Help! Peruvian Torch splitting open

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Yesterday I noticed a huge split in the side of my otherwise very healthy looking Peruvian Torch cactus. There was also a horizontal split on the other side. Today the large vertical split has grown even larger. Any ideas what is causing this? Will I have to cut it at the base? I've never seen this before. Very strange.

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Can any Cactus people offer any help or advice? Looks like I might have to lop off the whole head.

 

[Ulim]

thats a really bad overwater case.
They soak up every water they can get and end up blowing up.
No water anymore and try to swap out the soil to better drain.
Try to apply some dry/mold repelling powder to it.
Something like limestone dust. Or a slight amount of sulfur.
You might also want to carefully take it out of the soil entirely and leave it to dry if the soil is even slightly wet.

It wont die if no mold or infection takes place but it will leave a big scar.

 

[Sakkadelic]

maybe this, have no experience with cactus but my first thought was over watering bcz i know about this with some fruit trees

oh Ulim got it before me

 

[downwardsfromzero]

That is one bloated cactus! Just let it dry out for the winter, it should be fine.


Has it been windy? Maybe mechanical forces have contributed to the split.

In the bottom picture, we can see how the split has been propagating upwards - the top third is clearly several days fresher.

Would high nitrogen - or other nutrient - levels contribute to the bloat and split, perhaps?

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Thanks for the feedback. I did not think I was overwatering, but it makes sense. It got a bit of rain water a few days after I gave it some water and nutes. Must have absorbed too much. Might have been a warm day as well since heat expands water. I'll let it dry out and see how it handles scarring.

 

[○]

Would high nitrogen - or other nutrient - levels contribute to the bloat and split, perhaps?

This was my first thought, too high nitro or spikes can cause bursting/splitting. Might be something else though, I'm not sure.

 

[Ulim]

Would high nitrogen - or other nutrient - levels contribute to the bloat and split, perhaps?

This was my first thought, too high nitro or spikes can cause bursting/splitting. Might be something else though, I'm not sure.

I think its mostly water damage that popped open a scar. Does nitrogen really blow up cacti?
I thought nitrogen would just turn em yellow and let em die.
Definetly keep away water and nutrients.

 

[downwardsfromzero]

TOO much nitrogen might kill them off but a boost prior to heavy rainfall would at least contribute to the likelihood of splitting, if you think about the osmotics of it.

 

[Noisy]

I got similar scars on one of my San Pedro last year because of overwatering.

Using terracotta pots and a more draining substrate helped avoiding this, this summer.

 

[Ulim]

I got similar scars on one of my San Pedro last year because of overwatering.

Using terracotta pots and a more draining substrate helped avoiding this, this summer.

Yeah ceramics leak water better. Make sure the bottom of the pot has big holes and is not root bound.
Might wanna carefully take the cactus out without putting much stress on it.
You could add something like 10% sands to that soil or maybe some non porous non water holding gravel.

 

[wearepeople]

From what I've seen, peruvianus are more prone to this than other types. Especially the Matucana region peru's.

 

[Th Entity]

Hey i dont know about cactus but if that was on a tree or bush this will be feeding, breeding ground for insects normally if i would get something like that on a plant i would 100% close that wound because it will attract fungus, insects might attack it, where i live there is a thing called "Tree seal" its like a paste that you apply that hardens. Good Luck :thumb_up:

 

[Mitakuye Oyasin]

Thanks. I treated it with sulphur powder, then sprayed some copper infused water on it every day for a week or two and it seemed to heal itself. It's doing well now and has grown fatter and taller since the split. Hope it does not happen again.