Please HELP i don't know what's wrong with my cactus

[Priscila]

I Have this beautiful cactus, and lately it has been turning white near its base...Some parts of it seems to be cutting off.. I researched online for some causes but found nothing like this. I'll post some pictures, and if anyone can ID it for me I'll be glad... Please let me know what to do with it.. I re potted last month, in the beginning of spring, and know during its growing season i water twice a month, no fertilizer.. Thank you



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[Kisal]

Another thing to consider is where do you keep your plant? What kind of light does it get? I have some that sit on the sill of the west-facing window in my kitchen. If I don't remove them when the sun comes blasting through the glass on hot days, they get sunburned. (Sunlight coming through glass is partly converted to heat.)

I've not had any of my cacti object to being transplanted, as long as I didn't use too large of a pot or the wrong kind of soil mix.

I've also had a cactus, that I thought was dead, come back to life. I was absolutely positively certain the thing was thoroughly dead and gone, so I just set outside in its pot to get it out of the way. I totally forgot about it for a full year. No water, nothing. It was in a place sheltered from the winter rains, however. Then one day, I decided I wanted to use the pot it was in, so I went and got the thing. Lo and behold, it had 7 little pups! I removed them, potted them up individually, gave a few away as gifts, and still have one of them. Cacti can be pretty tough, if you ignore them.

BTW, I usually water my cacti once a month. Are you sure you aren't overwatering yours?

[Priscila]

Okay I did some checking and saw that the white part seems to be even harder then the green part. The plant is near a window, where it get enough light, but not too much. It's strange though, do you think it could be a fungus? And if so where can i find a fungicide for cacti? I was watering it only once a month, but i though those white marks might be from being to dry, so thats why i started watering twice a month. I've read that cacti can get sunburned, just from the heat..

[Kisal]

It's possible that it needed more water. I don't know where you're located, so I can't judge how dry the climate is. It's damp where I live, so my plants probably need less water than yours.