Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

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Brontosaurus
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Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by Brontosaurus »

I'm pretty new to this cacti thing and easily fooled. I was at Wal*Mart this evening and surprised to see they had a cactus collection, and most of them had flowers. 'How on earth did they get all these cacti to flower so young at the same time?' in wondered. I assumed they pumped them full of hormones and the cacti wouldn't survive for more than a few weeks. This is possibly true, but as for the flowers, I finally realized THEY WERE GLUING FAKE FLOWERS ONTO THE CACTI! #-o

Regardless, I'm kind of impressed with what they had. I didn't buy anything, but I took lots of pictures, including one of a fake flower that they didn't glue on correctly.
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Onzuka
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by Onzuka »

You would probably be surprised at just how many people are fooled by this act of vandalism!

Steve
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majcka
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by majcka »

Onzuka wrote:You would probably be surprised at just how many people are fooled by this act of vandalism!

Steve
I agree on vandalism....but fooled...I don't think so.

They have a label on the pot with the sign STRAWFLOWER....that is not cheating.
Maja

Strange is fun, cacti are funnier!
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Brontosaurus
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by Brontosaurus »

majcka wrote:
Onzuka wrote:You would probably be surprised at just how many people are fooled by this act of vandalism!

Steve
I agree on vandalism....but fooled...I don't think so.

They have a label on the pot with the sign STRAWFLOWER....that is not cheating.
I thought Strawflower was the name of the nursery when I saw them. #-o
Maddiesicky
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by Maddiesicky »

so sad😭
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7george
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by 7george »

Imagine you are an employee in a GH and your boss put you on the line of gluing flowers... :(

However some of these plants could be salvaged and brought to a normal shape with some patience and needed efforts.
If your cacti mess in your job just forget about the job.
°C = (°F - 32)/1.8
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TimN
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by TimN »

The worst I've seen is a flat of small M. matudae plants with googly-eyes hot-glued on them!

Savages!

Well, maybe the small O. microdasys *spray painted* red and blue was worse.

Ooh, they also spray paint M. gracilis fragilis.

Is there no end the savagery against innocent cactus?
Disclaimer: I'm in sunny Arizona, so any advice I give may not apply in your circumstances.

Tim
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hegar
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by hegar »

Some of the cacti that people are bringing across the Mexican border here In El Paso, Texas are also mutilated. However, the Mexican growers are more frugal. They place the plants at times into emptied aluminum beer bottles. The strawflowers, spray painted in all colors imaginable, are not glued on - that costs time and money - but they are just jabbed into the hapless Aloe or cactus plant. :(
Most of the people who buy these plants probably do not even know, that the flowers come from a different kind of plant, and with the cacti or Aloe plants being placed in a pine needle growing medium, the strawflower will most likely outlast the cactus. Well, it was only a cheap souvenir anyway.

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Saguaro123
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by Saguaro123 »

It's a cheap souvenir that buyers have to pay an extra $1.50 for.

Like @7george said, some can be salvaged. I've found that using rubbing alcohol as a solvent for dissolving the glue works very well. It does not damage the plant and removes most of the glue without damaging the growth tip.
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DesertSun
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by DesertSun »

That's a horrendous thing that is unfortunately, more common that any cactophile would dream. And it is even worse, I have seen cacti sprayed with glitter, to match a valentine's day heart, opuntia leaves heart shaped/cut, painted succulents, and it is getting more disgusting by the years. In fact, I run away from all the places that have such "treated" plants, as buying from those places only encourages sellers to find more freaky ways to sell cacti and sucs to the public. You can use tweezers to pick the flowers out, carefully, one by one.
"The best fertilizer is the gardener's own shadow"
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the_cheshirecat
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by the_cheshirecat »

I have "rescued" two cacti that had had a Santa hat stabbed into the stem and googly eyes glued on :idea:
I often buy the plants that have been reduced and thrown in the bargain bin, I am a sucker and feel sorry for them :(
Ty the cheshirecat
DaveW
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by DaveW »

Yes, the point of these things is they are just impulse buys for most of the public to be treated like a bunch of cut flowers or flowering bulbs at Christmas which go straight into the bin after a time, being a dust trap on the windowsill or they snag the curtains. At least we have moved forward in that they are now labelling them as straw flowers or grafts. In the past they did not glue the flowers on but had a wire spike they stuck into the plant which often caused rot.

With regards to rescue, well as long as plant tissue is still alive it can always be used for propagation in order to obtain a sound plant, even if that means waiting for enough clean growth to cut off and re-root, or "blinding" the crown to encourage it to send out clean offsets to re-root and start afresh.

Even heavily mealybug or red spider infested plants can be propagated rather than thrown away when the normal insecticides don't seem to work if the roots are cleaned off and the whole plant completely plunged under methylated spirits in a container for a few minutes then washed off and planted. I have not yet found any mealy bug that survived the Meth's plunge treatment. The plants look battered and dejected afterwards and often with soil stuck to them but will usually either send out new growth at the crown or produce offsets which can be taken off and started again.
keith
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by keith »

In the UK it s called "methylated spirits."
In the US, "denatured alcolhol."

From Wikipedia: Denatured alcohol, also called methylated spirits, is ethanol that has additives to make it poisonous, extremely bad tasting, foul smelling or nauseating, to discourage recreational consumption. In some cases it is also dyed."

Good to know some plants are too rare to just give up on.
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ElieEstephane
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by ElieEstephane »

I think a 10-20 minute soak in any liquid would eventually suffocate insects. The stronger the liquid, the better.
Cheap vodka would probably do the trick too
There are more cacti in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
One of the few cactus lovers in Lebanon (zone 11a) :mrgreen:
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majcka
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Re: Wal*Mart and the case of the false flowers

Post by majcka »

ElieEstephane wrote: Mon Apr 16, 2018 4:58 pm Cheap vodka would probably do the trick too
I had to smile on that....not becouse it wouldn't do the trick, but rather becouse an expencive one would do it too. Image

No offense...it is just that kind of a day. Image
Maja

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