What should I do with this medley - Cast your vote!

[John823]

These cacti have been in this pot for 18 years without repotting. What should I do:
a. Repot in same pot
b. Repot in larger pot
c. Repot each cactus individually
d. Other

Looking forward to input.

[Pompom]

I'd go with C. It's because the mammillarias are both clumping species, so why keep them together trying to fight of space when they can thrive by themselves and form absolutely beautiful and stunning clumps.

[greenknight]

If they've been growing together for 18 years they're certainly compatible. Separating them might be difficult. too. I'd be inclined to move the whole thing into a larger pot and remove some offsets to pot individually. You can have it both ways!

[esp_imaging]

It depends what you want to achieve!

It's quite an accomplishment keeping them this small, but pretty healthy looking, in the same pot together for that long.

You could always leave thrm as they are and treat them the same, and they will continue to grow very slowly.

If you repot, they are likely to grow much more quickly, so may loose the balance between the shapes and sizes that you have at the moment - one or other plant may start to take over if given access to more nutrients in new potting medium. So if you repot, I'd say separate them.
Having waited this long, maybe wait until mid-spring before doing this, so they have the whole summer to grow and get reestablished.

[John823]

Thank you Pompom, greenknight and esp_imaging. You all gave me a lot to think about.

I especially liked the idea of breaking them up into individual plants but keeping some as the original medley. However, the plants were extremely rootbound and the individual plants (other than the Mammillaria elongata) did not look like they would divide easily.

So I planted each one in its own pot and I hope that they will be happy.

Below are photos. Thanks again for your input.