Help! Too many cacti grown from seed in one pot

[Plantwoman]

I have been growing cacti from seed (given to me by my late father for my children) indoors in one pot for over twenty years. I think they are torch cactus and there are now 5 cacti in a 5 inch pot, and each has grown to be about 5-6 inches long. Some are falling over in front, hanging out of the pot. They look healthy otherwise. What should I do? I'm afraid they will fall right out of the pot, they are so heavy and the stem is so narrow. I'm afraid to separate them or even just put them in a larger container, although I suppose I must put on some gloves and go for it. I don't want to inadvertently kill them, as they have lots of sentimental value! THANK YOU!

cacti.jpeg (153.99 KiB) Viewed 910 times

[MikeInOz]

You need to take them out and separate. Pot each one on it's own...or maybe 3 to a pot?
I never use gloves. They give you a false sense of security - nothing worse that getting stabbed through a glove and have the spine break off inside it.
I use newspaper folded up into long narrow strips to hold the plant then use a sharpened chopstick to pick apart the roots. If you shorten long roots and pot up into a dry mix, everything should be good. You might need to stake the plants for a few months. 2 slabs of thick polystyrene also works well to hold the plants.

[Aiko]

they are so heavy and the stem is so narrow

They are so narrow because they don't get enough sun intensity. This is called etiolating. These look to be Echinocactus grusonii and are "supposed" to be spherical.

If I were you I would take them out of the pot and pot them up in individual pots. To make sure they stay upright, you might like to bury the plant a bit deeper into the soil. You can find recommendations regarding soil on this forum if you search for it. Lot's of recommendations and preferences, but in general I would advice some garden soil where you have taken out the big and chunky bits, and mix this with some gravel / pebbles in a 50%/50% ratio. This should give you a draining (enough) soil for your plants.

And after this, please place the plants in the best sunny spot you can find. They might not fully recover from etiolation, but at least more sun light will make the plants much healthier and more robust.

[Plantwoman]

Thank you so much for your help!