saguaro

I think it's Macrolepiota clelandii

true, my reply was a rushed generalisation ( drawn from interactions in an introduced ecosystem) things like caterpillars, slugs, snails seem to go for the growth tip of trichos, and are probably more of a threat to the plant's survival and reproduction than scale. Flowers come from the apex in Lophophora of a certain size/age too, possibly relevant. Whereas further down the plant on trichos, where mammals like deer are the biggest threat, you have corking, heftier spines and higher concentrations of bitter secondary metabolites in the chlorencyma.

I suspect these secondary metabolites are there to protect the plant and not for some anthropocentric purpose. That view has triggered a few people. it's rare to see insects settle for less than the growing tip of Echinopsis sp. That's where the biosynthetic rate should be highest, in aggregate. At the same time, Echinopsis sp. seem to be a last resort for most insects.

i'll keep myself liberated of Matt's belief system, it seems insufferable. edit: but thanks for sharing something that seems to have been positive for you in apparently good faith

If it quacks like a duck

what are we?

Nice find, these are Geastrum sp. aka Earth stars. They are very similar to puffballs for sure

edit

removed

sorry for my clumsy replies on this read lol i didn't have much quality info, but was motivated to contribute for some reason

ah yeah, i confused tepache with kombucha. the nexba one is fermented, then they add B. caogulans ( a lactic acid bacteria), i think maybe because filtration removes most of the cfus. from the primary fermentation anyway, i'd be guessing why there hasn't been much research into the health effects. i'd say no one wants to fund it because it's a low priority

possibly, i was just trying to say it's pretty murky trying to test kombucha as a cancer or aids therapy. maybe as an adjunct. as far as I'm concerned, kombucha's products are basically a drink that is probs healthy, kinda like a piece of fruit. some of them are soaked in industrial poisons, some are 'organic' etc. imagine trying to get a study approved where you test a hypothesis about consuming lactic acid bacteria (LAB) probiotics in the form of kombucha, and some dependent variable marker of psychiatric symptoms. There might even be rationale for such a study, given the association of gut microflora and psychiatric conditions. i don't buy into the health mysticism of kombucha, such as curing AIDS, or increasing vitality. I know some taste good, tea polyphenols are apparently good for you and lactic acid bacteria show activity in vitro that could support some of the less mystical claims about kombucha, such as alleviating symptoms of autoimmune conditions, if this activity also occurs in vivo ive tried making it a couple of times, sometimes good, some nasty many of the claims from that quote attributed to kombucha (apart from aids curing obviously) have also been attributed to intermittent fasting

you take therapeutics for medical indications, or to prevent them from manifesting. For certain conditions, like cancer or certain psychiatric conditions, when candidate therapeutics are tested, they are often trialled with so called gold standard medicines as control, because it's deemed unethical to deprive certain patients of certain therapeutics. I think more rational here would be something like a longitudinal study. Whether foods influence disease rates is a difficult topic because there are so many confounding variables. For example, erythritol is used in several kombucha products, and even erythritol is lacking in long-term safety data. Tepache is similar to kombucha, there is scientific literature to suggest that it has probiotic value, it also contains bromelain. Kimchi is apparently healthy, but also causes stomach cancer, or is that the H. pylori from people's mouths/forks? 'Yoghurt' is 'healthy', but some types have so much sugar they can cause diabetes, in which case it's not even right to call them nutritious...

Assuming they are made with attention to ingredients, process and standards of food safety, it seems intuitive to me that fermented foods can be good for you. "I was surprised, given the marketing hype surrounding commercial kombucha offerings, that there is actually zero scientific evidence -- i.e., in human trials -- of any therapeutic benefit." Of course, because it would be unethical in the extreme to test foods as therapeutics without clinical rationale.

is it green? Sounds like it's treated with chromated copper arsenate (CCA). generally considered safe in contact with soil, pollutants more mobile in acidic soil. High risk of cancers and pollution with burning. CCA ash even cause localised skin cancers. I wouldn't be making a raised veggie bed out of it personally, but I doubt it is responsible for killing your eucy. Still, as Halcyon mentioned, it's a good idea to keep organic matter off the trunk of a tree Lasts much longer. Brings back memories of a certain 'eco' backpacker I stayed at where they burned treated pine in an open fireplace out the back