another kind of rot? yay!

Hi guys,
Recently I posted some pics of some grafted Lophophora which had an orange rot....

Does anyone recognise this? It looks like an abrasion but I think it might be growing - it could just be an abrasion that looks like its growing as the plant grows??
the yellow/white areas are a little bit sunken.

Any ideas
Thanks again.
Jim

they outside? looks like sunburn.

they are inside under two 18W Fluros.
I had a problem with my timer a few weeks back and had 4 days of constant light... which could have given them sunburn...?

this one is probably due to be degrafted so they will be away from the strong light for a while - I hope this helps
thanks kada

i honestly cant see such low wattage fluoro lighting burning anything but a seedling....but it looks like sunburn to me.....so i dunno lol.

root rot has that colour, but it spreads ddifferently. it works up the stem and when it comes to the scion rots it from the inside out, fairly evenly.

i dont think i would be worried yet, if it spreads or changes colour post another pic.

Hey WT,

Don't know how I missed this topic. Can you post an updated pic ? Its hard to tell at that early stage.

I will post a pic tonight - it has further developed . a little bigger and a little more sunken.

I guess there isn't much change - I might give some systemic fungicides a try... see if anything happens.

cheers

WT,

I don't want to jump to conclusions just yet but I think you have a pest rather than a disease. I have an idea but give the fungicide a go and post back with your results.

HN

I would much rather a pest than a disease. what would guess at the pest?

Looks very simmilar to the beginning of red spidermite damage, especially the sunken orange patch. We are just coming in to prime mite season (hot & dry) and I don't know why but the bloody things are attracted to lophos like magnets.

I personally hate them and have found it hard to get rid of them. Several of my lophs have been badly scarred. The upside is they ususally won't kill the plant !

The beginning looks much like what you have, white patches and in places of high numbers they turn orange. Once they start feeding the skin starts to sink in. Where they have fed on the skin they leave a brown harsh scarring.

Check this out for some good info on red mite. As I said i'm not 100% but looks simmilar to the beginning of mite damage.

http://lophophora.blogspot.com/search/label/Spider%20mites

mite or sucker, but yeh what HN said, more than likely insect rather than fungus.

Ick!

Yep red mite...I thought so.

If you look closely they are literally all over that plant !!! all those pale patches are mites. You need to start treatment pretty soon if you want to save it.
You can't kill them with normal insecticides but they do stop them feeding for a while and this will halt the damage, but they will continue to breed. I have beaten them a few times if you want some ideas let me know.

Also check your other plants for pale patches especially around the areoles. Quarantine any effected.

I have looked as close as I can - naked eye and magnified but can't see anything. how small are they?

looking at the pale patches (other than the obvious damage) all I can see is the texture of the plant. ?

anyway - what would you recommend? - this plant has been sitting in a confined space with about 30 others so I will probably have to treat the lot.

cheers

im not sure, but i still think its sun/water related. looks like the begginging of rot. how is the join? sometimes the pereskiopsis join will start to rot despite teh stock appearing healthy. if you lightly wiggle the scion, is it squishy/loose compared to others?

i would think that if it is spreading and was an animal pest others would have it as well...but not sure on that...my money is on rot. is it kept humid/close to something?

Well if we are not 100% sure what the problem is, I'm thinking mites, then lets go with a Sulphor spray it will slow down and kill some mites and will only help any rot issue ??


Or you could just start wth a systemic fungicide and see if that helps. If not move to a miticide.

sounds logical

The world of cacti does not allways follow logic

thanks guys - I appreciate the help. I have had
a bad week as far as plants go!

To add more info and answer a few more questions. they are kept in
a cupboard like setup with a number of levels and fluros. all sides are
closed in. they sit in a plastic tub - so Its quite humid.

I should have mentioned this before but ages ago the all the pereskoopsis
developed funny looking leaves. like below.
it looks like mite damage right? but where are
the mites?


could it be that the mites are just too small to see?
I have used up to 40x magnification and can't see anything.

I'm also thinking about degrating the lot, grafting the pups and getting
them on their own roots. then take them to the greenhouse where they can
get some real sunlight.

what do you think? a number of the grafts are not doing that well anyway
and have developed their own roots already.

grrrrrr

also - I'm pretty sure it (the nastyness) has spread to other plants in the same area.

cheers

Hmm this is a pickle. After reading about your setup i'm now leaning more towards kada's idea. You need to open it up and allow air flow.

I have never been able to see mites but you can easily see their webs !. Its kinda like a silky white sheet over the skin. Have a good look for silky webs, They (mites) don't seem to attack pereskiopsis much but build nice webs on them.

I woudln't degraft whilst under stress they will really struggle. The scions must be healthy to degraft.

That leaf does look like mite damage but again you would see the webs.

I think the original damage resembles a lot lightburn, like Kada said....