I will update pretty soon. I got the cactus soil, talked to Joanne at the place, am seeing amazing growth on my cactus. When did that happen???? I have some questions though before I repot and will post a couple of photos. Sorry -- this week has been terribly hectic and I want to work on the cactus at the end of this week. Thank you all for being patient!

By the way, Dave -- that is an excellent repotting video. I love her idea of laying the cactus in newspaper.

Looks like this one, doesn't it?

http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3326335/what-kind-of-cactus-is-this-is

Hello Laticauda -- mine doesn't have those skinny little sprouts (which are not good) but it looks like the same kind of cactus otherwise. Last May when I sent the photo to somebody in Toronto, I was told that

"the extra elongated
growth tells me they need more direct sunlight. it is not a very thick
strain which means that as it grows it will flop to the floor as a ground
cover." I have never seen a cactus that 'flops over' like mine. I plan to transplant this weekend and will send photos of how it is doing.

Today I repotted the cactus. I used the newspaper idea from the video suggested by Dave. I decided to put it back into its plastic pot because there are arguments for and against plastic and plastic was easier. As I took the plant out of its pot I asked myself, "What am I doing? Will I be making a change for the better?" The root system was not as visible as I saw in the video. I brushed the outside of the roots with the brush to remove a little of the packed in dirt. Then I turned the plant upside down hoping that more loose dirt would fall from the top. I put a couple of shards of clay pot in the bottom of the pot and a little bit of the cactus soil mixed with pearlite. Then I put the cactus back into it's pot and did my best to put dirt mixed with pearlite all around the outside, using a teaspoon to drop the mix into the sides of the pot. I cut off the tabs/stems that were totally grey and dry. One of the videos says NOT to water so that the roots have time to recover. Do you agree?
One more question. You see those long limbs that trail down? I wonder if I can save them? A friend of mine, not a cactus expert, says that the nice green tabs that grow out of those tired looking limbs are using up the energy. She thinks that if I remove the healthy little tabs, the long trailing legs might revive. By the way, I couldn't find the other glove so I used one garden glove and one kitchen hot glove! I hardly have any 'glochids' in my fingers. Pictures are below. Thanks for your patience everyone! Critiques welcome.

BEFORE REPOTTING

OUT OF THE POT, LYING ON ITS SIDE --

AFTER REPOTTING (not so sunny now so it doesn't look lively as before!)

CLOSEUP

A CUT OFF PAD WITH LITTLE ONES GROWING AT THE END

Oh my goodness! I just learned the meaning of the word etiolated! Up to now, when one of you said it was etiolated I thought you meant dried out, not plump. I don't know why I didn't look up the word! But still -- those long limbs I ask about in my last post above this -- I was told that they are normal -- that they grow along the ground when they become heavy. Learning as I go. I will be joining the cactus club in September!

You're already a bona-fide member of the cactus club. You'll just be getting the paper work straightened out during the grace period.

Also -- forgot to mention -- GRACE those two cacti are just gorgeous! For some reason though I like to say cactuses. I'll get over it.

Cacti = Latin

Cactuses = English.

I think we all speak predominantly English here. :)

"A day in which one learns nothing is a day wasted."

-A Wise Person of History

Bleu, good job for someone's first time! :-)

Seeing the roots, I don't consider that particularly rootbound. Did you cut/trim the roots after taking off the soil?

If the roots were quite damaged or if you deliberately pruned them like I would, then holding back water is good until they heal. I usually break apart the entire root ball so there's considerable damage, and then I trim even further back. So cacti, I tend to not water upon repot but I'm pretty lax about other succulents...it depends. If it's normally hardy and not sensitive about water, then I may water. :-)

If it were my plant, I'd cut that whole plant back quite severely, like 1/3 off as well as slicing off any overlapping pieces LOL. It's ideal to use repotting time as an opportunity to sort of redesign the whole plant. But in any case, it should appreciate the fresh soil. :-) if you have old soil in tact and new soil with perlite in the sides of the original root ball, there is a chance that the roots will not grow into the new soil.

Like this--

It's not a cactus but this root ball was emptied of all soil (well, most at this point) and then trimmed down to about 3" long at most with all the little roots chopped off, them put back in the new pot with completely new soil.

Just something to keep in mind for next time!

Hi Grace -- I was pretty timid about touching the roots -- I just brushed them to remove any loose soil. The video instructions showed a much more packed root system than the one on mine and she didn't really touch it. So no, I didn't prune the roots -- that's kind of why I wondered if I accomplished anything. But I put a lot of perlite in the new soil around the outside of the roots. From your description it seems that I can water it in a few days -- I didn't really get INTO the root system.

