can this one still be rescued ?

I had posted this in the cacti and succulents forum, but got no replies.
Perhaps someone over here can help me with this ?:

Yesterday I met a lady who wanted my advise about a cactus she got as a gift from a dear family member. When I entered her house I noticed the poor cactus in a very dark corner of the living room. It had been there for nine months and I found it a miracle it didn't look worse than it already did.
It hadn't got one drop of water, only some spraying and was planted in a very shallow container.
I took the poor thing outside in the garden in the shadow, because the sudden shock of the full bright sun could do only more harm to it.

The problem with it is that the whole base has a brownish rotten colour with some black area's; The top still looks fine and I wondered if it could still be rescued like by cutting of the healthy upper part and replant it in special cacti-soil. What do you think ? Your advise is highly appreciated!

Here is shows the rotted base

and this is the whole cactus;

Hi there - can you press in on the black parts (without getting stuck - maybe a pencil or something?)? Sometimes the outer skin can get damaged and turn black without actually rotting. If it's soft, my suggestion would be to scoop out the rotted area and keep the damaged areas dry and warm. If you have a sulfur powder, that can also help to keep it from further infestations. Usually ithe damaged area will just callous over, unfortunately that area does not grow back.

You're absolutely right about the sun 'shock' - but after careful exposure over time it will take tons of sun with no problem.

Good luck!!!!

I once amazed a friend by whipping off the top from his rotten cactus and dowsing it in talcum powder. A few weeks later it grew like crazy. It produced so many offsets from round the wound he couldn't give them awy quick enough.
That was like you say soft under the skin.
Mike

Whaddya think about this one, Mike? I'm kinda doubtful - seems to me the basal root (or whatever da heck it's called) is at the base of these.... but whatever, if it continues to rot out, it may well be worth a try.

If its the root thats completey rotten then whip off the top with a knife and clean it up. Leave to dry and scab over then try re-rooting it again, like taking a cutting really.
If the root is rotten there is nothing to loose and if its not well you may end up with 2 plants.

Was this one over watered at some stage?

Mike

Thank you all so much for your help!
Yes, Pagan, the base is really rotten, I had checked that.
No, Mike it had not been over watered, the poor thing actually never got watered in the entire 9 months she got the cactus, she only sprayed it once in a while. So it must have started rotting because of the poor light conditions; it was really a very dark place, where even the toughest shadow lover would have given up! Very strange how some people even don't know the very basics about plants and treat it as if it just a decoration piece instead of a living thing!

Crazy people... i get people buying plants and bringing them back dead... when i look at the plant its in its original pot.. after talking to them i find out the planted it with the pot still on!
I think some people must need help putting their socks on in the morning they are that dumb! lol

Mike

LOL - now *that's* a new one!

Hey i wouldn't mind if it only happened once!

Had an acer returned once because the leaves changed colour and fell off! It was november... lol

Mike

Was that an E.T.?

I'd take it back, too - there's evidently some people who just need to have silk plants. You must have a plant shop, Mike. Retail seems to bring out the worst in people.

Yeah i sell plants for a living here www.crowders.co.uk i run the retail side.
You meet all sorts in retail. There a funny bunch the general public. lol

Bontin whats an E.T? Or am i being daft.

Mike

E.T= extra terrestrial= coming from another planet!

Oh, fun - I don't miss retail, but I do miss working in a plant-related place. Do you get mainly basics in, or do they stock some out-of-the-way stuff, too? Not that I have any plans on making it to Lincolnshire anytime soon!

We do get a few gems, but few and far between. I'm afarid we got to a size where we cater for the masses. They tend to like the plain so the unusual tends to get skipped if we get anything in, simply because it gets lost amongst everything else!
We specialise in growing boring trees and hedging. If you want a plain green hedge thats boring .. well we are the boys..lol
Our best selling plant by far is Laurels for hedging. I'm amazed we don't have problems with them over here with the amount we sell! lol

E.T of course.. add me to the list of dumb folk.. lol i was thinking of something less obvious, honestly.

Mike

>smile<

You should set up a little corner with all the interesting stuff - "Mike's back room, for the adventurous gardener only!"

I think that is a great idea,; I am always soooo... disappointed and frustrated when I visit a garden center and it only offers the usual stuff!

We did try collectors corner once but the other problem is the more unusual tends to be the more expensive! Mainly because its grown in smaller numbers there is no economies of scale. The signage and labeling is not as good as you tend to have to do it your self as you cant get a big Collectors corner sign printed for small numbers of plants.
Like i say we do have the odd gem every now and again (can't think of any right now) maybe the last unusual item i bought from a GC was a Restio grass, not everyones taste though.
Gc plants are really lead by the publics buying habits and it tends to be the plain and boring.

I find little nurseries that sell to the public much better for buying unusual stuff rather than larger GC's.

