Meine Schwester hat mir ein Bild ihres Kaktus geschickt, in dem sich eine Spinne eingenistet und den sie offenbar getötet hat. Ich hatte immer den Eindruck, dass es etwas zu retten gibt, wenn es noch grün ist. Allerdings weiß ich nicht viel über Kakteen. Ist es zu retten? Und wie soll sie dabei vorgehen?
Von: PieceAny3968
3 Comments
I’d cut off the rotten top, see if the bottom survives, it’s 2 cacti
Moon cactus. They’re grafted the colorful top survives only because the host usually an Euphorbia of sorts is doing the whole photosynthesis. Moon cactus rarely survive for more than a few years. If you want the top in a healthy way on its own it is a variegated Gymnocalycium mihanovichii
These kind of “moon cacti” are actually two different species of cactus grafted together. Rootstock/stem is *Selenicereus undatus* (dragon fruit, pitahaya), while upper one is colourful cultivar of *Gymnocalycium mihanovichii*. Reason why this is done is that that colourful *Gymnocalycium* don’t have any chlorophyll and thus can’t photosynthesize and therefor can’t survive on their own. Essentially they are artificial parasites where rootstock takes care of water absorbtion and photosynthesis for both plants.
In this case upper one is dead, but rootstock can be grow on its own. Remove grafted part away and give *S. undatus* as much light as you can. It’ll eventually start to grow new branches. In proper care it can even flower in future with blooms that are pretty much like queen-of-the-night’s.