Hello everyone, thank you so much for the feedback. I would never want to be one of those casual owners who got some cacti on an impulse or as a gift and dumps them at the first sign of trouble. Nevertheless I am light years from being experienced or a hobbyist in the matter, and your help is much needed. My responses are in chronological order. Norma: those names I pulled were from looking around cactiguide.com/habit searchonly on similar visual comparisons. My certainty as to their genus and species goes no farther than that. I should have put in the first post that, according to the greenhouse owner I received them from, they are a type of barrel and a cereus cactus, respectively. However, he didnÂt know much about cacti and succulents and, given the poor state they were kept in, I believe him. So I havenÂt taken his two identifications on them as gospel. But maybe it can help you guys. As to how they are grown: The soil is mostly rocks with smaller, sparser parts of coarse/volcanic sand and cacti & palm potting soil for some humus. I also put some flakes of charcoal in to decrease excess moisture and water purification. In the summer and early fall, they were watered once a week (in 68 - 73 degree heat), approximately, with me waiting until the top layer of soil had dried out fairly well before a new watering. Since mid November I have watered them only once (last week). I read in a cacti ownerÂs website that in order for the best hibernation and to avoid unhealthy growth during the winter months it is best to not water at all or just sporadically (should that be wrong please correct me!). Considering that with our homeÂs central heating system the room they are in is spectacularly dry, I thought it would be okay to give them a little water last week. Norma could you clarify on growth rings, even or uneven? As to black spots or grunge, only what has been shown in pictures on the columnar blue-grey one. tjicken: I just uploaded two pictures of the top of the cacti in question. Thanks a lot for the advice on identifying them as well as the diagnosis on the ball cactus. I had guessed sunburn, but just wanted to make sure (looks like IÂm not a total cactus idiot, just a major one). Would you suggest a less sun-intensive area for that cactus? Or could the burn have happened with water/sulfur sprays plus being in the sun, and as long as itÂs dry it should be okay soaking up the direct rays? Norma: haha, just ignore the "neonate" thing. My attempt at a (bad) joke. It has nothing to do with the classification of the cacti. What do you mean "start them over"? Repot the offsets (if any are coming that is) or lop off the bottom and repot whatÂs left? cactusmcharris: haha, itÂs a "he", though I guess there are girls named Ryan nowadays. I was hoping for sunburn, as thatÂs easier to manage (I think). When you advise to excise the damaged tissue, do you mean the scab/wounds at the bottom, or also what seems to be hardened gray/brown tissue around some of the areoles? Also, what would you advise as to go about excising the tissue? E.g., what kind of cutting instrument, how do I protect the surrounding tissue from fungi/viruses (sulfur powder?) etc Thanks again everyone for bearing with a rookie.

cactusjordi, The shape is a bit different than most Acanthocereus I've seen. Might be a Selenicereus, I wouldn't mind that all too much. dufflebag2002, lol True, that is what I was saying earlier in the thread. I just hope I can get it to bloom further down the road, if it will. I only have like 6 cacti left, my cats ate the others while I was away. :( Lucky these were in the bathroom.

There you go, Richard, and thank you for asking. I really hope you have some idea of what crassula this is, or if not you, someone else. The leaves are succulent, but softer to touch than most jades. The texture reminds me of Aeonium simsii, if anyone knows that plant. There is also the rubbery texture of a bluebird jade.I thought I could discern a very faint scent from the leaves. I wonder if this could be some sort of hybrid. So far the nursery don't know. It produces thin tree-like offsets near the base. Glasshouse works have a Crassula ovate pallida on their website, and it does resemble that plant in two of their pictures, although unvariegated; they post three, one totally different and more like an ordinary jade.

Yep, it's just the way Houzz distorts pictures sometimes. I thinks it's just a 4" pot with very small cuttings. It looks about 12 inches in 1st the photos. its terra cotta, no? That'll help the soil dry out faster, and since your new to this, your tendency will likely be to overwater, so lots of perlite and a terra cotta pot should help. i hadn't noticed the Pleispolis before. That is an extremely difficult plant with very specific light, heat, and water needs. It won't survive in a pot of sedums. It'll be much better off in the little two inch grower's pot it came in. Ideally, it should be alone in a about a 3-4 inch pot of a gritty type mix. You'll likely be happier in the long run by reporting them all in a mix like Crenda's photo, but even if you choose not to do that, you'll have to get the pleispolis out of there. I'd recommend posting a new thread for help with that plant separately. I'd also recommend googling pleispolis care. Most succulent growers won't even mess with them (pretty as they are) because mesembs in general have very specific requirements that are exceedingly difficult to meet. It's not a plant for a beginner, but you might be able to keep it going a year or so if you're really careful. If you do better than that, you win major bragging rights. looking back on your first photos, it looks like you watered them just a little. Although one can get by that way sometimes for a while, what your plants really want is a soil you can water thoroughly, that will dry out fast enough to prevent rot. More perlite will do that. If these guys all have roots, before you repot them in a better soil, you need to rinse the old soil off the roots. Otherwise, you have a very hydrophilic soil at the roots, and a drier mix in the pot, so the roots stay wet while the rest of the pot dries, which spells disaster. if they don't have roots, you might want to root them separately from the plants that already have roots. This is because they'll need less water initially as roots form, but then will have very small, shallow roots that can't take the drier conditions that established succulents need. Once they catch up, their requirements are similar. If warm enough, Sedums root very easily. I'm pretty sure one of those is a Sedum adolphii, which is very easy as far as succulents go, so you might get by with them all together, but it depends on your climate, watering habits, soil, and a lot of luck.