I would take apart that branch and start a new pot. The main plant probably needs to be repotted. Clean out as much as the old potting mix you can, trim the roots a bit and put it in a new fast draining mix. You can search 5-1-1 mix here and repotting. There are lots of explanations. If you are on Facebook there is a group called Holiday Cactus Lovers group with lots of helpful people. Most of them prefer to repot using a fifty fifty mix of potting soil and perlite. If you repot, tale your time and read up here. I'm happy to answer specific questions if you need it. My weekend will be busy so it might take a bit before I respond. If the clades on the fallen branch are withered, sometimes they can be saved by putting them i a ziplock baggie full of water for a day or two. Just flip the bag every day. I actually forgot about one for about two weeks and it had sprouted roots. Good luck!

Thanks! I look forward to hearing more too, neighbor gave me that last summer and it's been a lot of fun, has bloomed a lot, more blooming than growing. If it wasn't for the great advice I got here, it would probably be dead by now. I thought the 'cactus' part of the name meant it wanted to be really dry most of the time, and luckily was told right away, that's exactly wrong, and to give it airy, chunky soil without sand in it. I keep snapping off pieces to share with other people, and have stuck about half a dozen pieces in the soil of the same pot. None are big/tall enough to peer over the rim yet though some have some tiny new leaves down in there. I'd still call it slow-growing but it's hard to say since I've shrunk it on purpose so often. Always open to tips for improvement!

Thank you, justmetoo. Apparently his school has an attendance policy but it is for absences in specific classes, and not total days. For whatever reason the teachers do not seem to really enforce it; DH has access to and checks his grades online (unfortunately they don't update them all that often, so he was completely caught off-guard this time). But his absences in individual classes are still under the allowable total (even though that does not appear possible, but at this point why borrow trouble?) I guess teachers are loathe to fail seniors just for exceeding allowable absences, but that is just a guess. He's a bright kid and so can bring his grades up to at least finals of passing if he wants to. No idea what BM was thinking, if anything. All she had to do was send renewal paperwork so no idea why she didn't. Yes, she's aware that he would have been treated; there was an issue last year where another relative up there took SS17 to ER and called down here trying to get insurance information because BM could not be reached. At that time she assured DH that he did have insurance and she would be contacting hospital to see that they got the information. I am just so angry and worried right now. We should be concentrating on SS8 and not be distracted by SS17's ongoing health/school issues. That's not that I mean that I don't want him to get treated ASAP as well; I'm just so upset that something that should have been taken care of months ago got dumped onto DH at this time. Thanks for letting me vent. I felt sometimes like I was the only one in these situations until I found this site.

I have a light pink, red, white and a yellow one. I happened to be at my daughter's nursery one day when some were delivered and she asked how to care for them..He said if you have a nice shade tree in the spring and summer put them under it. Let mother nature take care of the watering. Which I take to mean they don't need a lot of water and do best in the shade. Before frost bring them in and put them in a place where they do not get full light. He said to get good blooms they need some darkness every day.To root, he says it is better to break off at a fork and just stick in potting soil, much better than rooting in water.His advise has worked for me. Betsy, I do hope you can find a white. They are my favorite.