Those roots I see in your photo -- you must have been aggressive to get all that soil out, right? and when you trimmed them and put it back in the pot, then added soil and perlite, was the aim to let the soil FILL IN all those empty spaces or just let the roots flop where they may? I will definitely keep this in mind for the next time --that photo speaks volumes!

I like your definition: redesign. I hesitate to make too many changes, trying to keep it the way my husband did; but as I get used to it I will probably get more courage. As I said, I told them, "You won't have the same life with me." Still I'm not making big changes.

So my question about those trailing legs -- if I cut off the new pad that's growing out of one of them, might those legs revive? Have you ever seen trailing legs like those? Is there any harm in NOT redesigning it this year, waiting until next summer? I can see cutting off a few pads but ...

Sorry for making this so long, everybody is busy so even a brief note is appreciated.

So...how much of the peat was left that you put into the pot (the stuff it was potted in previously)?

I left most of it in -- my husband had repotted it last year and since I didn't see the big root system that I'd seen in the video I thought I shouldn't disturb it. I just brushed the outside to get any loose dirt off and turned it upside down and shook it so the loose dirt would fall off the top. Then I put a mix of mostly peat and cactus soil around the outside.

With repotting, I think it's best to be a bit daring and clean out all the old soil from the root ball. If the existing roots aren't very extensive, this is the path to a nice big healthy root system. That way you can maximize the effect of your new soil.

It's a bit scary, but it works! You still can do it (just take the cactus out, clean, and put the new perlite/soil mix back. =)

Otherwise, you can stick with it and go for it again in the spring.

As for cutting pieces off, now that you have repotted, I would wait. The pads will help give it the energy to grow new healthy roots.

It's going to be more difficult to water properly with the two different substrate types.

thanks ewwmayo -- I'll think about that. I wish I had been more bold but if it's OK now, I will might wait until spring. I have a really bright south window where it can spend the winter!

I just looked at the picture and it's starting to look really good with nice plump, thick new growth. Dark green and happy. It won't be long now, the neglect will soon be covered by the passage of time. Plants are wonderful reminders of the healing that's possible after what seemed like the end.

oh, and...you planted those cut off pieces, right?

I agree with what Grace said about cutting back the plant. Honestly, the long etiolated stems only take energy from the healthier sections. No, for this type of cactus, the pads are supposed to be upright and much more compact. A trim would only benefit the plant.

Christopher

I will try to do something this weekend -- I'm worried now about how long it's been since it was watered -- 2 weeks -- and now I will be cutting back and have to wait for a long time to water afterwards.

Oh gee, Laticauda -- I thought I have to wait until they have healed before putting them into the new pot. I am a little confused about cutting but am trying to use a little intuition here. On the weekend I'll see how far I can go!

You let the cuttings heal, you can stick them in dry soil after about a day or two. Then, don't water. It's that easy. that's good intuition.

These cacti can go much longer than two weeks without water, so don't worry about that. Too much water is a far bigger danger than not enough.

Christopher

Thanks for the correction on cutting the cactus Chris - I suppose the idea is to cut off the longest etoliated/trailing sections that won't bring a net benefit to the plant? As well as any portions that you wouldn't expect to improve?

Now that I've learned what etoliated means -- would this ever happen in the desert? I mean to have the long trailing sections stretched out on the ground?

In habitat, I would normally expect very little etoliation since the plants that survive would be growing in locations with suitable light.

Trailing sections should only happen for plants that normally grow with a trailing characteristic (not this cacti).

Hope that helps.

They normally don't germinate in places that aren't suitable for proper growth, but I'm pretty sure that SOMEWHERE in nature, this has occurred, if you look at the pictures before the arm got dessicated, you can see...that plant had a plan to make things right again lol.

Hello everyone who may still be around for this -- the comments I got were that I had done well repotting for the first time but the consensus seemed to be that I should have dug in a little more. I felt inspired to try again. So last Thursday or so, I took it out of the pot again and dug in just a bit more, loosening the dirt, taking out some bigger clumps to make room for even more perlite and cactus soil. I put it back in the pot and it's resting now. I had to leave town on the weekend so I made a makeshift roof for it in case of rain but it did get some sun and we were in a heat wave. Unfortunately it will rain tomorrow but I hope my two cactuses don't mind being roofed over again. I'll water in a week or so? Fertilize or not?

Reading through all the other posts I'm amazed at how many of us desperate people there are, asking for advice and help. Also, I think I understand more what my husband was doing with this cactus. For the winter I have a glazed south window that I think it will like. Thank you again for all your encouragement!

I didn't get a reminder for this so I'm glad I came across it!

I'm glad you were inspired to remove more soil. Was it still damp inside? How did the roots look?

I would hold off on fertilizing until after you see new growth appearing after the repot. I may be mistaken, but that's what I would do.

