What is going on here?

8 years ago

This is a plant that I acquired from my club. The plant is Stenocactus longispinus and is 6 or 8 inches tall. Look near the top there is about a 1/8 inch gap all around the plant. Inside one can see spines. Is this plant shedding its exoskeleton?

Here's another shot:

I have never heard of such a thing among the cacti.

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Comments (2)

Kara 9b SF Bay Area CA
8 years ago
I have had something similar happen twice to my cactus. Not exactly, but close. One was a Rebutia and the other an Echinocereus. I think what happens is the older growth hardens up like a scab.

My Echinocereus didn't get any growth for a whole year. Then the next year the new growth popped through. The old growth has restricted the new growth so now it's weird looking.

How it should look.

Sorry it's getting dark so pics aren't the best. Basically what I think happened was the old growth hardened up for some reason. Too cold for a long period of time scarred the older growth, or maybe even old spider mite damage. Then new growth "burst" through. Whenever something happens to the center growth you can guarantee strange interesting new growth.
Rob Blomquist
Original Author
8 years ago
I have both heard and seen that these plant did not get the best of care for several years. But it really has me wondering about what happened to this plant.
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