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I bought this cactus recently from farmer's market and it is becoming brown from the bottom. I have stopped watering it but is there anything else I can do to save it. It is kept outside in spot that gets about 5-6 hrs of sun. Should I repot this? I have also removed the weeds shown in the picture.

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    Is the brown part soft? (press gently on it with a pencil eraser). Is the tipping to the side new or did this occur with the onset of the browning? The rest of it looks pretty good. Is there growth at the top? I look for new spines on the very crown of the plant.
    – Tim Nevins
    Jul 24, 2018 at 14:51
  • Yes the brown part is soft. I thinking the tipping is new. I can see a lot of spines on the very crown of the plant, but can't really say how new it is.
    – Manny
    Jul 25, 2018 at 5:57
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    In that case see the answer below. Be sure when you are cutting the dead part off to keep cutting until you don't see any brown. Usually the rot will travel up the Xylem, it all must be cut out. Cactus rot for a number of reasons, not all of them due to over watering. Good luck!
    – Tim Nevins
    Jul 25, 2018 at 16:17

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Looking at your photos, it does look like a disease rather than older scar tissue from age and sun. It looks like either a bacterial or a fungal rot may be invading your cactus. The health of the weeds around the cactus might be a sign that the cactus has been watered too much. If it is indeed rot, then the brown tissue will be softer (not hard and firm), and the roots are probably infected (no good).

That being said, it may be possible to save the plant by slicing it above the damaged tissue and rooting the "cutting". This can be somewhat tricky, but columnar cactuses, such as yours, can and will root from such healthy cuttings. I have include some links that might be of further help. You can do some more research around these topics if you need to.

https://worldofsucculents.com/cactus-going-soft/

https://www.quora.com/How-can-you-save-a-cactus-with-rotting-roots

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/root-columnar-cacti-21738.html

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