Expert: Greg Simpson - 12/15/2005

Question
I have a cactus now for 9 years.It has been the easiest thing to take care of till now.it never got much light, and only watered once a month. It was even in a storage unit for 6 months with no light or water and grew like crazy. It was about 6 inches when i got it and is now over 2 feet. all of a sudden it started to turn brown. It had been getting water every couple of weeks.Whithin a few days almost the entire cactus has turned brown and started to shrivel. Some of it is still green but fading fast.Maybe the pot its in is too small.Same pot last 6 or 7 years. What could have cause it and what can i do? Do I need to get a bigger pot and cut the roots? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Dear Dan,

If the entire plant is shriveling and turning brown, it sounds like you actually have a Euphorbia, which is very similar to a cactus, but has a fluid inside called latex that spreads rot very quickly. Its hard to pinpoint what causes the rot, but it sounds like it is too late for your plant.

If it is a cactus, the only thing that would cause that kind of damage in that short of time would be a severe freeze, in which case the result will be the same as above. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.


Sincerely,

Greg