There are 4 Floridians in this thread right now, I assume there are more around here.

That's fine, it might dry out pretty fast for you though.

Small cuts like that can happen from it rubbing against the spines of another cutting. The places you order most cuttings of those from don't care much for the appearance usually, it's no big deal though it will grow fine and that cut will soon be forgotten.

They are fresh, those seeds will germinate.

Try a year. At this stage it's a guess.

Yes, you're average person only wants common names. Blurt out a scientific name and you're a nerd. lol

Why graft on TBM? I've found they dont handle water as well as most trichs Still a pretty graft though! I think there was a post a while back about monstrose grafts adopting monstrose traits, see any hints of that on that guy? The graft you are talking about was an Opuntia sp. monstrose with a Pere...

You don't want sea sand as it is very fine.
Paver sand, filler sand, etc. are good choices.

That flower is fake, you can take it off.

I can't really tell without a better shot of it + spines. My best guess is old man of the andes.

http://www.desert-tropicals.com/Plants/ ... ianus.html

O. celsianus

Edit: Beat me to it while I was getting a website for him.

I'm out of a job at the moment as well. It'll pick up eventually.

It looks like there is infection in the vascular tissue, but if it is calloused and not soft I suppose you can try rooting it.

Using pyrethroids for mites is never a good way to get rid of them. Once you get rid of them on one plant with a spraying they tend to migrate to another. Strong jets of water and manual removal are fine for most cacti. As for the nicotine, yes it is toxic to people but soaking it is not really harm...

It will kill mealybugs and mites never seem to touch a tobacco plant but I don't know for sure how well it works to kill them. Fresh or dried is fine just soak it, fresh will have a higher nicotine content remember that.

The black area with the "bleeding" black is rot from damage in shipping most likely. Put a fan on it and let it dry outside it should be ok.