artificially coloured cactus

[brian8m]

a couple days ago i saw this cactus at walmart (can i say walmart here?).. i picked it up and was going to come here to see if anyone could help i.d. it..

orangecactus.jpg (55.68 KiB) Viewed 11216 times

it's not painted.. just the spines are orange.. was thinking maybe it was genetically modified.. but after asking google, i think it is dyed.. found this supplier's site.. they've got other cactus with the spines artificially coloured (and succulents that are totally coloured up):
http://www.eurocactus.com/categorie/7676040/09+rainbow

i took it out of the pot and u can see in the bottom some orange stuff.. are they soaking the cactus in dye? or are they injecting it?

orangecactuspot.jpg (50.78 KiB) Viewed 11216 times

i still like this guy and want to confirm i.d... i think it's mammillaria vetula sp gracilis?

[CactusFanDan]

Probably soaking them in the colourant. It's Mammillaria gracilis cv. 'Arizona snowcap'.

[Saxicola]

I agree with Dan. It will eventually produce pure white spines and become much more attractive.

[DaveW]

There were a lot in the cactus nurseries in Spain when I was on holiday there and all starting to grow out white spines. I would guess they are sprayed as I would not think old spines would take up the colour from below, unlike when they do it to cut flowers usually using food colourant. I would think the colour in the compost has just got there from spraying them, or perhaps they do just dip the pot after all?

Same principle as dying flowers I guess, but not sure spines on cacti once formed would take up colour even if stem or flowers would, so probably cacti spines are sprayed or dipped:-

http://www.dreamalittlebigger.com/post/ ... orial.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[brian8m]

thx for the i.d., and very interesting.. yes maybe sprayed or dipped.. i still like this guy cuz his spines don't hurt me, unlike other cacti i've handled before.. or are the blunt spines a byproduct of the colouring process? does the regular white "arizona snowcap" have blunt spines also?

tried to get a closer pic.. it looks like the "hair" around the base of the spines takes up a lot of the colouring.. and i think i can see remnants of the orange in the "valleys" or the cracks inbetween the green lobes (i don't know the correct terms for that)..

orangespines1.jpg (56.73 KiB) Viewed 11172 times

orangespines2.jpg (91.08 KiB) Viewed 11172 times

orangespines3.jpg (54.69 KiB) Viewed 11172 times

[DaveW]

The "hair" at the base of the spines is called the areole. The "lobes" are called tubercles and if they coalesce together in a line they are called ribs. The base of the top face of a tubercle is called the axil where in some species flowers arise from.

http://www.cactusmuseum.com/anatomy.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.kadasgarden.com/Cflower.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Here's the un-dyed form of your plant:-

http://www.cactus-art.biz/schede/MAMMIL ... ow_cap.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gail]

I wonder if you dipped the plant in water, if some of the coloring would wash off?

[brian8m]

thx for the links! can't wait for it to outgrow the orange..

and great idea on the washing.. so i just tried washing the dye off.. swirled it around a lot in a small bucket of water.. no luck.. guess i just have to wait..

orangecactuswash.jpg (20.62 KiB) Viewed 11149 times

[DaveW]

I suppose you could use hair colour and dye it blond! Don't try that at home!

[teo]

See also this http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... 25#p289425