Bud drop can caused by a few different reasons. Water your cactus thoroughly, then let it get pretty darn close to dry before watering it again. Turning the cactus when buds are still under an inch long, as well as over or under-watered. Also, a newly bought plant can lose buds just because it's been moved to a different environment. Jungle cactus like it cool (50-65 degrees) to set bud and when in flower, plus, the flowers will last so much longer in a cooler room than in a heated one, so you could try moving it to a cooler place and put it where it will receive bright indirect light. Sun is not needed for budding or flowering.It just might be it's too hot where it is now. Even set in a north window in a cool room will suffice. Billy Rae

Thanks shrubs_n_bulbs. I think you are on the right track. I did a search for rebutia and these plants look very much the same family and in fact r.muscula looks very close. Would like that confirmed please if possible. Thanks Chris

Thanks Maid :) I never slowed down on watering mine, and it didnt hurt it. Since I have gotten it I always water once a week. I also used MG right before it got buds and it didnt hurt it at all. I used the granulated that you put in water though. Since it didnt seem to have any neg effects the first time I just did it again yesterday. Another thing I did that I didnt know I wasnt supposed to, lol..was that I moved it around alot. Changed spots a few times, was turning it for equal light on all sides in front of the window. I didnt get any bud loss. The only prob I have had is that my cat keeps pulling off buds now as they form. Every day I see new buds, and the lil b****** pops em off. The ones he cant get to are still blooming nicely. He's even been tearing pieces of segments off..must not taste good cuz he just leaves them on the counter like the buds. So why in the world does he keep doing it? lol. dumb cat. It is very exciting isnt it? I think yoursd will be fine and bloom nicely. Waiting for those buds to get big enough and bloom was like torture for me, lol. Good luck, and post pix when it blooms!! Daniella

Beautiful! I still can't post an individual picture and am too lazy to try your method right now, but wanted to show you the twists on my 'Tally's cactus'. I grew it in several places and they all did this. All I can say about why is that I planted it in a very large container with a 2 year fertilizer pellet and watered it. Look at the first picture in this thread and noticed the twisted form of Tally's columnar cactus behind the purslane.