Mammillaria elongata

This poor little cactus! I've had it for a few years, but it's barely grown bc I had it in a tiny hanging pot that dried out way too fast. I needed the pot for something else like.. 6 months ago..? So I dumped the cactus out (turns out the root system had filled the pot COMPLETELY, trying to get every last drop of moisture), and it's been sitting potless on a shelf ever since. Thank you for tolerating my crap, little cactus! 😙🌵

@sunlovin I didn't do it on purpose, but here's an example of a Mammillaria elongata "grown hard" like I was telling you about the other day. Have you ever seen such a solid mass of needles on one? I swear there's live, green cactus underneath all that! 🤣

Yeah, I can see the green but look at those yellow needles! Aren’t they supposed to be tan? 😳🌞

@sunlovin they come in varying intensities of tan/yellow, but all of mine seem to grow more yellow. Might be the sun intensity. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I don't know the variety of this one. It's got coloration like a 'Copper King' which is stronger yellow with coppery tips, but it's not nearly as big and robust and doesn't have the really mean central spines that 'Copper King' has. 🤷🏻‍♀️ I just got a new one that's much lighter yellow, so now that you've mentioned it I'll be mindful of what the color does. 😂