I see few problems:

Soil is probably water-retaining.

Pot is too large.

Cacti is/was probably not receiving enough light constantly, that's why irregular growth (thin and thicker).

IMO, soil level is too low in the pot, so some of your cacti is deeper inside of pot.

Few questions: what is the soil used?

How much-how often do you water?

Is there drainage hole in the pot?

What kind of light is it getting?

BTW, plant will not suffer big shock if removed from pot, it would be beneficial to examine the roots - cut off any damaged or dried roots, and repot into better-draining mix. It is much worse for plant to be in wrong soil, maybe with dessicated or otherwise damaged roots than being repotted. It usually needs only little time to recuperate from repotting.

Photo is not showing problem area well enough: pls. take a sharp, clear close-up of it.

Thank you for the helpful reply!

Good point about the soil level. Maybe it needs to be around another inch up to support it better?

Soil: The soil it is in is Miracle Gro Cactus, Palm, and Citrus, Fast-Draining Formula. Would it be better to find out how make my own mix, so I have more control over the mix? I've read you can use sand, perlite, and fertilizer.

Watering: I water every 2-4 weeks, when I notice the top inch is dry. I watered it the day it was left out all night and I’m thinking that, combined with the dew, may have caused it to get to much moisture.

Pot: The pot could defiantly be better. It is a plastic pot which seems to have an attached drainage area at the bottom, but no visible drainage holes. A terracotta pot with a bottom hole for drainage might be better. What would be the best size? Maybe one size smaller?

Light: It is in a southeast window, but doesn’t get enough light there like you say. Trying to find a better place. I have a room with strong morning sunlight, but there’s a window air conditioner there, so I worry it would get too cold.

Good to know repotting won’t shock it! Would it be alright to use the same soil, or should I look into making my own?

Here are some better pictures that hopefully show the area better, as well as a picture of what seems to be the drainage area. The bottom of that stalk got skinny and fell over overnight, so I’m wondering if I should cut that one and try to propagate the still-healthy area?

I do not think dew has anything to do with the problem. I keep succulents outdoors - they get rained on, and dew on.

Pot with attached saucer is not the best - water collects in the saucer, and gets reabsorbed back, keeping soil too wet for too long.

Your soil is probably too water retentive. If plant was in same soil for few years, it is probably best to get new soil. BUT it should be amended. You can use same kind of soil, but add lots of perlite to it. 1:1 is good ratio. Do not use sand, small gravel would be better. If you don't have any, just mix soil with perlite as suggested.

Take plants out of pot and get rid of all soil from the roots. If plants are falling over, they may be rotting. If that is the case, I would cut rotting parts off and re-root the plant. I am not sure what is correct ID for your cactus, but they all need very good drainage and light.

Plastic pots are no problem, but get one without saucer attached. You can use terracotta or plastic. Get pot about 1"-1.5" bigger than rootball is.

Do not bury plant deeper, just put more soil into pot before putting plant in. Plants that do not get enough light are weaker, and can't support themselves. It should get some sunlight, best is min. 6hrs/day. Morning/east window may not be bright enough either. Is your s-e window obstructed by something? It should get more hours of sunlight. BUT you mentioned you can put it outside - you should. During warmer weather, outside is great space to keep succulents in. They need to be acclimatized to outdoor light or they could burn.

Thanks for the perlite tip! Yes, it’s been in that pot for a few years, so probably does need new soil. I think I have some driveway gravel in the bottom to promote drainage. (Put that in before adding the soil.)

I think it may be a Silver Torch Cactus (Cleistocactus strausii ). Closest I can guess, as I got it so long ago I didn’t think to keep the information on the container it came in.

I had it outside for a few hours today and it seems that piece is totally dead. It is now light brown and soft, so I am going to repot it the way you mentioned and cut that part off. Also some brown at the base of the large twisting one next to it that I’m worried about, so hoping that doesn’t spread.

I live in Northeast Ohio (Zone 6a) and we have been having mid-80s to low-90s temps this summer (It is supposed to be in the low to mid 90s in the coming week). SI that good temps for it, or too hot? I agree putting it outside is a good idea, I just don’t want to overheat it, or burn it, as you mentioned, since it’s used to primarily being indoors. I have 2 decks facing south, one that gets super hot, direct sunlight, and one that is more shaded by a large tree.

Here’s a picture of where it is at right now, which is probably a bad place, as it’s in a corner between a glass door and window, where there isn’t a lot of light. It’s so large I don’t have a window it will fit in on a sill or anything. Wondering if it would be better to just sit it right on the floor in front of the glass door actually? Maybe I should also water it more and not be as paranoid about it getting too wet?

