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Spines falling off?!
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 12:00 am
by larziepan
Hello everyone! I have a slight problem. Last night as I was looking over my ferocactus for bugs, I've been fighting an infestation, and a chunk of spines fell off!
- photo 1.JPG (55.88 KiB) Viewed 1523 times
- photo 2.JPG (39.12 KiB) Viewed 1523 times
Is this something I should be worried about?
I have been using some IPA on it in my battle against the bugs. Could that be the cause?
(the pictures are, once again, wonky. I don't know how to work this picture thing)
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:22 am
by Rod Smith
This shouldn't be a problem. Could be you caught the cluster of spines on something. Start to worry if more drop off.
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 10:50 am
by greenknight
I agree. Alcohol couldn't cause that.
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Sat Sep 20, 2014 8:48 pm
by iann
greenknight wrote:I agree. Alcohol couldn't cause that.
Depends just what you did with the alcohol
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 8:56 am
by greenknight
iann wrote:greenknight wrote:I agree. Alcohol couldn't cause that.
Depends just what you did with the alcohol
Maybe if you watered it with alcohol. I've never tried that. Wouldn't recommend it - might be fatal. Use it sparingly.
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 9:19 am
by Rod Smith
greenknight wrote:iann wrote:greenknight wrote:I agree. Alcohol couldn't cause that.
Depends just what you did with the alcohol
Maybe if you watered it with alcohol. I've never tried that. Wouldn't recommend it - might be fatal. Use it sparingly.
I think Ian might be suggesting a more personal use.
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Sun Sep 21, 2014 1:03 pm
by iann
Yup, takes quite a bit of force to knock Ferocactus spines off, but if you're clumsy or drunk you can do it!
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Mon Sep 22, 2014 11:17 pm
by larziepan
I spritzed it with the alcohol. I'm pretty sure It just caught it wrong on the q-tip I was using to spot kill some bugs. My friend did knock it over a little bit, so that might have knocked it loose a little to start with. Everything looks good now.
Thanks guys!
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Tue Sep 23, 2014 7:51 pm
by iann
I have a couple of Ferocactus about six inches across. I can pick them up, pot and all, just using two spines. Catching a hook in my skin is very painful because my skin gives way before the spine does! I have managed to know one areole off the smaller Ferocactus though, must have caught it at just the right angle because I lived to tell the tale
Re: Spines falling off?!
Posted: Wed Sep 24, 2014 10:32 am
by greenknight
The juvenile spines are not quite as tough as the one on mature plants, Still not very easy to knock off.
If you've been drinking IPA, though, anything could happen
