Hi Greenfairy,

The part that is skinny will not "get fat" again. The top may start getting bigger but the skinny part may not be able to hold up new growth.

If it was my plant, I would chop off the skinny part; I know it sounds brutal, but sometimes that's the only solution. I have a lot of ugly Echinopsis hybrids because of mistakes I've made or bug infestations, but they still put out beautiful flowers. The shock of cutting off the head may cause it to drop the flower bud it has, however.

You are doing something right if you are getting flower buds. If you can give it a summer vacation outside, it probably will flower more. Acclimate it to brighter light gradually though, or it will burn. Mine get morning sun only in the summer, but the sun here is very intense. They are shaded by a tree in the afternoon.

You can also give it flower fertilizer in the summer months; I give mine Tiger Bloom once a month in May, June and July.

Good advice above. I'd chop the top off and wait for offsets to appear. Let them attain some size and then cut them off and root them. A slow process but you'll end up with nicely grown specimens. Think of that misshapen plant as a source of cutting stock.

Do I need to do anything special to the cut part after I cut the top to keep it from dying? Also, do you know how long it would be before I get offshoots and how big do the offshoots need to be before I can root them?

This is my first cactus- sorry for all the noob questions!

Use a very sharp and clean knife to slice the top off, right it begins narrowing. Let the wound air dry, no special treatment other than good air circulation. If the plant is in active growth, one or more new shoots will appear just under the cut. Let them grow to a decent size, maybe the size of a grape. Then cut them off. Leave them upright and out of soil until roots appear. Then pot them up and water very sparingly until a healthy root system is established and the cuttings are growing steadily.

Just curious to know what happened to your cactus as I currently have the same issue :/

Patty

Just to remind you - this is 6yrs old thread. You may not get answer to your question - I didn't see any further posts by the original poster....