Euphorbia lactea f. cristata

This photo was taken in mid-2017 of my mom's 10-ish yr old (at the time) crested euphorbia lactea. For scale, the pot is 18 or 20" inner diameter, so the plant is huge. The plant consists of 3 main branches, the largest of which is now rotting, and I'm trying to save whatever I can of. #momsplant #plantgoals

Wow, that’s something! 🌵🌞

@beatnikcrab Looks bountiful (& beautiful)!! 👍🏼

Here's a close-up of the bizarre rot infecting my mom's crested euphorbia. The flesh goes squishy and then dries back after a couple days. The core goes soft, but fibrous and ashen. When I initially prepared the cuttings the flesh was white and supple and appeared in every way viable. These are the 4th and 5th cuttings that I've taken from this plant over the past year, and they've all done the exact same thing. I'm at a loss! 😭 Thoughts??

Are you grafting them yourself?

Looks like mold. Maybe over watered. Looks like a goner, but then I’ve never had a coral cactus before. I’ve had other cactus do just the same and I definitely over watered it. I was just learning succulents and cactus then

@docthrill it's my mom's plant, and she never uses appropriate succulent soil or pays much attention to dormancy seasons, so there's definitely a rot/overwatering situation going on. What I can't figure out is why it's so persistent throughout the plant even though I'd cut it back to healthy flesh. @savannahssucculentgarden I was planning on rooting it, but not grafting. Idk why these are always sold grafted. I like them much better growing naturally, and they get much larger that way.

#interestingfoliage

Plz halp, I need some euphorbia advice! My mom has a monstrous 3' x 5' crested euphorbia which over the past year or more has been verrrry sloooowly rotting from the soil up. I've taken a few pieces, cut away all the rot wayyyy past the rotten areas, let them scab up, but after a week or two (before I even get them into some dirt) here comes the rot! WHAT IS HAPPENING??? Is it diseased or something?? I'm not a succulent noob, and YES, I am cutting all the rot away, plus extra.

I've dusted generously with antifungal/rooting powder, and there are no visible pests of any kind. The large piece here was broken off a completely dried up and dessicated segment of plant, and appeared completely clean and free of rot. The small piece was cut off the uppermost extremity (not even remotely rot-adjacent) of a 16" piece that appeared in every way viable. Yet one week later HERE COMES THE ROT. I CANNOT FIGURE THIS OUT. 😫😭 #pleasehelp #savemyplant #whatishappeninghere #rot

I’d still try to root the good stuff but most cacti really slow down there metabolism when it gets to be colder weather. Try it indoors in front of a south facing window. If you have grow lights, they really help cuttings root

I think @docthrill has a good point. Now isn’t the best time to try to root something. I’ve recently tried to root with a piece from a different cactus and it was doing good till now, all 5 pieces are starting to rot. I have a similar grafted cactus like this planted in the ground but I don’t have high hopes for it. That’s too bad, it sounds like she’s had this a long time for it to be that big. 🌞

I lost mine the exact same way

@docthrill @sunlovin I was planning on rooting the pieces, but not necessarily immediately. They should've been fine waiting in a corner til spring. I've had euphorbia cuttings look the same after more than a year as the day they were taken. I have a very inconsistent relationship with euphorbias, though. They seem soooo temperamental sometimes! I posted a pre-rot photo of the parent plant, if anyone is curious. It was about 10 yrs old at the time of the photo, and about 13 yrs old now.

You got this then. Do some extra online research 🧐, couldn’t hurt.