Today I bought a little ferocactus at Lowe's that had some decorative flowers glued on top. I want to remove this glue but don't want to damage the plant in the process. Can I just pull the stuff off with tweezers or is there a particular method or trick that works better?

Why did you buy it? Please do not spend money on such abominations in the future. Gene

Its Okay, Paul, I have bought cactus with strawflowers glued to their heads too. Sometimes they are just too good to pass up.

If you are patient, the cactus will pop the strawflowers off without causing damage. As the cactus grows, the cactus's waxy body will unglue those beastly little flowers. If the glue is on the spines and you can't get it off, cut the spine.

Gene the truth is I have trouble passing by the last few neglected plants on a shelf! I always hate to see the poor little fellows just sitting there. That, and I quite like ferocactus species

Thanks for the advice, Daisy I tried to pick one with as little glue as possible but there is still a good sized blob of it between some spines and nearly covering one areole. I'm glad to know that in time it will fall off on its own!

Heeeey,

I like those little cacti. They're cute but those flowers are awful. I've gotten them off by 'wiggling' them a little with eyebrow tweezers every day or so. Loosens the flower and the glue over a few days so you can just pluck it off.

Another tick I found is take them into the bathroom with you when you take a shower or bath. Cacti love humidity not necessarily water and the steam and humidity from your shower does a good job on the loosening up of that nasty sticky and hard glue. Don't recommend the steam bath every day but once or twice won't do any harm.

And see......for all those who aren't fans of Ferocacti look how cute they can be.

repurposed old pots, a few rocks laying around and some aquarium pebble. Everyone of these either a bin, rescue or just a cheap plant. They're doing better then my more expensive ones.

Cool. I love to hear stories like that.

AgaveGirl1, thanks for the tips! I'll try giving it a little tug every day and hopefully that and time will loosen it up. I love the photos of your little cacti!

AG,

What a great row of cactus! But what are you going to do when a couple of them get 6 feet tall? I see at least one that plans to get that big.

The two pots of baby Ferocactus are great. Do you happen to know which ones they are? I grew a bunch of them from seed gathered in the S. Nevada desert but have no idea what name went with what plant. I know the little one with purple spines in the last photo is F. latispinus.

Hi gang,

Paul,
Glad you found the flower removal tip helpful. Just be gentle with the tweezers and patient so you don't hurt the plant.

Daisy,
The little cacti bowls have Ferocactus latispinus (Devil's Tongue), two blue barrel cacti, the white puffy ball things are Mammillaria plumosa (feather cactus). It is soft and fuzzy and very user friendly as long as you don't squeeze it. Pet it instead. There is one little cacti in the bowl that I have no clue what it is. Looks like a barrel but not sure what it will be when it gets bigger.

As for the bubble bed it consists 95% of Mammillaria, Echinopsis, Euphorbia, pincushions, Chamaelobivia, Thelocactus, and Ferocacti. These all stay within 1/2 to 3 feet in height and max out at 8-12 inches around.

Thanks AG,

I don't think my NoID are Blue barrels - we didnt get that far south. I guess they could have been from some cactus we found in a park in the middle of Las Vegas, though. I will keep that ID in mind as they grow.