Euphorbia trigona?

Whatever is falling off/over can be cut off, calloused and placed in some dry substrate to take root; water once you see new growth.

the brown at the bottom is called corking and it happens to older succulents, I've read it can be from sun scald but I don't think that's always the cause.

Doesn't look like a trigona to me, seems to not have the right shape. I could also be wrong as I normally am :)

Oh, I was just guessing, I did a quick Google search of trigona and I thought they looked similar but I'm also on my PHONE so pictures are smaller than they appear.

How many sides does it have? It's also etiolated so it won't look exactly like the specimen pictures we're used to seeing.

it's still a really nice plant!

You may be right, just to me it looks like a Christmas cactus on steroids. I know it's not a Christmas cactus but maybe similar species? I know nothing about Schlumbergera

My track record for guessing is extremely poor but I'm determined to learn.

Thanks for the ideas guys! I think you are right in the corking. The cactus is about 25+ years old, it was my mom's. I tried cutting my other cactus and repotting it but it kept dying and there is now nothing left. I was also wondering if I could keep a piece of it outside, it had a runner and I seperated it and replanted it. I live in southern ontario and the temperatures are currently reaching around 10 degrees Celsius at night.

Jon

Corking is natural process as the plants age and starts at the base and slowly continues up the stem; if sun scald or caused by pests, it would be higher up or even very top of the plant.

Many are listed hardy to around -3*C (26*F-29*F). You need to bring it indoors eventually, but usually it is sometimes in Nov when temps stay constantly that low.

More reading here: about euphorbias

Rina

See lati, I'm usually wrong. Was going off my so called E. trigona which aren't as flat looking as this. Looks as if I'll have to find the correct ID on mine now.

Do you have a thread with pictures of tours, Nicholas?

In the pictures it does have that flattened appearance but I think that's just due to etiolation.

J. Armstrong, when you tried with your previous cactus did you allow it to callous over? Did you keep it dry after you put it in the substrate? Did you keep it in a bight but shaded place?

also, this is not a cactus but a succulent from Africa that demonstrates convergent evolution.

looks like Euphorbia trigona to me

I don't have any pictures of them on my tablet so I'll have to upload tomorrow. I can tell you one is red and the other is partially crested.

Thanks a lot everybody! Will the corking hurt my plant at all? And also is there anything I should be doing to help my plant remain healthy? I usually give one small cup of water once a week, but I recently noticed some of the branches starting to become shriveled. Also I did a partial soil change today and noticed that there are hardly any roots... Is that normal? Should I water more? Lati - my last cactus I did allow to callus but I think I might have given it water. The original plant I cut it from was already rotting so it could be that the whole thing was infected. Really sorry for all the questions I'm just trying to get a proper understanding !

Jon - welcome to the forums, I'm also from Southern Ontario! The species is grouped under zone 10-12, minimum temperature 12C. Your plant is quite large.

The most important part to growing Euphorbia trigona (and many other succulents) is having a good soil. I used to grow in a similar mix to yours, but changing to something better has made a massive difference.

Hopefully you don't mind me posting a few photos in your thread - but I think it will be helpful to share my experience. =)

Here is my Euphorbia trigona in 2011. It was potted in cactus and succulent soil and grown outdoors on my completely unobstructed south-facing balcony, which received excellent light and a good breeze all day and night. My succulents were repotted once a year into new mix so lack of nutrition and soil compaction was not an issue.

This is the kind of conditions that this water-retentive soil works under (outside in great light). In just two years, it easily grew more than a foot:

Here is what my Euphorbia trigona looked like in May, 2015. In 2012, I had moved to a different place and it was grown indoors only under kind of poor light. Honestly, in three years it looked exactly the same.

It was alive and the soil was somewhat manageable, but it didn't grow at all.

Here is my Euphorbia trigona today, September 2015. A few weeks after the photo above, I repotted into a gritty mix, which is a combination of grit, turface (clay) and fir bark. A good soil allows for good aeration, drainage, and water retention.

With this new soil mix, there is no longer this constant switch between "way too dry" and "way too wet". This leads to very healthy and strong roots.

Mine is about 3' tall now and has gotten very bushy! It was growing indoors, only going out some afternoons and evenings.

Your looks like it had many leaves, but some are yellowing and dropping off? That means it's not getting as much water as it would like. Probably this is due to unhealthy roots (as you mentioned).

I would recommend repotting yours in something like gritty mix or 70% perlite and 30% cactus and succulent soil. Luckily, these are fairly forgiving plants that can take more water than most would expect.

Perhaps you have a sliding door that can give it some more light? I understand there might not be too many good spots because yours is so big.

Anyway, hope that helps and wasn't too long!

Jon

In my response to you above, it was mentioned that "Corking is natural process as the plants age..." it will not hurt your plant and will not disappear...

ewmayo

If you check the link I posted above, many are listed as much hardier than 12*C.

I was surprised to see that; if you have better source (regarding hardiness), could you please post a link to it.

Rina

Rina - I had checked and was surprised too! Here were my two sources: Altman Plants and Desert-Tropicals.

Confusing, they are really far apart; from 27* to 55*F...not sure what to believe.

I am not afraid to leave succulents outdoor until nighttime temps stay consistently around 8*C or so (42*-48*F)

Rina

I may try my different succulents wintering over on my covered south porch. Concrete slab for a floor and the compost pile is next to the concconcrete slab. House is brick.

They are far too valuable to me right now, but future seasons....I have some big plans, God willing of course. I have no control over the future.