That is pretty dark corner for succulent. Yes, plant would be better on the floor, directly in front of glass door. But I would take advantage of putting it outside. Start with full shade, and move into more and more sunlight every few days I wouldn't keep it on hottest deck.

Soft plant is usually rotting.

You need to check it's roots, discard any rotting parts and repot before putting it outdoors. I would put pieces without roots into separate, small pot. They should callus before sticking into mix, and shouldn't be watered for a while - they need to grow some roots before they can 'drink'. I would keep just repotted plant indoors for few days to recuperate. And rootless pieces probably longer.

Rocks or gravel in the bottom of the pot don't help with drainage. You need to make mix with few ingredients, and mix them thoroughly so there are no layers.

I will put it out on the shady deck then, as sunny one would defiantly be to hot to start with. Is it ok to leave it out at night? I'm worried about that because we do get some cool nights in the 60s in the summer and I don't want it to get too cold.

I can't find Perlite at my local stores right now (they are out, since its mid-summer). Would it be safe to use the soil I have now and depot it again when I can find the Perlite back in stock or order it online? Didn't know rocks at the bottom didn't hep, so thank for that tip also. Would it be better to just mix some of the gravel into the soil randomly, or does that not matter or require smaller rocks?

To depot before putting outdoors, just leave it indoors for a few days before moving it? (Want to verify I read your reply right)

For the ones without roots, do you mean cuttings or just the really small stems that may not be rootbound? I've heard with the cuttings you can put certain things on the cut to help it callus (I think maybe sulfer was one and want to say I also read corn starch somewhere?) Or is it better to just let it callus on its own?

Thank you so much for all your help! You have some very helpful advice!

I never heard of cornstarch - I don't think I would use it. You can use sulfur, or ground cinnamon which has antifungal properties. Just lightly dust on the cut. It isn't absolutely necessary if you don't have either. If you can get perlite (or pumice, if available, instead) in relatively short time, wait with repotting. But if there is rot, those pieces/stems should be looked after asap. Rot could continue or may infect healthy stems. Just make sure it is rot. I can't tell just looking at your pics, and going by what you said. But as I already pointed out, soft (and usually darkening stems) are mostly rotting.

There is small chance your plant could be sun-burned, but: did you put it in strong sun suddenly? You didn't say that. You were concerned about plant being outside overnight, getting some dew on it. The way you describe the problem, I think it is rotting. That doesn't happen suddenly - plant must have had problem for a while, since soil is likely water-retaining. It just finally collapsed.

Without roots - I mean any piece that may have lost all roots for any reason. They may have rotted or dried up (they should regrow in better mix). Or any cutting. That includes pieces you will cut if there is rot.

Do not use any gravel that is bigger than approx. 3 - 6mm in a potting mix. That would be approx. size of lentil, or whole black pepper or grain of rice. Smaller or bigger doesn't help to make well draining mix. If you do not have that, stick with lots of perlite (or pumice).

Wait for a while after repotting to put plant outdoors.

I don't know how sunny and hot your sunny deck is. If it is exposed to full sunlight whole day long, it may be better to keep plant on the 'shadier' deck.

Cleistocactus plants are hardy to close to freezing, so 60*F will not hurt it. I keep my succulents outdoors until temps overnight start staying at about 44-46*F.

I went ahead and repotted it, as it was starting to spread and get worse in just 24 hours. Found a smaller plastic pot and just removed the bottom piece, so the holes are exposed. Going to keep looking for the perlite for the future to try mixing it in like you suggested.

Upon unearthing the roots, I did find a lot of brown at the bottom that I’m thinking was there for a while. It did indeed look too low in the soil, so I made sure it was higher on repotting and that more dirt was underneath it.

The base of the long curly piece was really brown and soft so I cut that above the brown where it is still green inside, and also cut off the small stems away from the part of the roots that went bad. I have some ground cinnamon for cook that I can use, so I will give that a try.

I had it on the deck with direct sunlight earlier today and a few days back, so sunburn might have contributed. Going to stick with the shaded deck. The one with direct sunlight gets hot and is exposed to the light for most of the day. The other one gets a lot of nice shade from a huge maple tree next to it, so isn’t nearly as hot.

I’m doing some reading on propagating the cuts. If I have it right, they need to sit for a few weeks until they callus over, then just placed shallow in small pots for a few months, to grow roots? I have this fear they will dry out if cut and not in soil, but that is just because this is my first time trying this.

