Yes you should repot.

Thanks for the comments both of you.

It’s growing fine. I’m not really sure what to do with the “pups”. I could repot them by themselves but then I feel the big center growth would look goofy all by itself even in a smaller pot.

Then there’s the logistics of actually doing it. I reckon I’d need some arm length gloves and have to be super gentle with it.

But it’s 1-1 on repot to don’t repot right now...

A tie breaker you need? depends of your location (is it taking rain and do you keep it outside during winters) and what you want to do. If you want to keep the cluster effect (which is what I would do) and keep it into once nice plant I would repot. A larger pot, in a 50:50 cactus/pumice soil and most of all planted higher in the pot. If you want to split the babies I would leave it undisturbed until you are sure what you cut/transfer rooted successfully. I had a very nice one with multiple stems, growing/blooming great every year. Soil was not optimal though and one bad year of too much winter rain and it suddenly fell apart without any warning...was able to save one stem!

I live in Saint Louis, MO. The plant is outside and I water it myself if the soil gets dry for 3-4 days. It comes indoors for winter/fall, roughly 5 months of the year I’d say. Perhaps I’ll just get it a nice slightly larger pot and put it in some good substrate that’s more suitable. I really think it’d look good all broken up.

Well here it is. Gonna put the big boy in here. I’ll drink some drainage holes in the bottom of course but otherwise, I dig it.

I ended up buying an assortment of orchid like bark substrates and some pearlite to plant it in. Well draining relatively neutral medium I think will do just fine hopefully.

I’ll more than likely throw a bit of the soil it’s currently potted in throughout the mix when I repot here shortly. I can’t wait to get it out of its pot and see what kind of riot structures going on in there. I’ll take pics just Incase anyone else is wondering too.

I use an old curtain to wrap around the entire plant and keep it together once out of the pot. Newspaper tends to damage the spines.

Since it hasn't been repotted for at least two years, it is due a change of potting mix at the very least, and a larger pot to enable growth over the next few years without a need to repot, fertilising if you don't repot each year.

If you don't repot, then the growth is going to slow and affect the appearance of the plant. The clump should stay together if you are not rough in treatment during the repot. Don't reuse the old potting mix - there is no sense in doing that.

Well I got it all done and I’m super happy with how it turned out. I shook most of the old soil from the root clump which was actually much smaller than I thought it would be. None of the pups broke off and I feel I caused about as minimal spine trauma as possible.

Looking strong.

Don’t mind the grilling fork in the pot, I thought I’d need it to support the center stack but after packing the bark down good it was self supporting.

And my neighbor was out during the repot so I repotted whatever cacti those green balls are and scored a few myself.

Thanks for sharing. Good job. Now you won’t have to think about doing that for several years. I hope the big one is ok. Now you can put something else in the empty pot!

In my zone I would put something on the sun side of the pot (assuming it’s metal).

Looking good, hoping there is minimal trauma to your skin as well!! Don't water and keep away from strong sun for some time (few days to a week) and watch for the bark thereafter, it tends to keep moisture for longer.

I’ll tell ya, this guy is happy. Just looking more vibrant and strong every day.

One strange thing though. I remember reading somewhere that rotating these isn’t really a best practice. However, if I did NOT rotate every couple weeks this plant would suffer from some severe lean. I mean it seems like she smaller columns can lean 20 degrees in a single day!

If you don't rotate, the crown will slant towards the sun but it should still grow upright. They have in my case 'cos they are planted in the ground. It is part of the appeal of this species that it develops the slant on the crown. No problems if you rotate it as it will grow symmetrically. Is your plant getting full sun?

Well it is outside next to the wall of my gf’s apartment. So “full sun” I don’t believe but it gets a good amount of light.

It’s not necessarily the crowns I’m speaking of but the whole actual cylinders. They lean on there own like crazy.

I realise you are talking about the full length of the plant. Your plants appear to me to be grown in less than full sun since the spination is not as dense as I would expect. This leads to stems which are not as strong as normal and may not be able to support the plant fully upright. Your stems also show a variation in growth which may indicate changing light conditions over time. Not much you can do about it if that is the reason, apart from using support stakes. Google some images to see what I mean about the amount of spination.

Yeah I have to keep it indoors during the winter and have moved it a couple times in the past two years.

I thought I read somewhere that these prefer less than full light and more shade than actually.

The pot is great - shame about the (apparently) totally organic mix.

There’s a bunch of pearlite in the mix. Just not on the top for aesthetic reasons.

Updated pics of the repot. All cylinders are freestanding without the aid of miscellaneous kitchen wares...

Looking good, replacing the top bark with some gravel/lava rocks will definitely lower the risk of rot or other fungus infection at the base.

I have a few gallons of gritty mix about to arrive and was planning on doing just that my friend.