Do you mind if I ask what you think he was going for? It's none of my business but I'm curious.

Glad to hear it and I'm sure it will be worth all the effort. =)

It's better to wait two weeks before fertilizing. Additionally, the cactus soil likely already has some fertilizer mixed in there so you needn't worry about that for quite a while. Most important part is now enabling your cacti to grow new roots.

Agreed that it has been way too hot here over the past few weeks! If your cacti look thirsty, a little water may help. I like to think about watering proportionately to the amount of roots currently in the pot.

Rest assured... I'm definitely one of those people asking for advice and help with my plants. On the weekend I ended up with a 'bonus' cactus and still need to figure out how exactly to care for it!

Dear friends -- I just wrote a long reply to your posts and lost it! I'll be back though as soon as I can.

Hi Laticauda & ewwwmayo!-- no the soil wasn't damp inside. There weren't even a lot of roots in the part that I dug out. Raining last two days. Last night it was so miserable I just brought it in. It's a good point that the cactus soil probably has some fertilizer in it.

"Do you mind if I ask what you think he was going for? It's none of my business but I'm curious." Of course it is your business!!!

What was he going for? I don't think it's complicated. My husband loved plants. He grew dozens of tropical plants from seed on our high sided deck. When he left the country for a period he gave them to the zoo. One of these days I'll post his other cactus photos. He never looked them up or studied what he should be doing. He liked to figure out what they needed and see how they responded. He never bought a plant or a cactus and I don't know where this one came from. Neither he nor I knew the word 'etoliated', we didn't think about it and he probably thought the long pads were normal. It was probably etoliated when we got it. With this plant he was always propping up long growths and putting broken ones back in the pot. My indication is simply that September photo at the top of this page; he was happy with the way it looked then. That long long tab that reaches RIGHT across the pot and looks very fat at the base. He wanted all these long stems/former pads(?) to thrive and he knew where the sun was every minute of the day. He contrived stands and so on that ensured they got maximum sun. He was an artist and writer and worked at home so he could do that. If we were out and it looked like rain he worried that they were too exposed. (Now I do that -- before I just said, Oh they'll survive the rain.) I always knew they were his private kind of meditation and in my view they WERE thriving. So, what I'm saying is that he liked the etoliation. He passed in November and in fear of overwatering I probably didn't water. I don't remember what my strategy was. A little water would have been good.

When I started this thread I had just realised that those long parts were dry and not improving and one cactus person I wrote to told me to "toss it." Now that I know I don't have/won't be able to bring back those fat stems I feel confident that it will continue to live. As I had told it, "You won't have the same life; it will be a different life" but at the time I didn't know what that would mean. Thanks again. When I have the time I will find the photos of the cactuses he raised. A couple he had to give away because they got too big to take out the door so he found homes that had more possibility that they'd get true sunlight in the summer.

Laticauda, I'm glad to hear that even you experienced people take it for granted that you'll also be asking for advice. It's a little daunting to realise that there are so many succulents and cacti to learn about. For the moment, I'll stick with my two -- and my aloe and two little succulents ...

(I found it!)

I'm eager to see how it grows up!

You only watered it once through the winter, WOW! I don't know how it survived

I'm pretty sure these were hard to face back then. Totally understand, bleu.

I was in L's and found these on sale. Could this be what yours is?

Hi Laticauda -- The top photo shows one of the better looking tabs on the cactus that started this thread. The second photo shows the OTHER cactus my husband cared for. I don't know how etoliated it is but it really looks like it is thriving to me and they do both remind me of the one you just posted. And I love the description on the pot -- maybe that's what you are paying for! ??? What do you think -- I think they are the same ...

The pictures you've posted look AMAZING!

Okay, it's hard for me to tell, but it seems that yours has many more glochids around the areoles than the one I posted.

Where's Christopher? And cactusmcharris?

bikerdoc? Do you do cactuses as well?

Looking at the two side by side, it makes me doubt that they are the same species, but yours is much more mature so that could contribute to the differences.

did you see it says the width of the plant at the store is 0?

That must mean it doesn't exist in the third plane.

Oh, I think I know what you mean by better looking tabs? When you repotted them, you separated the "good" looking ones from the "bad"?

also, you don't have to worry about cropping out the "ugly" bottom part of the second cactus.

Also, by watering the way you did after your loss may have saved these plants for you when you were ready to deal with them. Perhaps if you had started taking care of them last winter, they may have succumbed to overwatering, you know?

Hi Laticauda -- It's nice to hear that the photo is amazing! Wow.

There are two posts from you.

In the first one, YOU SAID "Okay, it's hard for me to tell, but it seems that yours has many more glochids around the areoles than the one I posted." I did look up areoles surrounded by glochids.

