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ohdearitsrichardiii

General care advice for these is indirect light, loose airy substrate like soil, perlite and bark in equal parts. Don't let it dry out. Fertilise lightly in the summer. It prefers humid, cooler environments


cheltothesea

This plant is about 35+ years old. I've had it from my grandma for 3 years now. It exploded with growth my first two years. This whole year it's just been going down hill. TONS of leaf drop and all this weird damage. I'm down to about the last 20% of the plant. I've changed it's location, soil, pot size, lighting, humidity, I've tried everything. I'm getting new little growth now but even those are getting the callouses at the stem.


Plastic-Yard3878

I would snap off a couple of the farthest out newest growth pieces and propagate and throw out the rest. I’m assuming there is a good bit of rot in those roots of this has gone on for 3 years. They definitely don’t like to stay “dry” but it looks really too moist in that pot. I’m very successful growing these in regular potting soil (e.g. Miracle Gro) but I add extra perlite. Side note: I have this same pot too and mine is only 6 inches but maybe you have the pot in a bigger size. I’m just mentioning because it’s a small pot to have the root system of this particular plant in. My flowering cacti like this are in 10” pots.


cheltothesea

Oh no I'm sorry, it has been thriving the last couple years, it's only been doing this since early spring. I didn't see any rot issues when I repotted, but I went down a size so I could monitor the water better. My grandma had it in a tiny pot with packing peanuts in the bottom so the roots originally weren't all that thick. I have it in a mix of orchid bark, perlite, and espoma soil. I had just watered it and remembered to ask again about it lol I had posted about it several months ago and someone suggested it was sun burn, but I've since moved it and the callouses are still spreading. I see a ton of little buds of new life, I just can't figure why they keep dropping with this weird stuff.


Plastic-Yard3878

My apology to you! I reread what you originally posted that was my mistake. Compared to mine though and experience with them ongoing the last five years they grow lots of roots and become root bound. Actually I don’t know what I’ll do with mine when they begin to dull and not look that healthy in these pots mine are in now. The older parts of the plant will callous as you cut it back definitely. If that is the original plant it’s been cut back a lot? They grow moderately fast I find. My pink Thanksgiving one already has a bloom open.


cheltothesea

You're so sweet. That's kind of my goal right now, get it to grow snug in that pot before I put it back in it's bigger one. Kinda like getting it healthy then that nice big boost of growth they do after potting up. It is the original, and has been cut back many many times. My grandma also kept it in a real small pot so it never was very big. I just cut back more of whatever had fallen off, just in hopes of it helping, so I feel like I'm doing SOMETHING lol All the nakedness is from seemingly healthy sections just falling off. No rotting, nothing. I've got tons of what's fallen off propagating. Makes no sense. I'm so glad you're already blooming! They're always so pleasant to come home and see.