So in a sense is that article saying this is still somewhat a form of M. elongata? Kind of but.... In a nut shell the article tells us that your plant isn't a Mam. when under the plant ID microscope Meaning. .... it only looked like Elongata to me and as you said it may of been called a Sp.type of Elongata back in the earlier days of cacti naming could be reason why Rose also left a proper ID. The article explains more modern tools where used and who used them to properly ID and classify your named cacti and some others where found to have the same DNA as yours. It also explained the DNA structure of certain plants AND of your plant Sp. In DNA comparison to yours are to different for either M. elongata and yours to both be the same Sp of cacti. It is required to show/ explain the written proof amongst colleges but they dont need to show and tell ALL of us the DNA of any plant. Article also tells us that DNA is different enough to give any plant under the ID microscope warrants a true and then realistically ID or name. Then I go on at babbling about how many cacti get new names so fast it's hard to keep track of them all and they still continue to confuse us as fast as they can... Meaning I cant wait for ALL plants to have bar codding either. Until then.... Rose who still wears the GW cacti and succulent ID crown also shares some brief and IMO good information via another internet forum style webb site. No doubt we love yah at Arid Lands Tony but it is hard to be here and there. Mike M. drops in to say what may of happened to your now properly named cati more clearly.... And then.. just now is when the cat jumps off my lap... Budget or not. Thinks it's fair enough to use/loose a plant or two to let us use our own common scene. Not only would some learn more, they'd also learn it faster .. I'm not at all sure what a commercially massed produced water meter suggestion is for either.

Best bet is just to leave it alone exposed to air and let it dry out and scab over on its own if it can. Tape keeps the damaged joint damp, bacteria invades the wet tissue and it just rots under the tape. Whether it will heal or not all depends on how complete the break is. Dave

Karen- The "rocks" on top are just perlite-the plants are in a 50/50 mix of AV soil and perlite. I have been researching Violet care. My other violets seem to be doing better so far. They already look much better than they did a couple months ago. -- Vikki- They used to be in a much darker area before I moved them after receiving advice from a previous topic I posted. They look much better now than they did back then. Also when I mentioned the "once to twice per week" it wasn't intended to be an official schedule; just a general estimate of when I water based on the moisture of the soil. The mix I'm using is pretty airy and dries easily. -- Regarding the sucker-I've placed it over a jar of water with a sheet of foil on top. About 1mm of the stem is touching the water. I'll update if anything happens. Thanks again! EDIT: added pictures. I also cut two leaves and put them in a similar setup to see if they can root.

The 'baby' tuber is a better bet than the main plant. Keep them in separate pots. But it does sound like the main plant is lost.