Someone at work gave me a little cactus to put on my desk. I'm hoping that someone can help me identify what exactly it is. Also, as stupid as it sounds I think it may be sick. Here's a pic of the cactus and a pic of some fungus growing on its roots. I haven't watered it since I got it maybe 1.5 months ago, so I don't think it's suffering from too much water

3/7/2011 4:01:09 PM

yep, it's a cactus

3/7/2011 4:07:54 PM

Change out the soil, perhaps someone in the Garden Center got a little too happy with the hose for a week.

could be contaminated soil

and prune the roots back with a clean pair of shears clean em each clip

[Edited on March 7, 2011 at 4:20 PM. Reason : d]

3/7/2011 4:19:36 PM

From my experiences, cacti in the workplace are more "Fuck You" presents than anything else.

Don't be surprised to hear some calculated snickers when you inevitably prick yourself.

3/7/2011 4:21:46 PM

pretty sure it's in the genus 'mammillaria' can't figure out the exact species though


http://www.easycactus.co.uk/site/content/view/20/34/

3/7/2011 4:47:07 PM

^, ^^^ Thanks. I'm actually a little worried that the white stuff on the surface of the cactus is also fungus. One of the reasons I want to identify it is to see if that's just part of the cactus. Here's another higher-res pic: http://www.control-d.com/img/cactus1.jpg

Quote :

"From my experiences, cacti in the workplace are more "Fuck You" presents than anything else."

haha, it was actually part of a really weird gag. While I was on vacation they decided to do the opposite of the "fuck-up-their-cube-while-they're-gone" prank, and they actually cleaned my desk, bought me a water fountain and cactus, and framed everything hanging in my cube (including my Deadpool picture like this http://files.myopera.com/clean/files/poolsie.jpg). They got sick of my piles of paper and random computer hardware.

3/7/2011 6:40:50 PM

that white stuff on the actual cactus is inherent its just hairs


its one of the ways cacti use to keep water from transpiring from the surface of the plant

[Edited on March 8, 2011 at 9:13 AM. Reason : f]

3/8/2011 9:12:38 AM

well, I hope you left the fungus alone and did not repot your plant. The fungus growing in mycorrhizal symbiosis with your plant and helping the plant to absorb water and nutrients. the fact that the fungus was extruding through the bottom of the pot indicates that in its former home(the greenhouse), it had good soil conditions.

I don't think you necessarily need to re-pot, but remove that orange over-pot and keep using caution when watering. Mammallaria can tolerate water fairly well as far as cacti go. They also benefit greatly from fertilizing. you should be using a very weak dose of fertilizer at each watering (2-7-7 is a good formulation for promoting blooms). if the soil seems to hold a lot of water, you need to keep waiting long between waterings. if it is very porous, once a week or more may be necessary. if you do re-pot, the latter scheme is more ideal. trimming the roots isn't a good idea for a cactus, just make sure what you are filling your new pot with is very quite porous.



There are 171 different species of Mammallaria. I can't identify it with certainty without flowers and your pic is not of very high resolution, but here's a site where you can see pics of almost all of them if you want to try to find the species. http://cactiguide.com/cactus/?start=140&genus=Mammillaria&species=

Fortunately, almost all of them have similar cultivation requirements. here's a nice page to get you started. http://www.easycactus.co.uk/site/content/view/20/34/
An office window is *not* an ideal place for this plant, particularly as it draws near summer.

3/9/2011 4:56:46 PM