I "top off" the pot with soil or should I go to something even bigger? Thanks again, David-
NICE cactus!!! the cut will heal itself - it just might not look all that great. it's not that deep at all, so i'd leave it be to heal over. maybe put some sulfer powder on it to keep it from getting an infection (fungus) or not if it seems to be callousing over well on its own. separating it into two pieces doesn't look to be necessary at all. i don't see any obvious rot. rot can be caused from water or some kind of infestation - bugs or fungus even. i don't see any signs of that though. and sometimes, cactus just split for no reason. this one you know split because of falling and hitting the rim of the planter. when was the last time you'd repotted it before it started to lean?? if it was fairly recently, you may have not tamped the soil down well enough, or had enough in the pot, to keep the roots secure - thus the eventual lean due to whatever watering you gave it...and the fall. if you don't have to take it inside in the winter (not sure of your weather there), you can just plant it in the ground (then you wouldn't have to worry about repotting it ever).
