Sorry, but I don't know or grow this plant (did so only very briefly), so I'll defer to other on this & Fred's suggestion sounds like a good start. But a caution, if you don't know, when you do cut it back (or for accidental breakage), best wear gloves or be extra careful to wash up & not touch your face 'til you do. If this is Euphorbia tirucalli, the white sap it exudes when cut can be a skin irritant. If its size is becoming an issue, there's no law that says you MUST repot it larger; you could keep it in the same size pot, & perhaps control its size SOMEWHAT by doing so.

Thanks a lot for the quick responses! I really do appreciate it. Cold is what I feared most. Last week we had a few cold days, but the last few days were sunny and warm and today even got to about 70 again. At least my other porch plants are still okay... As much as it hurt, I did go ahead and trim the mushy branches since they were obviously already dead. The poor thing looks skeletal! I guess the next thing I'm worried about is how far this can creep down the main trunks of the plant and if it will (or already has) affected the root system? And should I repot now or wait until spring? - Whitney PS: I know it's not really a cactus. "Pencil cactus" is just the common name taught to me many years ago, and it stuck.

The pot it’s in is a glazed pot with an attached tray base with holes allowing water to flow out from the soil. I don’t let water sit in there. I do have the pot sitting on top of another tray which I fill with water. There is no way (as far as i know??) for this water to get into the soil because the pot is glazed and there are no holes through the bottom (they’re on the sides inside the attached tray). I read that it’s a good way to give the plant some more humidity. Is that not true? I like the glazed pot because it seems to hold more moisture than unglazed but not as much as plastic. The way I check the soil is just by touching it a bit below the surface. Is there a better way you’d recommend? Any ideas why the soil would look so old and deflated after only a year? I mixed in a significant amount of perlite. However greenclaws up above mentioned it looks “peaty” and sure enough i just looked it up and the base mix I used is mostly peat moss and peat hummus . What do you want in the mix instead of peat? I will look for an African violet mix. I have never found a good potting mix for this plant, I hope i can get African violet mix here. I would love to make my own potting soil but have not had luck finding the separate components. I felt lucky for finding a bag of perlite! It’s all just pre-made bagged stuff. Even at greenhouses. thank you all for your input. I wish I knew what was the primary stressor on the plant. Was it the direct sunlight? Sounds like the cold isn’t a big deal, and it wasn’t looking great even before it got cold. Is it the potting soil being all used up or whatever is wrong with it? I can repot and then put back in the room where it gets good light but protect it behind a sheer curtain. Does that sound like a good plan?

I’d love to find out what happened to your cactus. I bought one in the summer and within a month it started dropping pencils. I thought I was water it too much, so I cut back to every three weeks and added a grow ligh. Then it started throwing off an alarming amount of pencilS. I took it to the store I bought it from and they exposed the roots. It only had a couple leading me to believe it what a cutting that wasn’t rooted enough. They told me to keep it in water to grow roots, that did nothing. Finally after a month and a half I planted it in well draining soil and within two weeks the plant turned grey and died. The owner of the store felt so bad she gave me a huge one of her own to replace it. The only problem is she used normal soil from a company called “Good Dirt.” It’s mostly peat. I feel like I should repot it in Al’s gritty mix that I made, but I’m gun shy after losing the first one. Please note the giant rocks are only a temporary solution. The plant is so top heavy and the soil is so light I’ll be fixing that problem when I repot.