What did you do in the yard today??

I'll vote for the 'no rain' party too. My stress levels are proportional to the likelihood of rain at the moment and that's currently far too high for the peace and safety of anyone nearby.  

I met a new cacti gardener and we swapped a heap of cuts and pups. good day out for both.

Sweltering heat makes for a hard and tedious re-potting session.

I have noticed that some of my plants have very stunted growth this season compared to others of the same species. Under closer inspection I realized an odd white fungus has assaulted the roots of these plants, reducing their growth to a crawl.

To combat this heinous little bastard, I have now modified my re-potting techniques. The roots of every plant that is re-potted, is washed with a strong jet of water until ALL of the soil is removed. If necessary some of the roots are removed. Of the plants I have washed and re-potted over the last 2 months all have responded extremely well.

SneakyCuttlefish wrote:

Sweltering heat makes for a hard and tedious re-potting session.

I have noticed that some of my plants have very stunted growth this season compared to others of the same species. Under closer inspection I realized an odd white fungus has assaulted the roots of these plants, reducing their growth to a crawl.

To combat this heinous little bastard, I have now modified my re-potting techniques. The roots of every plant that is re-potted, is washed with a strong jet of water until ALL of the soil is removed. If necessary some of the roots are removed.  Of the plants I have washed and re-potted over the last 2 months all have responded extremely well.

Are you sure it's a fungus and not root mealy, or their webbings/eggs ?? Even if it is, your course of action is still the right one, though I'd follow it with a watering of insecticide once the plant has settled...

I'm not entirely sure. It looks like a white fungus mycelium that grows on some of the larger organic additives found in a standard potting mix (bark mostly). It seems to only effect the lower sections of the roots. In a hand full of severe cases the roots and or tubers of some plants have turned 'corky.' In these cases the roots have completely died and growth has halted. After a thorough wash and a re-pot the plant tends to throw new roots and growth begins again.

Having said that I have no idea what root mealy looks like so it is possible that is what it is. What kind of insecticide would you use for this purpose??

I have had this fungus a bit I think, it looks like white bits of web in the potting mix. For me it is quite rare but it causes the potting mix to change colour from almost black to light/medium brown and seems to rob the plants of nutrient. Not sure what it is, because I have never seen it fruit, or how to treat it other than what you are doing.
I have more issues with another fungus called Leucocoprinus birnbaumii(not sure spelling)starts as a dark grey mold then becomes creamy yellow and forms little yellow balls(some kind of pod capable of going dormant and surviving dehydration) under good conditions it puts up bright yellow toxic mushrooms. It has a really strong fungusy smell. It doesn't seem to do plants a lot of damage but slows down growth and makes soil hydrophobic. It seems to exhaust its resources in about a year then the soil once again absorbs water and the plants grow well again. Not sure how to treat this one either, seems to be very random which plants get it and it hardly has any effect on some species. Anyone else got it or know of a treatment I would be very interested?

I had this growing in a pot plant that was situated next to my cacti last year. Very pretty yellow mushrooms and it is very common up here, mainly in potted plants that require a lot of water. I have no idea how to treat it. Perhaps a pot dip in some water/fungicide mix. Though that would probably obliterate any beneficial organisms in the soil. After a while it does go away but like you said, the soil remains hydrophobic for quite some time.

I have had a few different types of fungus.
I only notice yesterday when i checked on my seedling bags that one had a very bad color water sitting in the bottom, like very rusty water.
I notice a bit of fungus in the pot only a month after sowing, so i removed and put in it own bag, 4 months later it has spread quite a bit all over the potting soil, like little balls, i was shocked as i did sterilize the soil in a microwave before sowing the seeds.
I changed the bag and gave it a little water and still rusty water, i will have to remove all the seedlings, wash them all and re pot in new soil, hopefully it will get rid of the problem

Heaps of Trichocereus flowers today. Spent a good while pollinating them

That coloured water is strange... my best guess is that it is the fungus further decomposing the composted wood and bark in the soil and causing the tannins to leach out. The seedlings appear to be healthy regardless of the fungus so it may be a case of doing more harm than good if you disturb them by washing. Most fungi are harmless and indeed many can be beneficial. In this case the balls you mention sound a lot like Luecocoprinus too.
A few years ago I tried asking the guy in charge of the lab at Debco about this. He was well familiar with the yellow fungus and named it for me. He suggested watering more often would create conditions less favourable to the fungus however this is not really an option for cacti. He also said that the fungus was in the order Basidiomycota and that a fungicide effective on others in this group(there are heaps that cause rusts, smuts etc.) would be the most likely to work. I have tried a few with no luck, I have also tried inoculating infested pots with multiple beneficials like Tricoderma etc. None of these worked. I think being resigned to tolerating it may be the only option for me. It only has a really noticeable effect on slow growing species in my experience....I guess the balanced between slow growing and little growth at all is one that is easily tipped.

