corky mescaline cactus layer

[dr ACE]

does any one know why peyote start to produce a corky layer around the base of the catcus, any advice how to prevent/cure this thanks in advance

Reputation Comments on this post:

great sensitivity to plants and networking ability

[Alfa]

Wondered about that to. My peyotes also tend to grow upward every time I add soil to fill the void between the top of the soil and thecorky layer.

[Cakes]

It sounds like the soil moisture might be affecting it. If so, then it might be helped by increasing the air flow, using a mulch that does not retain as much moisture and/or refraining from surface watering.

increased air flow- it might be that using a fan for an hour after watering to dry the soil surface might be enough. Using the fan all the time or taking other steps to decrease the humidity factor could be a good answer too. The cacti might be telling SWIM that his grow room is right on the edge of becoming a non-native environment humidity wise for the cacti.

non-moisture retentive mulch- like sand. or if SWIM is going to stop his surface watering, the mulch could be a dried and absorbitive material, like moss<SWIM could use those anyway if he continues to surface water like maybe remove the mulch before watering and replace it after the post-feed fan is turned off.

below the surface watering- commonly growers are told to pour water into an everyday plant's drain tray and then let the soil "wick up" the moisture to the plant but SWAN hasn't had any luck with that method, she thinks it may only apply to the spongy (peat) soils that are common in houseplant cultivation. Wet spongy soils like that are not appropriate for cacti planting anyway. A good set-up would be a soaker hose below the mulch. or vertical perforated pipes placed within reach of the root zone.

[fnord]

Ive noticed bottom feeding of most of grandmas cacti seems to help with growth,DR,ace what species?

[dr ACE]

P.Williamsii. Swip also has a few Trichocereous. Its amazing how fast they grow plus very resilent. Dont bother with researching there alkaloids much anymore just too much hassle preparing the snot-gloop!

[0utrider]

another option to avoid this is described in my signature Peyote: Exploding growth manual

but im not sure which corky layer you talk about, since there is 2. there is one that starts in many cacti when the cactus is just really old. and the other one is if attacks by insects or similar ocurred and if, as described above, the circumstances for growth are not perfect, like humidity or standing-water, but this typ of layer can (usually, depending on how long it exists for) grow out again after some time (1-2 years) and remove itself. but like i said, the option here is quite nice one could f.e. consider just taking the roots (and a tiny bit more) of a trichocereus and plant the peyote on it and it would look like a completley normal peoyte (just by the roots you could tell and by the growth but the last can be changed depending on the cactus used, one could use slow-growing (like peyote))

[RoyBatty]

Sounds similar to corky scab, which is due to low light levels, overwatering and high humidity. Pretty much what has already been said.

Roy