Charlie, you're doing fine with your Espostoa lanata - repot it in porous soil in a pot about 2x the size of that root ball and let it set for a week or so, then give it a little drink. Water it once a month until it's warmer (consistent 50F or more temps) and then put it outside, acclimatizing it to full sun. It will grow a lot under those conditions (watering 1x a week or so when it's warm), but you're not going to see flowers on it for at least another 10-15 years. These columnar cacti don't flower until they're mature enough to have a lateral cephalium, out of which the flowers come.
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I can't tell from the dark picture, but are there any roots at all? What are we seeing...a clump of tightly packed potting mix? Can we get a closer image of the root-ball and the lower portion of the cactus?

Josh

Josh,

Those are roots there, but they could be healthier.

Here is another pic of apical branches of a mature Espostoa lanata that are about to produce flowers for the first time. - the flowers and fruit emerge from the wooly cephaliums. The overall plant is approx. 12 feet tall:

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Yes, the roots do not look healthy on your plant, Charlie - the root ball should look something like this with the roots ramified throughout the soil:

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I use plastic containers for my cacti. For the past forty years or so I have used mineral rich, gritty, soil-less mixes - ones that are very open and porous - for my container grown cacti in order to insure superior drainage and root aeration, with very satisfying results. I mostly use a mix of screened pumice (to sift out fines) and pine bark.

Some reference links you may find useful, Charlie:

Thane Hill: Plant Growth Media and fertilizer in the Nursery

Soilless culture information system: Substrates

University of Arkansas: Growing Media for Container Production in a Greenhouse or Nursery (PDF)

University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences: Gardening in containers

Garden Web: Container Gardening

JP

This post was edited by jpaz on Mon, Jan 13, 14 at 0:13

- bump -

Sorry, I had been busy. Thank you for the responses. I have posted a larger picture of the bottom of the cactus. Sorry it is the same picture, just not shrank down and is only of the bottom. I can't get another picture because I already replanted it Saturday evening. The cactus is in the new pot with Miracle-Groî Cactus, Palm and Citrus Soil. My options are pretty limited as to what I can find due to my location.

You are right, the roots look pretty bad. When it fell over, it looked like it was in need of some water. The soil was dry when I took a look at it. It doesn't look like it had ever been replanted, and it never received anything other than water from us. It looks as though every few years I should change out the soil though. I will keep an eye on it and get it a good schedule for outdoor sun once it warms up here.