My thriving cactus of 7 years has rotted. The roots are yellow and mushy. Why after all this time would this?

Question

hardy succulent rot and die?

Answer 1

Too much water is the only thing I can think of. Have you had a lot of rain lately or repotted it recently? If you have repotted it then it could be that your potting mix is not draining quickly enough. You can get a quick draining mix made just for cacti.
If you suspect that it has gotten too much water then stop watering for a while.

Answer 2

If there are still some live roots, you might be able to save the plant by removing any rotton parts, cutting at least 2-4 cm (1-2") of healthy plant to make sure you get 100% of the rot. But usually root rot is end-game for a cactus. With cacti, when in doubt, don't water it. They're made to withstand drought, they can always come back from being too dried out. They seldom come back from being overwatered. It sounds like a coral cactus grafted onto a common cactus. If the red top is still healthy, you might be able to buy a new regular cactus and graft the coral part onto it. It's challenging, but it could save part of the cactus. Another option is to cut the whole plant off above the dirt, let it sit out in the air for a week or two to callous over the cut, and then dip the cut into RootStim and plant it in cactus soil to see if it can grow new roots. A lot of cacti can propagate from cuttings, which is basically what this would be. Meanwhile, it doesn't sound like your family has the usual problem of forgetting to water plants. Another idea would be to buy a new kind of plant that likes lots of water, like a fern or an ivy. These also like to be misted, which your son might think is fun. I've got ivies that have sat in pools of water for a week (not recommended) and they've thrived in those conditions. I've killed lots of cacti and succulents from overwatering, now I just dribble a few drops of water on them instead of letting all the soil get wet.

Answer 3

Probably too much water, but sometimes you can take a healthy piece and graft it into another cactus. If the plant has sentimental value, take it to a greenhouse, and see if it can be saved by the grafting process.

Answer 4

Sounds like too much water. Try re-potting it and put some marbles in the bottom of the pot for drainage. I do this with all of my plants and it works very well. Keep us informed on how your plant does. I am a big plant person myself and my work cubicle is full of them.

Answer 5

Too much light, not enough light, too much watering, or not enough watering, or the pot it was in was too small, got root bound and roots couldn't grow anymore, so it died, or a combination of any of the above.

Answer 6

did it recently bloom?... some will die after doing so.....