CactiGuide.com

I went online to a specialty site that sells equipment for handling dangerous animals.

I purchased a pair of 'Hex Armor" gauntlets that were touted as being very puncture resistant. They look like they could handle rabid wolverines.

Well, I tried them when breaking some more pads off my favourite Opuntia scheeri. Imagine my pleasure when I felt the spines immediately penetrate the gloves and go into my hands. Photo of the gloves attached.

What are everyone else's experience with gloves. Does anyone have the perfect gloves and where do you get them.

Technology has not been able to crack the Opuntia nut by way of gloves. Tweezers, tongs and disposible materials are what works.

It took them a lot longer to develop stab-proof vests than bullet-proof vests. They're still working on something that can stop a cactus spine

I use purple nitrile gloves, the disposable kind. They work great for small glochids. For larger plants i wear them under nitrile garden gloves. I would imagine those thick black rubber gloves used for industrial chemicals would work great.

Yep "Tweezers, tongs and disposible materials are what works." Up to a and including gloves. Once the glochids are imbedded in the gloves you may as well throw them out.

Looking at those gloves just made my hands cry. Metal tongs.

I thought the same thing: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw= ... 0l0l0ll0l0

Ouch, Ouch, and Ouch! I use tongs, a flamethrower and the garbage can when dealing with glochid covered devils. I still question my own sanity for growing anything with a glochid. I even talked a elderly woman out of purchasing a Opuntia cactus at walmart last week.

I've atleast had great luck with gloves and one perticular Opuntia, double surgical gloves worked wonders when I repotted my last O. microdasys.

And nothing's ever foolproof even if the gloves are made specificly for what you are doing, proved that rather well in an old job of mine when I inadvertently tested how well cut resistant kevlar gloves worked again sharpened steel. One fingertip split down to the bone later I stopped wearing the clumpsy gloves and instead started thinking about what I was doing.

Well, I tweezered every spine off the outside of the gloves. There were also a few spines I couldn't get to, inside the gloves. Upon trying the gloves, I discovered these interior spines would stay stuck in my skin when I withdrew from the gloves. These I of course tweezered off my hands and after a few determined repetitions, all the spines are out of the inside of those gloves.

Today I tried the gloves for planting some large five gallon Opuntia santa rita and they worked great for handling those cacti during planting and positioning. I also planted several 5 gallon container Ocotillo and handled them with the gloves during planting. I can report that the Hex Armor gloves worked great for these two species. The Hex Armor gloves are back in the play book.

Though I will use tongs for the Scheeri..

i take a newspaper and fold it up to wrap around the cactus when working with it. it seems to work for me.

That's exactly what I do. Works like a dream for me. Sometimes the simplest solution is still the best. Old newspapers are free!!

I have a pair of lined thick leather gloves that I use in repotting and various cacti duties.

These are the type that are smooth on the outside - not the rough or suede like pairs. These alone do not stop spines, but I use them in combination with "gentle" or "light" handling.

In other words, I will balance the top of a columnar, but hold the bulk of the weight by the roots or between the ribs. Or if I have to pick up spined surfaces, I spread the contact area as much as possible so that there is not much force exerted on any one spine.

Spines still get through, but that's just cactus-grower acupuncture and is good for you anyway.

in most cases I use chopsticks, when a plant is too big for this I use a piece of cardboard I have lying around, I've stopped using gloves altogether mostly because of glochids

29Palms wrote:Well, I tweezered every spine off the outside of the gloves. There were also a few spines I couldn't get to, inside the gloves. Upon trying the gloves, I discovered these interior spines would stay stuck in my skin when I withdrew from the gloves.

Ive done the same thing several times just when ya think oh good, clean gloves and ya stick your hand in there OUCHY not clean OOOOOOOOPS.. LOL!!!