What would you both think of unusual? On here i have found weeds from the US to be my unusual ornamental plants. lol

Mike

Mike, when I fall for a plant, the price is secondary, even though I'm far from rich having to struggle to meet the ends every month, being an artist. I am always very comprehensive that the less common plants are more pricy. I suppose it comes down to what are the priorities you give in life. But I also understand that I am not a good reference for the majority of people.
Unusual for me would be a plant that surprises me with its uncommon features; that can be an unusual interesting leaf shape or flower, that doesn't necessarily means spectacular, it can also be a humble subtle beauty.
I think it all depends on how you would present that special stand with unusuals for it to be successful.

One of the nurseries in Belgium I love to visit is this one;


http://www.vasteplant.be/index.cfm?fuseaction=artperrub&c=6

It has an enormous choice of plants and they are very successful to the point that they are constantly expanding their business and have huge deliveries to other countries, also England. They also deliver to the Royal court. The owner also gives courses to landscapers; like now he's giving one about gardening in prairie style.

Hi Bontin, Took a look at the site but its all in another language. lol Sorry being typical english i don't speak anything else. Just know to speak louder and slower in another country. lol
We do however sell and grow the cosmos pictured there! But i didn't class it as unusual.

If you take a look at my info, the plants i have added are to the plantfiles are probably subtle unusual types mostly.

Unusual plants are just not big business due to the nature of them. If they where they wouldn't be unusual anymore!
You really need to specialise if you want to be different. There are some good seed companies out there that sell unusual stuff. Not in big quantities but good enough for our needs here.

Most unusual stuff would be available from swaps. Just look out for the marigold growers. lol

Mike

Sorry, Mike, I don't blame you for not speaking other languages, personally its the foreign language I have the most affinity with, I love it and think its the richest in the world languages. Flemish people are used to adapt themselves to other languages because of their history being occupied several times by foreign powers. I should have made the link to the English version; here it is;

http://www.vasteplant.be/index.cfm?attributes.taal=UK&c=6&pro=no

Of course, their plants are not all 'unusual'. But they have for example many different species of the same plant, many of them you cannot find any where else, like many types of Salmon's seal,
Brunnera's, Trilliums, Aconitums, etc.. . Like in my case I am bound to mainly shadow lovers because of having a shadow garden and it is hard to find a great choice of them in regular Garden Centers.

Mmm - Biotin, there's just some languages that really register, aren't there? I wish I were multilingual - one of Americas big blind spots, I'm afraid.

Mike, I totally understand your point about people not buying the unusual - they don't know if they'll survive, they're more expensive and geez, they just want the yard to look decent. But it really is a double edged sword - I think a lot of people don't buy the unusual because they think the old standards are that is available.

I'm familiar with this particular problem having lived in the desert in Arizona. The desert there is singular in type, where you get the towering Saguaro cacti, etc. But people there plant - roses? Petunias? Lawns? It's downright bizarre. Or they'll have a little corner for the "desert look" that always contains a few of a handfull of desert standards. Boring!

One of the wholesale nurseries is trying their darndest to change that - the cheif hort/ director of new selections teaches at the university - free of charge - in the Landscape Architect division. He speaks at garden clubs, he gives away interesting plants - all in the name of educating people's tastes to the less standard. I think it's a smart way to go, but it is also very time consuming and - probably for his boss - very expensive. But in the long run, it may help the desert become a big lawn... maybe....

Sounds like a crazy idea. Lawn in a desert! lol My water bill is big enough. In England there are enough sources for plants if people want the unusall they should be willing to go look for it.
I'm certainly not going to start lecture people for free. Lots better things to do with my time ... like my own garden! lol

The director at my place goes on the radio for garden question time .... most questions are about black spot on rosses!
Over here it is the media that fuels the types of plants that are grown by the main plant buying public. And that is where there is money. Not in selling 2 odd specimens. Even the normal Salmon's seal, Brunnera's, Trilliums, Aconitums are sold in very few numbers compared to the Cosmos on the link which sells in thousand lots from our GC.

We do offer the service for free of getting plants that people ask for if we don't have them. There are still very few requests for anything different. More likely are requests for rosses with peoples names to give as a gift!

Every year there are a few new introductions although most serious gardeners have seen them before they hit garden centres.

Like Surfinia Petunias, they where around a good few years before they where available in garden centres. Now you can buy them in the local supermarket.

Hey one day..

Off to Holland in a couple of weeks.. might lern some Duch there!

Mike

Ooo... one more glitch to being American - it's quite a trip to get to another country, and I do like to travel.... *sigh*. Have a great time!

Off to france a few weeks after that! lol

America is a bit of a trip. I did it once but never again.. The people are far too odd... lol j/k

And you never met me - just think how bizarre it *could* have been!

Whereas everyone I met in the UK was absolutely lovely. I know I was lucky, but it was wonderful.

Uk folk lovely you didn't travel round here.. lol We are a odd bunch... webbed feet... extra fingers and super large foreheads! lol

...and hairy knuckles!

See, you just don't understand what I like....

Hey nothing wrong with hairy knuckles!

My mum and her mum have passed them from generation to generation.

Mike

LOL - bad boy!