Some incredible specimens of plants commonly found in southwestern US landscaping, wrapped in an exceptionally designed cliffside landscape.

This thing is massive. To be very clear I explained to her its value, but apparently she doesn’t like it and doesn’t want her dogs getting hurt running past it. I’ll be buying her a Lantana to replace it which is what she wanted.

This was already on the property when they moved to it recently.

This is the best perk of being a landscaper by far.

This things gotta be what, 20 years old?

This one has been seemingly enjoying the extreme heat in GA.

Feta cheese (jk)

Hand pollinated a little over a week ago with pollen saved in my fridge for about a month from the variegated cactus next to it. If it is pollinated how long will I have to wait until I can harvest seeds. I didn’t really do any research on how to pollinate them just kinda winged it

4 and 5 are the same cutting please let me know your thoughts 🙏🏼🌵
*UPDATE*
4,5 are Cereus monstrose'
1 is browningia hertlingiana
2 is stenocereus thurberi

Came home to this beauty

Sadly my mini cactus was getting too much water for 2 months, and it started rotting, I haven’t watered it for 2 weeks, but it isn’t getting better, AI has adviced me to cut the base off, but I’m not sure that’s my best option. I would appriciate any help!

Hi, everyone!
Conservation geneticist here and prospective PhD student at an American research institution here. I've necroed the hell out of my old Reddit account, and I'm new here, so if the mods believe that this is an inappropriate post, please tell me, and I'll amend or remove it.

Want to help out with cactus conservation?

I recently got a ton of "use it or lose it" funding to produce reference genomes for wild cacti. These are maps of all the genes (and other things) present in an organism, and they're a valuable resource for people working on plant conservation, breeding and biochemical research. We even use them in the forensics of poached plants.

I'm currently working with several local herbaria and botanical gardens to (ethically) source samples. However, there are a lot of rarer species we're missing. Having these species -or even just having multiple varieties or individuals of a given species- makes the inferences we can make stronger.

This is where you, the good people of reddit can potentially help:

If anyone has a cactus that they're willing to give us some tissue from (see "what kind of sample do we need" below), I'd really appreciate it if you replied with the following:

• A photo of the cactus
• Your best guess at the genus/species/variety
• A fact about yourself, I guess?

We're currently concentrating on Mammillaria, Opuntia, and Echinopsis. However, because cacti are pretty understudied genetically and the funding is use-it-or-lose-it, if anyone has anything they're willing to let us sample, there's a good chance we can use it.

Also, feel free to ask any questions; I genuinely like talking about all of this. Hope to hear from you all soon!

MANDATORY Q/A SESSION!

What kind of sample do we need?

For the average cactus, we need a minimum of a 5-10 grams dry weight of stem tissue. That's pea-sized piece of dry cactus, and about two peas of live tissue. Larger bits and younger specimens are better, but there's no need to go crazy.
If you have anything weird and leafy (eg, an Epiphyllum or Hylocereus), send a photo, and we'd look at it.

We would send out a premade, prepaid collection kit to whatever location you want- if you're volunteering to help, I want to make it as easy as possible.

Why not ask for samples from museums?

Good question, hypothetical Redditor! The answer is: we are sampling from museums and herbaria. However, museum specimens are often difficult to work with and may even be irreplaceable, if the plant or population has gone extinct.

Private collectors also sometimes just have species that public sources just don't have, and I like casting a broad net.

What's in it for you?

You get the satisfaction of contributing to Science^(tm)!!!

...more seriously, you get:

• As accurate a species/variety identification as modern biology can do
• A sincere thank-you in the Acknowledgements section of any papers using your sample
• Your cactus potentially becomes the canonical reference genome that we compare the entire species to?

You also get a random stranger (me) thanking you on the internet for helping to conserve rare plants. Which isn't a lot, but it's... something?

Spring is here

Hi!! My father has had this cacti for years and only this year I collected the seeds and planted them (they're growing beautifully!). Now, he said that he'd like to cut one of. them in order to propagate it and get some new shoots. Do you have any advice? In none of the videos I watched on YouTube the cacti had such a large diameter. Thanks!!

Spots were small and orange when I first bought it, tried scraping one out and dusting with cinnamon. about a month later they still seem to be orange.

Scored these at Walmart clearance for $1 a piece! It’s the beginning of fall here in WA and I’m wondering your opinions on repotting. They will be indoors under lights.

It's firm with give. Should I let it ripen a little more before picking?

Is it normal?

Took a stroll in the greenhouse and had to pull out my phone!

I thought it was suffering from root rot, so did an ai I asked. The plant seemed like it was dying so I cut it open.. it turned out it had a rot? Inside of it. The rot did not seem to extend down into the root but was only in the top of the plant. I don’t know for sure it was rot. It was brown and wasnt through the entire top. Just in certain areas. I cut to top off and I’m going to try to save the plant root and hopeful it will sprout some pups. Any advice one might have would be greatly appreciated.