Hello everyone!

I just returned home from a semester at college and found that while in the care of my parents, my cactus began to bend at the middle. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions as to why this happened and how to help my cactus straighten out again.

Some different points for context:
1) The bend happened gradually over the past few weeks; before this 90 degree bend, it was slanted to one side but nothing unusual
2) I live in a humid continental climate in the Northern hemisphere, so my cactus has remained indoors this winter and has not been outside since well before this extreme bend appeared
3) On warm and non-windy days, my parents typically bring my cactus outside so it is able to get plenty of sunlight
4) While indoors, the cactus is near a glass door but the bend is away from the direction of the sunlight (ie, its not bending towards the sun)
5) We don't have a set watering schedule, but on average around 1/2 cup of water every week or two (less in the winter, more in the summer)
6) We have wooden sticks propping up the top to prevent the top from breaking off (not pictured)

Thank you all for your help :)

to the forum

Is there any way you can share a photo?

It may have bended possibly due to overwatering, so it has softened. And depending too on the time of the year it happens, plants tend to follow the sun and that also influences direction of growth. I do not know of the watering frequency your plant had, or if its media is porous enough to avoid staying too damp than needed. But then it got a chance to dry up and get more sun. It may not go totally right side up again, but it will hopefully slowly acclimate and stop leaning any further.

Oftentimes, I would stake the cacti to help it keep upright and do quarter turns to even out light distribution, and be cautious of watering.

But I leave my cacti outdoors, so they are at Nature's mercy.
One batch of cacti that I have, I gave up trying to make it upright, so it now looks like a leaning windswept cacti. But it managed to make a new growth along its body, and that kept upright.
Used to be upright like this:


Have been leaning/bending:

I took some cuttings before as back up, so far the cuttings have grown better, kept upright and kept its natural green colors:



This one is leaning/bending since it is too slender and tall, so I just used the foot of one of the tables, tied it there to help stake it, so far it is holding up well: