One of my cacti that I've had since 1965 seems to be dying :( It had grown into a big clump of lovely round shoots but they have nearly all gone dry and shrivelled up in the space of a few days, and are full of mealy bugs :( I've tipped it out of it's pot (which I had difficulty dragging down the garden because it was quite big) and I hope to save some of the still green offshoots. I don't know it's name but I believe it's a type of Lobivia.
Goodluck with it. As you say maybe too late to save the parent plant but take as many offsets as possible, trying different propagation techniques and the plant will live on ...........
Not a good time of the year to notice this, the mealy bugs have probably been there all summer. Good luck with rooting offsets, but I don't think much is going to root for the next 6 months or so.
Thank you both … @pete and @WeeTam I haven't seen mealy bugs on it until now but maybe they were hiding in between the shoots. I have pulled the offshoots apart and hope to plant them soon. I don't think they'll root yet but hopefully they'll last the winter in my conservatory and root in the spring.
