Well, now I'm concerned too. What on earth was it grafted on! Or is that a technique? Maybe that stick is a dowel of some sort and it was used to hold it in place on top of a columnar cactus? I'm just blowing gas here, to amuse myself.

I hope that one wasn't too expensive, considering you have to either graft it or root it.

I would degraft and root.

It was expensive... -.- I thought it had roots!

I like the idea of degrafting and rooting it, I would prefer it not to be grafted, although I was told it'd be very hard to get it to root... Should I just try and get the stick/dowel off the base, or does that base need to be cut too?

Well, if the guy didn't tell you beforehand, that's just rude and cheap of him.

If it was mine, I'd just stick it in pumice and hope it does something with itself. I haven't grafted cacti but I'm guessing you will need a flat surface to fuse both together. I hope someone comes by with actual experience. I have no clue what your odds are.

Yeah guess we will see what happens. I am probably going to kill it... -.-

Gabby check YouTube for videos on how to graft cactus:). I don't think it's difficult;).

I just degrafted a Gymnocalycium I bought at Home Depot (I thought it be an interesting experiment). It was grafted on Hylocereus, and when I was cutting off the understock I found that the core of the Hylocereus was like a tough stick to cut through. I bet that what you're seeing is the dried core of the understock. I'd probably try cutting off the long stick part, make sure everything was dry/callused, and try to root the top.

Take all this with advice a grain of salt. I have yet to try to do this; the top of my gymno is sitting on my dining room table to callus over :-)

Also, there is a seller on Ebay from China who sells degrafted cacti/cactuses. In his listings he has some info on rooting. I believe he says to let the top dry/callus for 2 (might be 3) weeks and then to just sit the top on top of damp vermiculite.

Thanks for the advice! I degrafted it last night and am going to let it dry for a while.

Update: it's been about a week and a half, and nothing's gotten worse, so that's a good sign!

the grafted piece left a really deep gouge in the head, and after I read up further I decided to cut just about the hole, so the head would have a relatively flat base and be less likely to rot.

BUT I am not totally sure which side the roots are supposed to grow from....

Here's a little something for you Gabby. It's from the BCSS:). I thought it was interesting. Pretty amazing tbh. Just click on the green Astrophytum:).

Astrophytum

Time to forget about it for a few months. Patience gabby, patience!