u/Jesuislefeu

I have another healthy Dorstenia Gigas so Im not too upset with this second one if it turns out to be a tragedy.

This one had a rot problem when I got it from the seller. I excised the rot and put sulphur powder on it.

I has been recovering and the leaves have perked up in full sun. However, one side of the caudex has yellowed. The entire caudex is FIRM but one side....well. The 1st pic tells the story.

Could it be that the sulphur powder I put where I cut out the rot (dead center) dripped down when water got on the area? Could this be the cause of the yellowing? Im out of ideas.

To reiterate, side of the caudex where the suphur may have dripped down when wet, is turning yellow. As you can see in the second pic, the other side is green and fine. The entire caudex is firm / hard. No softness at all.

Is this thing done for? Ive about had it!

Someone on instagram reached out to me after I posted my plants and got a gazillion likes. He has a collection of Pachypodium Gracilius. While some look seed grown, others...well, take a guess.

Whatever the case, people must remember POACHING IS WRONG and there are no two ways about it!

Anyhow, today he sent me a pic of how he pruned a Gracilius. I have the nagging feeling this is NOT how you prune these things. Maybe the proper way to prune can be made known in this post so others dont make the same mistake.

1. Looking forward to a productive conversation. I
2. I know for a FACT this plant is NOT poachedf
3. ANY attempt is made to discuss anything but the topic at hand, you will be BLOCKED. Im not here to entertain/argue with "Kens and Karens" who yell "THAT IS A POACHED PLANT!" without any solid evidence. You cant prove it was poached, you can only speculate and hurl accusations.
4. I got this plant last week. It is currently in the gritty, mostly inorganic substrate shown in the 1st photo, NOT the 2nd.
5. The caudex was firm when I got it, but the deformed caudex was as it appears: indented. I Had it out in 100 degree temps ALL day yesterday. Noticed again that the crown it is slightly deformed and a bit soft, and in that spot only. I took it out of the pot, looked at the roots and it seems fine. Base is firm. Watered it last night. This morning its still a bit soft in that area. Is this problematic?

This plant was a gift from a grower on the west coast who is related by marriage. It was seed grown and I am told was cultivated in a greenhouse and then set outside. ALL THE SPINES ARE THERE. This is NOT a WILD and poached plant, so STOP before you START!

I dont want to hear ANY comments about poaching because this is NOT a poached plant and that is NOT the topic of this post.

I got it last week and replanted it. When looking it over, i saw no rot on only a few dark spots near the root that are not mushy. I did notice that the caudex wasnt the usual uniform globe shape.

Its potted in inorganic soil. I should also note that it is slightly etiolated.

After repotting I watered it and it has been getting full sun and loving it. Today I pressed on the little malformed part and it is SLIGHTLY soft. The other side of the caudex is fine and firm. Could this be rot that you cant see? I hope not! I really like the plant.

Anyone know what species this is? The seller wasnt sure. It does blossom with orange flowers if that assists in ID-ing it. One thing I do know, this sucker GROWS. Its been averaging .75 inch a month!

There is so much (mis) information on the net about Dorstenia Gigas care. Some say ONLY indirect light, while others say full on unfiltered sunlight.

Owners, what is your take on this? I have two plants.

The Four Stem one arrived from the seller about a month ago with a BIG chunk of rot in the middle which I removed - I did get a full refund. In learning how to care for these, I first put this 3 inch wide caudex plant into a 7.5 wide shallow terracotta pot. I was told that is too big. So I put it in a smaller pot, as you see. All the while, due to shipping and the many changes, this plant dropped a LOT of leaves. One stem now has NO leaves on it, but the other stems have leaves, some orange.

In the pic you will see the results of me excising the rot, and that part of the plant caudex is now covered with sulphur powder to prevent infection.

The smaller. healthier one which I received 10 days ago, is in a similar sized pot however I noticed its leaves are turning light green. Ive slowly been introducing it sunlight and now it SEEMS to tolerate full sunlight well. Not sure.

Any advice?

Took them out of a bigger pot at the suggestion of someone and wonder, is this size ok?

A month ago I got a D.G. from a seller in Hawaii. It had HUGE rotten spot in the middle which I didnt find until weeks later. I cut out the rot but made a few mistakes:

1. Before I even found the rot, I put the plant in direct sunlight from like 11am to 15:00. Thereafter, the leaves quickly turned orange and fell off. As you can see in the first pic, there arent many leaves and one branch has only ONE ORANGE leaf left.
2. Substrate is akin to what Cacti like: VERY fast draining, and while it has some organic parts, not enough to cause root rot - very minimal

Loving the species, I bought a healthier plant at a cheaper price. Repotted it when it arrived and placed it in indirect sun. What I noticed over the past few days is, a few leaves are turning LIME GREEN, that is, a much lighter shade than what I call "plant leaf green." Is it getting TOO LITTLE sun?

Any advice on these things is appreciated!

Ever get scars on your plant and kinda fall out of love with it, or not?

I got a beautiful Cereus Peruvianus Spiralis a month ago. I noticed it had scale on it so I plucked them off. Some of the scale spots were big. Since then I have used a systemic insecticide and no longer have scale. BUT my plucking left behind calloused scars. Its not fungus, but scarring. I feel like it has character now.

Do you think its ugly?