Expert: Chris Saddler - 7/17/2004

Question
hi,

my father-in-law lives in corpus christi, tx, and he has a very large and tall cactus he believes is a jamaican variety of some kind.  it has been a real beauty and it produces large round red fruit each year.  however, it has started to turn yellow and he does not want to lose it.  he says he put some miracle gro on it and it seemed to help it but it is still yellow.  they had quite a bit of rain, but the cactus is in a well drained area.  could you possibly help us?  thank you very much!

linda

Answer
I probably won't be much help here but I'll be glad to try.  My experience is in desert southwest varieties.  We don't get much rain here first of all.  Is it possible it got too much.  Is it in a new location, soil, or getting different care than it used to? If it did get too much water it could be rotting.  Is it soft and mushy at all.  If it's only turning yellow, it may be just getting older.  Is it only yellow around the oldest part of the cactus?  Other than looking on line and finding specific info for your cactus (there are 1000's) I can't really be more help than that.

Try looking online for cactus photos and see if you can ID it.  Then search for info on the species.  Use key words like Jamaican cactus pix/jamaican cactus photos/jamaican cactus/cactus photos/etc.  Once you at least know the species you can find more care info.

I'm sorry I can't help more and be specific.

Chris