I had this Cereus specie for about 8 months now but I noticed attack of scales few months later that almost covered its whole body. Below photo was taken days later after I have acquired it from my Aunt’s neighbor in San Antonio, Zambales.
Few months later, it started accumulating scales that made me separate it from the rest. I kept it outside the garden until I had the courage to do what I had to do > remove the scales.
You will need:
Used Toothbrush
Garden Hose
Water Tub
Dishwashing Liquid
How to:
1) I first soaked the most affected part in the water tub for an hour which is the top part, with dishwashing liquid in it. Notice the water in the tub? It already had floating scales that fell off from the specie on its own.
2) Then, I poured another dishwashing liquid (diluted in water – see above photo ) to an empty container for scrubbing the body of the cactus later.
3) Scrubbing begins….
The whole process took me half an hour to finish maybe because the scales has already softened during the soaking time otherwise it would’ve taken longer than that. Now, can you spot the difference?
It’s now back to its normal gorgeous look! Teehee!
Kept it now for drying. Hopefully by tomorrow, I’d be able to re-pot it or maybe plant it directly to the soil. I just hope it stays this way now. No more scales I hope!
Yes! It’s that big that it occupies two (2) mono-block chairs!
