The first picture shows the problem up close. The second picture is of the whole plant.

Overall, the whole plant is a very unhealthy color. Any suggestions?

Christopher

Norma, please give me some suggestions. How much should it be watered in winter? What can I do to get it healthy again?

I live in Tucson, Not far from Phoenix. They grow like weeds here in the worst sandy/soil (more sand than soil) you could imagine, with little to no organic material in it! We go for weeks on end with no rain.
They are native and when used for landscape are never watered.

We rarely get spring rain. Our monsoon season is July-sept. which is heavy and strong stroms with down pours. Then we go from Sept-Dec. with just a sprinkle or two. And once in awhile a winter rain. We have pretty mild winters as far as temps go.

I hope this helps you to see a water patern.

I'm not familer with the weather or temps where you are, but if your winters are cold and wet, it will need to be sheltered but not indoors.

They are put in yards here and forgotten.

As Norma stated, they take the cold and snow just fine.

Is the pot they are in raised from the drip tray to keep it out of excess water?

If you choose to break off the pieces instead of surgury, you can still cut off the rot and try and root them.

What type of soil do you have it in?

JoJo

After reading Norma's first sentence, I ran to put the cholla outside. We are having wet weather so it is in a dry sheltered spot but it is cool. The plant came Cottonwood, AZ, as pieces broken off from a plant in a friend's mother's front yard. It is in a gritty soil mix that I bought from someone in AZ off ebay. My other succulents seem to be happy with it. I buy other soil mixes for my different types of plants off ebay - where I pay more for shipping than the actual soil - so Norma if people think you are crazy - they must think I'm crazier. ;-) It's well worth the money to me. It was hard for me to find the ingredients to make my own. This is much easier.

The cholla is in a clay pot with a fast draining mix. My part of Texas has had a lot of rain this year. It is not the usual weather for the area. The soil in my yard, I have a house, is a clay type. It's not suitable for succulents so they are all in pots.

JoJo, thanks for the description of the natural habitat of these chollas. I never cared much for succulents before visiting Arizona. Now they are among my favorite plants.

I appreciate the information that I pleaded for and am not offended. I need help.

We've only had a few sprinkles since Sept! Now were down on rain fall and had a dry summer... But for fall this is the norm!

I've been here 40 yrs.. so I know the rainfall..LOL!

Can you describe the mix you got from ebay... Maybe someone here will have some suggestions. Just because it came from someone in AZ. doesn't mean they got it right.

Peat for this plant is a big no no.. Like I said, little to no organic.

I'm not comfortable suggesting a mix.. around here we would just dig up the front yard.. LOL! So hoping someone who knows a little more will come along.
I've learned so much from this group!! I would trust here before ebay.

You should be able to find things local. Belive it or not, alot comes from feed stores.. grit and pumice. Our old posts on soil mixes are missing at the moment. So maybe someone can see if what you have needs adjustments and suggest where to get it with out ebay.

JoJo

Does everyone agree?

Christopher

Now, I haven't been around cholla in awhile, but I dont recall it turning purple due to weather change.

monitors are diff. so I really cant say what color I see exactly.. but it kinda looks black to me.

Christopher is right,
if it's soft, something needs to be done.

JoJo

I cut it back to healthy green part after reading your posts. It has lost several smaller segments in that they turn black and just sort of fall off. You can see them in the first picture below. This was a larger piece. I hope it will callus over.

And the only part that looked bad to me was the part you cut off and I would have just left it alone as it was dying and not rotting, due to damage apparently.

Txcactus, is this the same issue you were dealing with last year when you posted about your cholla turning purple?

Cholla are pretty forgiving, and maybe anther day of rain is fine, especially if you have superiorly-draining soil, but if not, it wouldn't hurt to shelter it from the rains.

That should have been 'another day'.