Also i have had the same as cyrptocarpa with white bits of web in the potting mix, i had mixed it all together and relocated it out of the way. It did rain for a few days after that, not long after i started digging it the potting mix and there was the web fungus, i avoided using it for my greenhouse plants and when it dried up a bit the fungus seemed to disappear, i don't think it will permanently disappear without some sort of fungus treatment, i use the soil for outside plants and all seen ok, plants are growing well.

As well as in my greenhouse some plant have the small fungus balls, i didn't notice them until i water them and they float to the top. I keep saying to myself wash the plants and re pot before it spreads, but i still have not done it, they have been like that for possibly a year, i have not noticed it spreading as yet, i do remember i was using bag mix back then, bad bag mix.
I will wash all my fungus affected plants and re pot them and keep an eye on them.

I have had a pest snail or slug in the greenhouse, chewing on my plants, i stripped the area of pots, check all underneath all the pots in the area, COULD NOT FIND IT!!!!!
I checked before i went to bed at around 10:30pm still nothing!!
By chance i woke up at 1:30am and went to have a look, GOT HIM!!!!! slimy slug bastard!!!!
He didn't really like isoypropyl alcohol i sprayed on him, i sure enjoyed it!!! also found a larger slug roaming around, he got the same special treatment!!!
Interesting to know what goes on the the green house over night, its just crap to see a nice plant chewed on!

Good catch rickyscactus. Hate when they leave scars and chew holes and chunks out of a lovely looking plant.

Checked the garden three nights ago and came across a full grown green tree frog perched atop a fist-sized echinopsis.    Poor bugger would have regretted that landing. By the time I figured out the flash on the new camera I'd bought that afternoon it had moved on so unfortunately no photo. I think in that case the intruder was more damaged than the cactus.

Seed gathering day today since it's too wet outside to get up to much.

Also cut better drain holes in a rack of pots and took some photos of a few things.

Transplanted a few Ariocarpus, Loph, Astro and Epithelantha seedlings fresh from the 'incubator' and am starting the hardening off process. Fingers crossed for a 100% survival rate.

Collected 19 fruits from various mammillaria's and loph's. Also began measuring up for my new greenhouse. All up, quite a productive day. 

(Sigh) Spent all weekend pulling buttons, pelecyphora and ariocarpus out of their pots, washing then wrapping the roots in a paper towel package and placing them under a light. This is the only way I can protect them from the daily down pours up here. They have had solid rain for weeks now and some of the younger buttons have started bursting. They will be left like this for a month or two until they have well and truly dried out.

That doesn't sound good Sneaky, you need a hot house or roof over your miniatures but I guess your in the process of trying to sort that out... I hope the rain stops for you, on the flip side it has been really dry here in NSW.

I'm going to sow a bunch of seeds today, pics later on tonight !

HN

i pulled a bunch of tricho cuttings i planned to use as stocks out of the shed... been that hot in there they have grown white harshly elongated tips and some have thrown aerial roots.

i will cut the heads of after and pot them.

i also stared at my lawn. it gives me the shits. so i thought unpleasant things about it and wondered if my lawnmower would feel the same way if it were sentient.

I do that all too often wert, I take the cuttings with all good intentions of using them, get lazy and they end up shooting roots and growing tips at right angles

Doing a bit of night shift!!
Sowed the rest of my Agave seeds i purchased
I found this guy having a bit of a snack!!
I think it was its last good meal!!
Then it somehow it got caught on the bottom of my shoe and the concrete!!
I could not work out why or how it ended up there  
Give the ants some food for tomorrow!!!
I went and checked all my outside plants i got about 20-25 snails and about 5 slugs.
A bit of rain and its dinner time for them.

Hahahaha good work Ricky

Not so much an "in the yard" thing. But I was at the markets today and I met a really lovely couple who have been collecting cacti for 30 years. Some fantastic plants and I am going to visit their collection sometime in the next few weeks. Picked up this lovely little copiapoa too.

Hi Calm and Collected, Good to know there are interested collectors in the tablelands, don't forget to visit me in Townsville if you come down this way,  I sell occasionaly at the Willows Markets.  

certainly will keep that in mind. cheers