Welcome to this article that will be talking about why a pencil cactus plant might be starting to get white spots on it. This is never really a good sign. It indicates something is definitely wrong with the way it’s growing.
But what that is can differ a little bit. The soil might be underwater or even overwatered. So you need to feel and look at the soil. But the root system might have caught a disease or pest that is slowly eating away at its health.
Follow along here and we will learn more about the fantastic and interesting houseplant that is the pencil cactus. It’s one of the most beginner-friendly varieties you could have at home.
White Spots On Pencil Cactus
Just like we said at the beginning of the article here, when white spots are starting to appear on the cactus plant then something bad is happening. We need to take better care of it as these white spots might turn into mold that will gravely harm the plant’s health.
We mentioned a few of the reasons why these spots might start appearing. They include having soil that is underwater or overwatered. This will harm the root system of the cactus and it signals this by changing the color of the plant above the soil.
The best fix for this is to feel and look at the soil. If you feel that it is very dry then you will have to water it a little bit. Otherwise, the roots will continue to dry up. But on the other side, we could have over-watered soil.
Since the cactus plant used to be grown in a desert, we still want to emulate that environment to some degree. We, therefore, need to have soil that is kept semi-dry at all times. We have found this to be the best condition in which the cactus plant grows in.
If the soil is overwatered you could place the entire plant in the sun where it will hopefully dye out quickly and save the plant from dying.
Another factor that could cause white spots to appear is that the roots have caught a disease or pest. This will harm the roots a lot and slowly they will disappear. Fixing this is pretty difficult.
Is your cactus plant turning red and you want to save it? Here we share our best tips and tricks for that, Cactus Turning Red.
How Do You Treat White Spots On Cactus
Treating a cactus plant with white spots on it will depend a lot on how it’s looking right now. If the soil is very dry we recommend watering and placing it in the sun. This will hopefully incentivize the plant to recover and come back to life.
But the white spots also indicate that the roots might not be feeling very well. If that is the case then there really is not a lot to do for the plant. The roots are the livelihood of the plant.
If you are feeling risky then you could actually try and transplant the entire plant into very healthy soil. This might be the thing that makes the roots start to recover and even expand again. But this will only work if you are quick. Keeping an eye on the plant is very important.
Are you curious why the stem of a cactus plant is fleshy? In this article we are taking a deep dive into that, Why Is The Stem Of The Cactus Fleshy.
Why Is My Cactus Getting Spots
The cactus plant or any plant for that matter can get spots for many different reasons. Some of them could be that the soil is no longer very futile for the roots. They instead turn bad and start either rotting or drying up.
None of these results are any good for the planet obviously. So keeping cactus in a healthy state at all times will help avoid any of this happening. That means it needs to get about 6 – 8 hours of sunlight every day and grow in soil that is kept semi-dry at all times.
Going the extra mile could include having soil that is made up of a lot of sand. That will make it easier for air to travel through and keep the roots alive.
