Question
My husband has a cactus and he loves it.  The problem is, at the base of the cactus, it seems to be dying.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but the description is; tall and slender, spikes are in groups of 10-15 all over and close together,the top is shaped ball-like, the rest under the ball-like shape is not just straight but kind of wavy?  It's really hard to explain.

The base is all brown and that brown is creeping closer to the top.  Plant is approx. 8" tall.  It's leaning like crazy and the only real healthy part looks to be the very top.  

I was wondering if I couldn't just cut that part off and replant it somehow.

The palnt doesn't look like it will make it, this is a last effort.

Thank you for your time,

Elaine

Answer
Dear Elaine,

Unless you have about 3" of unaffected plant left, I have bad news for you. Unfortunately, when a plant is that affected, there is nothing that can be done. Also, it sounds from your description that you have one plant that is grafted onto another, which makes the problem even harder to correct. The reason a different type of cactus is grafted onto another is because they don't grown well unless in very specific conditions, and grafting make the top plant more tolerant. Sorry for the bad news. Your best bet is to buy another one.

Sincerely,

Greg