---
title: "Need a little advice for my first pencil cactus. She’s a few years…"
description: "Need a little advice for my first pencil cactus. She’s a few years old; we’re Texas Zone 9B so she must come in for the winter, where she shares a grow light…"
url: "https://getplanta.com/community/lZ7uAE3pQ86jnFGxrCwLrg/pCv3cI01isdYIxdWDB46wk?language=es"
community: "Anything about plants"
author: "Bonzoid"
published: "2026-03-29T21:50:27.993039Z"
language: "en"
image: "https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/WbMCoxMv-Xw_SJ-Wf_5A-siaTTRdkxmWIId2kifA5eY/X0aDAyMeSDiewzdJeSveOQ.webp?size=large"
---

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# Need a little advice for my first pencil cactus. She’s a few years…

_Publicado por Bonzoid el 2026-03-29_

Need a little advice for my first pencil cactus. She’s a few years old; we’re Texas Zone 9B so she must come in for the winter, where she shares a grow light and a couple windows with a few other cacti who seem happy. Appears to be LOTS of new growth this year (almost a foot!) but would we call this etiolation since the main stem is the same diameter bottom to top and there really are no spindly arms (just one that was closest to the wall)? Or is it? Seems like she’d be a little more tangly looking at this point.  
Plan to repot here in a couple days but should I behead her? She’ll live out in the yard til November in her usual spot. But I want to give her the best chance at her best life! TIA!!

![Adjunto 1 de 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/WbMCoxMv-Xw_SJ-Wf_5A-siaTTRdkxmWIId2kifA5eY/X0aDAyMeSDiewzdJeSveOQ.webp?size=large)

## 6 comentarios

### keira comentó el 2026-03-30

that’s gorgeous! maybe go to youtube if no one comments here, because i dont know any info to give u Lol but she is so pretyyyyyyyy

#### Bonzoid respondió el 2026-03-31

Thanks! And she’s happy! I put her outside 5 days ago, she grew another 4”. Yeah I’ll see what anyone has to say but I consulted Google \& YouTube and didn’t get much but ‘how to cut a cactus’ which I already know how to do. But I don’t want to if it’s not necessary.

#### keira respondió el 2026-03-31

it definitely looks happy from the picture 😌 and wow! 🌵 are amazing lol

#### John G Amero respondió el 2026-03-31

I feel your pain in not being able to get any advice on what to do with a pencil cactus. Zone 7 here in the Philly area and I’m wondering why stores even bother selling pencil cactus this far north.

![Adjunto 1 de 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/6gxEM_j_mJgdysj-2z4vmXECXcvvzQ8T9LpBISEIrd4/INJlTSLqS2iOQHcd44leGg.webp?size=large)

#### Bonzoid respondió el 2026-04-16

I wish mine looked like that tho! That’s a beauty and more like they should grow. (Wow, a poem..☺️) I repotted mine last weekend, she’s grown another 4”. I’ll let her rest a few weeks in the new pot then cut off 1/3. Thanks for your photo that actually helped me decide.

#### John G Amero respondió el 2026-07-21

So this is my Pencil Cactus, or Fire-stick Cactus, today, Tuesday July 21, 2026.

I didn’t think it would last this long. I thought it would’ve died already because it was on the I’m dying list when I almost killed it over the winter.

This Pencil Cactus is inside a smaller clay pot. The smaller round pot is inside this larger square concrete pot to add stability.

I have not watered it at all this season while it’s outside.

It normally sits high above my backyard wall so that it catches as much morning, sun as possible, and then as the sun moves from east to west. It remains high enough that it’s not in the shade of other houses in the afternoon.

It definitely has a lot of pinkish red sticks that are new growth. I’m never sure how to cut these things to make them be happy in a form for themselves.

![Adjunto 1 de 1](https://images.getplanta.com/v1/resize/6gxEM_j_mJgdysj-2z4vmXECXcvvzQ8T9LpBISEIrd4/vQJbuLD_QrGJ8Xcx2Ye6FA.webp?size=large)

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