Latest rescue mission

[Leandra]

Hi~

Earlier this week, I went into my local Tescos and on the cut price plant trolley, was appalled to find a few cacti that had been made up to look like Santa Claus faces. Clearly, some of the bits had been hot-glued on and of course, I simply had to rescue them from such hideous cruelty. When I got them back home, I was shocked to find that not only had bits been hot-glued onto them, but each one had been half impaled twice- one longer stick for supporting the hat and then there was a big prong for the nose. I honestly don't know how anybody could do such a job. It is a fact that plants have feelings and feel pain, albeit in a different way to humans. This is abominable treatment. Unfortunately, I went along yesterday and there wee more on display at full price. It is a sad fact I simply can't afford to rescue them all and even if I could, there isn't that much room in a flat for a massive collection!

I have attached some photos to show them before and after treatment, where they have their dignity restored. I am talking to them daily so hopefully, those stab wounds will heal in time- and of course, I will release them from the peat they are potted in. The one with the multiple growths (I don't even know what I have here!) unfortunately lost a couple of its aerioles due to the hot glue, but luckily, none had any skin peeled off by it.

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Best Wishes,

Leandra

[Jim_Mercer]

I found something similar in Dobbies - long wire pushed into plant to support hat

I only found the wire while I was trying to move the hat slightly ready for a Christmas photo..

[Sylv]

Thing is if people keep buying them,they will keep selling them.

Sylv.

[Phil_SK]

I know it's heresy and I'll probably be drummed out of the BCSS for saying it but I quite like seeing these. I used to get stressed out about it but now I accept that they're just a bunch of daffodils or a pot of coriander seedlings. Having got past that, I'm coming to appreciate the imaginativeness of whoever thinks these things up.
I can't find my photo of glittery Austrocylindropuntia Christmas trees but here are some bright cacti seen during the summer.

[Peter]

It's been going on for years and it'll go on for many more years. No point in grumbling - lt might even introduce people to the hobby. I for one won't be buying plants that have had pins stuck in them, haven't got room for 'em!

[Terry S.]

I have visited two Dutch wholesale nurseries (Ubink and Van der Linden) and they both did this on a small scale but only in the dispatch area. I haven't visited the worst offender Edelcactus, who apparently do cactus decoration on an industrial scale by shipping them off to Poland for adulteration and then bringing them back to the Netherlands for distribution.

[Paul in Essex]

Eyes left - check out my avatar! A friend saw this and thought of me. Something to do with my extravagant moustache and liking of Mexico. Nothing to do with my spiky disposition...

[Leandra]

I certainly understand this is something that has been going on for a while and will continue to. As Sylv says, if people keep buying them (and it does unfortunately sell them, though I dread to think what fate the poor creatures endure after Yuletide is over), then it will continue.

I do think it is a sad comment on a society though where science has shown that plants feel and deems itself as so sophisticated, yet such practices (to plants and animals alike) continue regardless and indeed, become more widespread as the population increases and people talk themselves out of caring- if indeed, they care in the first place. There is a great quote by Krishnamurti: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

So I question what sort of message doing such things to any plant gives children and hence, what of the future. There is an emerging condition called "nature deficit disorder," which is seriously affecting the physical and mental health of children and is caused by a lack of exposure to, and engagement with, nature. This brings with it serious consequences for all in the way nature and the environment is worked with in the future by such people. So I see rescuing some plants as a matter of principle and hence, why even though I could only rescue three cacti from many, (barely making a drop in the ocean of insanity), I did it anyway.

Terry, that really is useful to know about those companies, thankyou!

Best wishes,
Leandra

[Aiko]

by shipping them off to Poland for adulteration and then bringing them back to the Netherlands for distribution.

That's just stupid! What a sad company you are to take it this far to be just a bit cheaper.

[DaveW]

As Phil says, as far as the general public is concerned they are the same as a bunch of flowers and will probably go into the bin within a few weeks whether they had the decorative add-ons or not, being regarded as a "dust trap", or just because the curtains keep catching on them. They are often just bought as a festive spur of the moment present anyway for a person who probably did not really want them in the first place.

I believe the Dutch nurseries propagate thousands of Mammillaria zielmanniana each year as a traditional gift in Holland at one holiday. If most did not go into the bin after flowering there would be no market for them next year. The nursery trade relies on most plants having a reduced life span, or it would go out of business.

I doubt most of us who have been in the hobby for many years have not killed off quite a few plants in our time also. How many Christmas bulbs after they have flowered in the house are planted in the garden or just binned? Plants being "disabled" so they are unable to be reused is not new, what about most Christmas trees sold chopped off at the root so people cannot plant them and use the tree the next year, surely that's a similar waste of young trees?