Sick San Pedro--Root Rot?

[Obelus]

I've had my San Pedro for over a year now and he's been in good health up until a couple weeks ago. At his base he started yellowing and actually bent over, so now I'm holding him up with kabob skewers.

I think he might have root rot, but I find this odd since I am careful not to over water him and when he first started yellowing I hadn't watered him in at least a month. I watered him after that thinking it could help remedy the problem and gave him more sunlight since the weather was finally getting nicer, but it hasn't seemed to do much good.

Here's a picture of him in all his 2 foot glory. That branch on top grew entirely since last summer

And here's a close up of this base, the rest of him is still green and lively.

He's been in the same pot the whole time, so I was also thinking about changing his soil or adding nutrients.

At this point I think my best bet would be to cut him above the yellowing part and transplant the healthy part into fresh soil, but I'm not very wise about cactus care and I figured the wealth of knowledge at bluelight might have some good input before I do anything drastic.

I can take more pictures if that would help at all, thanks!

 

[thomas2laylum]

i think you have linked the pictures to your private gmail account; basically this means you are the only person who can see the photos (i think)

try uploading here: http://imageshack.us/

maybe just chop the ill bit off? i think it should grow back

yeah maybe try changing soil

please note im no expert though, just going by instinct

 

[uncomfortablepants]

I had one die of root rot. If it's not getting much light and it isn't warm then any water may be too much.

Hope it makes it.

 

[greenmeanies]

not very many botanical heads here-- check out mycotopia for their green thumb help

 

[Obelus]

Thanks I'll check out mycotopia. In the meanwhile here's the pictures I didn't upload right the first time...

The base is the part that's weak otherwise I'd just amputate it. I think I'll just make a cutting a put the healthy part in new soil.

Thanks, any more input is still grand.

 

[JBrandon]

I would repot him immediately. You don't want to let this spiral out of control and in the process you can check out his roots. What is your soil mixture?

I had a similar situation a year ago. I had an "Icaros DNA" Torch that I had spent a lot of time and money on, he was growing up quite nice. The soil mix that I was using was about 1:1:1 potting soil, sand, and perlite / vermiculite. Unfortunately the pot he was in had only one drain hole at the bottom, versus the 4-8 my other pots have. This just was not letting enough moisture out and his roots were rotting. He started to go yellow at the base first, just like yours, and become mushy.

By the time I figured out what was going on, it was too late to save him. The yellow "mush" began to spread upward, and in a last ditch effort to save anything I had to cut off about 80% of his mass and just start over using the couple of inches of tip that was left of him.

Ultimately my advice would be this - repot and check out the roots. Try a different soil mixture. If the problem appears to be getting worse over time, you might have to make a hard decision - cut him up and then replant once he scabs over, or try to ride it out and risk losing him entirely.

Good luck!