I put the repotted parts on the floor next to the glass door, so hopefully it will do better there and get much more light.

Good to know they are so hardy! It can get down to 50* at night here, but doesn’t normally reach the 40s until fall.

Here is what the bad roots looked like and the brown spot on the one piece. Probably a lot of unknown water-retaning overtime, as you mentioned:

Some the pieces around the main stalk are not quite able to hold there own, so I used some stakes and loosely placed Velcro pieces to hold them up. It does seem to look much healthier repotted.

I am wondering if I should keep the long piece that long, or cut it into 2, since it's curled and won't be able to stay up on it's own when potted.

I think my mind was confusing callusing with the rooting lol! From all my reading, it's only a few days, as you say. So I'm going to try putting them in a pot within the next day to so.

I was in fact wondering about the watering for the cuts. Most places say like you, that they don't need water for several weeks, so the cuts don't remostin and grow bacteria. And they do indeed hold a lot of water. Was suprised when I cut them at how much mosture was inside.

Thank you for the link to that thread! I was reading through it and there is a lot of informative and helpful posts on there for referance! Some great pictures also of root growing! :)

I was watching some youtube videos and it is just amazing how easily succulents can root and regrow themselves and really neat how they regrow peices into all kinds of shapes!

I wasn't aware of corking, but I'm guessing that is what it was, based on what you said. It was brown and hard, but the growth right above was super soft where I cut off the good part of the stems. Hopfully they will root well and grow into their own seprate plants in time. Do the roots shock easily from being seperated? I know some plants can get shocked if their roots are messed with or seperated to remove a portion, but it seems like cacti are much hardier/resiliant than regular plants.

I wasn't sure when I baught the pot if it was still too large, so it might be a bit big. They were really picked over at my local store and just had that size and one a few sizes smaller, which I was worried would tip over from the weight of the cactus (because it is so tall) and might have been a little too small. What would be the best size for the cuttings? I'm gussing a really small size, but should the small ones be in a seprate pot than the larger cutting, or will they all grow better together in the same one?

I think I will cut that curly one, just so it can stand up well because its all over the place. Good point on making sure the piece with 2 cuts is planted the right way! That didn't innitally even occure to me! :)

I often use shallower pots with wider base, that have more stability. Some succulents grow quite deep roos, so those would need deeper pots. Sometimes, I use larger rocks to support plant or cutting, and also add weight to the pot. Here is larger plant that is in shallower and wider pot, rocks help to support it and it is also tied. Wire will be removed once roots has established in new mix, and rocks may be too - or they can stay if one likes the look:

If there are 'super soft' parts on plant, that is most often rot and should be looked after.

I have lots of 4" pots, so that is what I use for rooting cuttings. Several could be in same pot, but not crowded. It is not because they grow better together, but some plants take time to root and space is at premium..

There is always some damage to roots when handling plants, and plants usually recovers well. I wouldn't try t damage them on purpose...Roots could and should - sometimes - be pruned too, and that usually promotes new growth. Here is photo of jade that I pruned roots of:

Damaged roots should be pruned off anyway. That includes dry roots, and trim/prune/cut roots that are partially broken. Clean cut with sharp blade or knife is the best. Also roots that are circling should be pruned off. And any rotting roots, even if that means all of them, as you could see in threads about beheading. Plants will grow new roots in proper conditions.

LovThat is a cute looking plant. ;) Love the look of the rocks by your plant! Great idea, never thought to use rocks for stabilization like that. So I will give that a try! I have some am am little plastic pots I think I'm going to use for the cuttings and will get some rocks to help stabilize them then. I've seen a lot of pictures where there are the small pebbles on the top layer of soil like that, but was never sure if it was something to help the plant grow or just decoration? Looks nice, so I might give that a try.

The platic one's I have are probably about 2" or so, which I'm thinking should be small enough, at least for the tiny little stem cuts, at least until they grow some roots. And will probably look for 4" size for the larger cuttings. I didn't relize cacti could have such shallow pots, but that does make since given their roots are so shallow.

I removed the one section of roots conneting the stems that were starting to root, but it came away pretty easily from the main root system. All the main roots looked to be alright and were't too long I don't think. By circling rootsz do you mean ones that are long and geowing away from and around other roots? Didn't know you could prune them without damanging them, so that is another good tip I will remember!

You need to let it callus for a week or two. Days are not long enough and will only encourage rot. Cacti need time to callus before trying to root. It may take several months before roots develop with some columnar cacti and depending on the time of year. Cut off the curled bit to make the new plant easier to pot and looking better once it does root.