Rotting down

[HiDi]

Brilliant idea Frankie, think I will advertise it, you never know.

Di

[HiDi]

Hola

Don't think im indoors would trust we with one, I'd probably set fire to the whole neighbourhood :lol:

It's worth a try with water though, nothing lost.

Thanks again

Di

[thegreenman]

i asked for you on another forum, and just for interest - this was the response:

"Just out of interest I googled getting rid of cacti and found an amusing American garden chat site which covered the topic, most were based in New Mexico and had problems with rampant cacti, mostly prickly pear.  However, their methods involved dragging out with a tractor, back-hoeing them out with an attachment on their tractor and best of all flame throwing them!!   Don´t think that is too practical over here! (and where would you buy a flame thrower?) Think yours and Simone´s suggestion are the most practical, hack them down and dispose of somewhere.  Do you think that dowsing them in a lot of water would encourage rot?  Certainly smaller ones just go to gooey mush if they are overwatered"

Thought it worth mentioning even if only for a laugh .. don´t really recommend using a flamethrower here .. possibly the Mexicans working in larger territories and not bothered about starting fires?

[HiDi]

Hola thegreenman

Thanks for the advice. It has a very thick stem, so it looks like I'll have to attack it!!

Di

[thegreenman]

It could take a while to rot down, after all unless a plant has a very thin stem / leaves, they do. Maybe you should consider braving the spines yourself (go in armoured!) and take them to the tip, then you won´t be worrying about kit. If this proves too difficult, have a good bash at them with an az to help break down them down. But since you´re worrying, I´d go for the former.  :)

[HiDi]

Hola

Can anyone give me advice on rotting down some very nasty cactus branches. They have been lopped off for some weeks now but are still showing the very long and nasty spines and no sign of rotting. They are behind a fairly high wall and we have three cats, one a kitten that will insist on jumping up the wall from where the branches are. So far he's got away with it but I'm worried that he will jump on one of the spines. Have asked at one garden centre but they couldn't help.

When we first got the cactus it was a lovely little plant but now it getting too big. Wondered whether it's best to get shut of it altogether. We have to be careful though because it has a nasty bite!!

Di