I didn't separate anything. The first picture is the cactus that I think is thriving. I wasn't worried about that. When I repotted the one with the hanging bottom part,(2nd photo -- it's the same plant that I am worried about), I put everything back in but as you can see there is this huge healthy tab sprouting up in the back and it looks, to me, just like the healthy thriving plant in photo number 1. So I think they are the same family of cactus. Do you follow me? There are two cacti -- one is thriving and the other one is surviving but with a few big healthy pads/tabs coming up. And that seems pretty sudden to me!

The picture you posted is yellow green looking but maybe it is a young version of mine? I can't see the difference in glochids around the areole.

Today, I couldn't stand the thought of their dryness. Even though it's been only a week since repotting I decided to water it because we are having such good hot days for now and I thought they would make use of the water right now. If I wait until the weekend to water them it will be cloudy. And who knows what the weather will be after that? By the way, my husband always left them out on the deck if the temperature was above freezing. Of course the deck is kind of protected by high walls so that is a consideration.

I think they'll be okay with being watered now :)

The picture shows very young, etiolated light green growth.

It just looks like your cactus has fuzzier areoles than the one I posted.

OMG. This magic square disk says it's spelled etiolated. Is it so???

Here I am back again and I will post pictures of these two cactuses soon. I was going to re-read all this advice but I see that it's like a university course, not for skimming over. I need to really read this and decide what I need to do before winter. This year I haven't done anything to these two plants except keep them in the sun, out of rain, not too much water. I gave them a little food two weeks ago. I need to compare photos to see if they have improved. One thing I know is that my biggest fear didn't materialize --I haven't killed them!

Maybe you can post pictures ?

Sorry -- I wanted to get them with good light and shadow and I was too late today ... It's 11pm Sunday night here. I'll try tomorrow.

If you think I should start a new thread, I will do that. These plants have been outside all summer. Meanwhile, First posting is the one that I was most worried about in 2015:

(#1)

BELOW (#3) is a photo of the other cactus. I think it's doing OK. What do you think? Also, though it was suggested that I change the pot, I thought it was doing pretty well last year and when I checked through the forums, many people thought non-clay pots were OK so I just left it in this strange container.

Personally I think your cactus has made some very good progress though out the summer. Although I would have removed the clear plastic pot covering and would have PIG'd buried in apx 1/3 of a good part of what leaning thinner lanky pads it has. Which with the lack of zone mentioned it might not be to late for you to bury in those parts that are less eye appealing

I would hold off on re-potting any secondary plant parts of it or as a whole for a later date but would favor removing the better looking rounder pads for fresh new plant rooting potential in respectable sized pots of your choice.

A smaller scale example with explication of plans

Although very dry and burnt knowing it is in real rough shape my plan is to bury the wrinkled bottom segment deep in a pot ( plastic, TC or what ever type I happen to have on hand that's deep enough). Some time between October early Nov.

When repotting I suggest you use a very good draining soil, gravel sifted for size and other good draining materials such as pumice or perlite with some light organics that can be found in a standard potting soil for feeding. The mentioned potting soil may require sifting and would preference you to use a harder wall pot over the thinner flimsy plastic pots.

Dear Nomen -- wow! thank you for these great suggestions. Right now I'm dealing with an eye problem and house guests coming! I'm going to go through all this on Sunday after they leave. By the way, the pot is metal, not plastic, though I doubt that makes a difference. And I am in Toronto. I have only a deck, no ground at all except in the pots.

As long as the pot has a drain hole, I think it should be fine.

Are you living near downtown Toronto? I have a surplus of very nice and essentially brand-new 6" terra cotta pots (with extra slits down the sides for aeration).

If you want a few to try/keep I am happy to share them for free. All I would need to do is convince my wife to bring them with her and meet up.

Not unusual stranger things have happened and have gave good results. Not the best pot choice I would make but it worked for you. Even though I have removed some plants from a metal pot. I've never used a metal pot to grow anything in plant form.

Having a few succulents potted in side sliced TC's pots as well I tend to keep them inside as house plants during them much warmer summer months but do have them outside during early spring for during cooler sun and returning them back outside late summer to early fall for a second chilling. Mentioning because you have a more heat tolerant summer sun cacti and am uncertain about how a side slice TC pot would fair during summers higher heat

About the PIG thing, someone told me once that they have a winter rest, which means they need cold. A teacher said that you should put some sedums in ground, and not even do anything with Winter. I don't know things, so don't trust me. Also, I live in Canada Mississauga.

Isaac

There are many hardy sedums that grow very well in zones lower than where you are; also opuntias (I believe not all, but some), and sempervivums and quite a few more. They can be grown in ground (PIG) or in containers. They still need good drainage - wet feet kills succulents regardless the hardiness of them.