By: il fiore tra le spine

il fiore tra le spine — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 17:14:15 +0000

In reply to xDannyS_. Hi, thank you for your testimony, I find it very interesting and useful for reflection. I have only noticed one case of stem splitting during the summer: in all other cases it occurred during vegetative growth, i.e. in spring. From what I have been able to observe, I really believe that temperatures still play an important role in this phenomenon. For this reason I consider your comment very useful and I thank you for sharing it!

By: xDannyS_

xDannyS_ — Tue, 19 Sep 2023 16:47:26 +0000

I really wanted to share my experience and theory of another possible cause. I had two lophophoras that I've had this happen to. It was the middle of summer and they were very dehydrated. I watered them and they started cracking. However, I noticed that they didn't fully rehydrate so I assume they entered summer dormancy (aestivation). I wanted to test this, so I waited 10 days and watered them again. The exact same thing happened, they cracked further but again didn't fully rehydrate them. I then took them inside my house where it was colder, waited 10 days, and watered again. This time no further cracking and they fully rehydrated. So, my theory is that the cracking can also happen if you water during summer dormancy, especially if they are dehydrated. I noticed that they would only take up a little bit of water and all of it would go towards the bottom, meaning they would expand at the bottom but not at the top causing the skin to excessively stretch and crack. I know it can be avoided by just not watering during that time, as one should, but I wanted to test it out anyways and share my experience. I have also read on Google of people having their cacti crack when it is very hot, so I think they may have experienced the same as me.

Comments on: When the cactus “explodes” from too much water: how to avoid cracks on the stem

By: il fiore tra le spine

By: xDannyS_