You know, the top of that Moon cactus might be the purple variety with enough chloro (phyl? form?) to survive ungrafted. Does anyone think it could root on its own?

I would think it's worth a shot! I'd remove it, let it callus and set it on some medium till it roots. I mean it's base is basically done for anyhow. They all should be put in pots with drainage and a very gritty soil. I would pot separately, but I'm a fan of that.

Thank you both so, so much for responding!!

I live in Southern California -- would the natural dirt/soil from my backyard be gritty enough? Also, how would you recommend I go about removing/etc the top of the moon cactus? I'm totally new to dealing with any kind of plants (so I don't know what medium till is, etc), but I also want to do my best by them.

Molly

No 'dirt' please, for any potted plants not only succulents.

Succulents need good drainage, that's why yours are not in very good shape - and it was worst because of container without drainage hole.

If you could get bag of perlite and perhaps bag of cacti & bag of cacti&succulent soil and mx them 50/50, that would be an improvement. It shouldn't cost you more than $10 (and maybe less?).

The best for succulents would be mix of mostly inorganic ingredients, like perlite, grit, pumice, scoria, turface - some may be more difficult to find and perhaps more $. Plastic pots will do, some like terracotta better (you may be able to get plastic pots for free if any garden centers recycle them - they do here in Canada). Any container would work as long as it has drainage hole. Even wooden box - they just will, eventually, start decomposing.

You could try to see what you can find on kijiji or craigslist - often, ppl give things away for free. I got lot of aquarium gravel (more than 5gal) for free - if appropriate size, it could be used for gritty mix instead of gravel.

The Moon cacti grafted top - Gymnocalycium, may survive on it's own. Google Gymnocalycium mihanovichii for photos, it's a very nice cacti. No guarantees, but worth trying. The bottom part looks very rotted and should be cut off and discarded. Yellow, pink and red ones hardly ever survive on it's own since they lack chlorophyll and can't produce any 'food'.

I don't think plant in 4th photo is donkeys tail, hopefully someone knows exactly what it is.

Regardless of the correct names, they all need excellent drainage and good amount of light. Are you going to grow them indoors or outside?

OK, so repotting them into better soil and better drainage needs to be the priority, right? Thank you for the suggestion about Craigslist -- I'll have to try that! Do any of these look like plants that need a certain depth for roots? Is that even a thing I need to worry about at this stage since I'm sure I'll have to repot them again as they grow?

I doubt my office gets enough sunlight to really sustain them, so I probably will have to grow them outdoors at home.

Yes, that is priority. If the soil in that glass bowl is very wet (as it looks like), get them out of it, get rid of the wet stuff around the roots (if it doesn't come off easily you could wash it off by swishing root ball in bowl of water). Set them in shade on some newspaper or anything absorbent to get all extra water to soak up. They could stay like that for a day or 2 (or even bit longer) as long as it isn't very hot. Growing outdoors will be better than inside if you could. Do not put them into direct sun immediately after repoting, but gradually, they may have spent too much time in lower light and can burn.

Edited to add: they don't need any extra depth. Do not get large pots, max. 4" diameter on to is enough (may be even less).

Oh geez, yeah, that soil was caked and soaked through. OK, I set them up on paper towels for the moment to absorb what's left of the water. Two of the succulents had roots I could tell, but the reddish-yellow one seemed to have what looked like a branch, but no roots?

I think that cactus is well and truly dead, though. About half of it, it turns out, was under the soil. It had a really extensive root system, but it's all squishy and rotted.

Do I cut off the moon cactus top with just a knife, or how should I go about trying to salvage that part?

(And thank you so much for your help. I wouldn't have any idea what to do without you!)

In So. CA, your plants will love to be outside in the sun. Introduce them to full sun gradually. After you repot them, don't water for a few days to a week. Then water when dry. I use EB Stone cactus/succulent mix which has no peat.

The plant on the left and the one on the right can be potted up. It's hard to tell their size in the photos, but they don't need big pots. I don't know about the middle one or the moon cactus.

This thread seems like a good place start: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/1787588/degrafting-purple-gymnocalycium

Thank you both! I don't want to lose the orangey one, so I'm going to try potting it, too, but without roots, I won't hold out much hope.

Leslie, that link offers a lot of help! Thank you!!

And you'll likely lose the flowers about to open, but who knows - they might open. But, if it's at all like the one I just got, it will have many more blooms to follow! Keep us posted on its progress. Just remember - don't water it until it shows signs of putting out roots.

I'll let you know how it goes! *fingers crossed*

The plant in the fourth photo might be a Crassula Capitella 'Campfire'.

I agree with Liz, Campfire. I have found this plant to be more prone to rot than other Crassulas. Might just be my wet summers and high humidity, but I have to watch this one carefully for excess watering.

2nd to last looks like sedum pachyphytum. I always see the grafted purple moons booming at cvs and wanted to try and root one, curious to see what it does for you! Good luck!