Tephrocactus Species, Paper Spine Cactus

I bought this plant because of how weird it looked. This is my first cactus, I usually work with succulents. When it fell apart I was ups...Read Moreet, I thought I had not watered it enough . Then I found this from the Cactus Jungle, "Tephrocactus articulatus is the Paper-Spine Cactus. They propagate by breaking apart easily. No, really, it's true! You barely look at these and the stems pop off and roll down the hill to set root somewhere else. If you live on a slope you can send them into your neighbors yard! They'll thank you later". I got a chuckle out of this as well as relief,that I didn't kill it. As of right now it is in my sun room, I plan on taking one of the pieces and putting it in the ground in my rock garden to see if it survives.

I really like this cactus but I don't know what is wrong. It looks like a snow man. It started with two "balls" then grew another but t...Read Morehe whole time it seemed like it was dead! The fourth "ball" came out then all of the four fell over (remained linked) and I can't find any roots. I had it in potting soil with 50% perlite. Does it need food? I very seldom water it. It gets full sun and all the other cactuses around it seem to be happy and thriving. Help!

I'm going to separate a segment, allow it to callous and then see if I can root it.

Also known as Spruce Cone Cholla. Originally from Westen Argentina. Sunset zones 8,9 12-24. Little to no water!. Hardy in Phoenix, to 15F...Read More, Aug Temps to 50F, Blooms are either white or yellow, 2" fruit is brown. Propagation is from seeds or cuttings. Fertilize during growth season in the Spring, 2 parts sand, 2 parts loam with small gravel for good drainage.

Interesting harmless-looking cactus with wide, papery spines. It develops in little pine-cone shaped segments and is very fragile at eac...Read Moreh segment, taking little effort to break off pieces at that point (had to blow leaves out of my cactus garden with a leaf blower and even that would end up blowing off segments of this species). Easy to propgate from the segments, though. I never could get one to grow very tall as they kept falling apart. Closely related to the much hardier pinecone cactus, which never seem to come apart at its segments. Note that though this plant seems relatively harmless- the large, flat spines are not all that fearsome... .the little fur-like spines at the base of these larger spines are quite a nuisance, and you should still use gloves to handle this plant.