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Hello, i was gifted a cactus that does not look to be in the best shape. I love this cactus and want to nurse it back to health and help it thrive but i also don't know the first thing about cacti, so I'm here to get some help from the experts! This is my cactus, that i have called Serenity


There's some etiolation and she's losing some spines. At the same time, she's growing more spines and there are new growths shooting off the tallest "finger" (for lack of a better word; please let me know the real terminology for all this!). There's also this white stuff around the flowers, can someone tell me what it is?

Also what are these brown spots? Are they areoles from where other flowers will bloom? The ones that have the small opening in the middle, and they're hard to the touch.

Anyway, can i please get some help and advice in caring for my poor cactus? I love her and do not want her to die. Thank you in advance!

I think your flowers are fake and glued on. They might be straw flowers. You might be confusing the glue for the white stuff. The glue might come off under warm running water. Try to pull the flower off gently. If you do damage the area around the flower, don't worry, your plant will produce more offsets over time.

I did a quick look around on the Llifle web site and came across Mammillaria elongata which is called Lady Fingers. Care instructions are found there. You don't say where you are located. Is it Spring or Fall? What is your climate like? Your plant needs lots of sun to survive.

http://www.llifle.com/Encyclopedia/CACT ... a_elongata

Take a look at those photos to see what real Mamm. flowers look like.

The brown spots are not areoles. They could be the scar from previous flowers or they could be new offsets starting out.

First of all, please see this:

https://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43819

This should help you quite a bit:

https://www.sublimesucculents.com/lady-finger-cactus/

If you have any questions after you read the article linked above, I may be able to give you some further guidance. By the way, the flowers on your Mamm elongata are fake. Removing them will cause a little damage, but A. this is something you'll need to do, and B. the stems will grow out of it if you give the plant better growing conditions as detailed in that article.

You can see examples of Mamm elongata in bloom here:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mammillaria+e ... &ia=images