Cactus spine pain

[AndyAmine.]

Yeah I handle my peresk without gloves, I grab them by a couple of the leaves and once you know the pattern of the areols you can pinch between them.

The older glochids are the nastier ones, they are red and in long tufts, they break much easier when pinching them out.

[Osprey]

lately,Iv'e had a rash of spines sinking deeply into my knuckles,and breaking off.

Son of a bitch!!That hurts

[iain]

The worst glochids i've seen are on tephrocactus sp. Clumps of 1000's of glochids on each areole. But a really nice looking plant

[apothecary]

The worst glochids i've seen are on tephrocactus sp. Clumps of 1000's of glochids on each areole. But a really nice looking plant

For the curious

Tephrocactus malayana

[sobriquet]

Damn pereskiopsis glochids!

I got a package in the mail today that I wasn't expecting and had given up on; related to a trading thread months ago. So I open the package and pull out a kitchen paper towel with my fingers and find some pereskiopsis had stuck into the bottom of the package. The peres were devoid of leaves which had dried out and no glochids left on the stems.

I put them outside and felt a little hair painfully embedded in my ring finger. Pulled it out with my nails and it was gone.

Now several hours later I have little feelings of deep pain in the fleshy parts of my fingers where I picked up the paper towel. Worse than when I once accidentally handled diatomaceous earth.

How long does this pain last for? I'm sure its just some embedded barbs but there's nothing visible.

All I can advise is when you get an unknown package that you exercise extreme care.

This is a horrible feeling. Hope it goes away soon.

[Hagakure]

problem with handling pere's are that those little spines can often just brush into your finger and you dont feel a thing. then you pick up something and bam it pushes the little bastards right in there.

i had one deep in my thumb for a while. just spiked the surface above it to make sure no flesh covered it, mixture of picking at it wih a needle and letting skin push it out did the trick in the end.

[sobriquet]

problem with handling pere's are that those little spines can often just brush into your finger and you dont feel a thing. then you pick up something and bam it pushes the little bastards right in there.

i had one deep in my thumb for a while. just spiked the surface above it to make sure no flesh covered it, mixture of picking at it wih a needle and letting skin push it out did the trick in the end.

These must be very fine as I can't see anything over the surface, nor feel anything at the surface like the one I removed.

They must be broken off, with barbs just under the skin. I guess they'll come out over the next few days.

Still... I'll have to be more cautious with unexpected packages from now on.

[Hagakure]

lightly touch the base of a leaf and then look at your finger. you may see a few iny spikes sticking out from the skin. very very small.

[sobriquet]

lightly touch the base of a leaf and then look at your finger. you may see a few iny spikes sticking out from the skin. very very small.

Yes I'm sure they're tiny. My fingers are still very prickly with pain. It comes and goes and is very annoying.

I don't think I'll be able to find them though. i expect the pain may get worse tomorrow as the barbs induce a foreign body reaction.

Anyone who's had it care to comment how long it takes for the broken ones to go away?

It's very very annoying. Typing is becoming difficult without pain.

[AndyAmine.]

Sorry dude. I guess a note ontop would have been a good idea.

I wrapped them so that they wouldnt stick you.. LOL.. murphy's law.

I guess there were some glochids left or they wouldnt have got stuck in your hand.

As for removal they will usualy get infected after a few days then pop out along with the puss, other options are to use something like magnoplasm (sp?), pick it out with a pin/scalple/tweezers or squeeze it out with your nails.

Thier leaves had been picked off because they are cuttings and the tip leaves had dried up outside after a few hot windy days on the balcony. dont worry though they will take off like champs, no problems, stick them in a glass of water with 1cm of water in it till they root. (some 'plant starter' would be good too)

Im sorry you seem to be unhappy, I tried to contact you to talk to you about it but you didnt reply to either of my PM's.

Generaly speaking free stuff trades tend to take a little longer to send out than other trades and I have been treating a root mealy infestation and leaf miner on my pereskio's and wanted to make sure you didnt get any nasty suprises along with your cuttings so they had been quarantined for a while.

Edited December 22, 2006 by AndyAmine.

[sobriquet]

Hi Andy,

I'm sorry if it seems I'm ungrateful or upset. I do appreciate the package. And this morning I am somewhat contemplative of it. I truly had wondered what the glochid pain was all about. And I would never have voluntarily touched the plants without precautions, so in this way I kind of got my wish.

I sat down last night and looked with a large magnifier and fine tweezers and got several out which had only penetrated into the area under the epidermis. There's only a handful of spots left and I can see them getting a little red and I'll just needle them later.

It's certainly done one thing and that is heightened my caution when anywhere near these plants!

As for the trade etc, I think I remember one PM where you asked whether it was your trade I was talking about and it wasn't. I replied but there was obviously a glitch. I know the free stuff takes a while and I had gotten some peres in the meantime but I can always use a few more so thank you again.

The unfulfilled trade I once posted about was with 'Dead-Eye-Dick' who was going to send out some Papaver sp. seeds in an exchange and I sent my part of the trade and there was no response at all. After 2 months I got a reply to the PM I'd sent out, saying something cryptic like 'what was in the package exactly' and I wrote back describing the package but haven't received a reply yet. I've obtained the Papaver sp. independently anyhow so not concerned at all about the failure of Dead-Eye-Dick to not honour his side of the bargain.

But yeah it's all cool. The pain has been instructive

Sorry dude. I guess a note ontop would have been a good idea.

I wrapped them so that they wouldnt stick you.. LOL.. murphy's law.

I guess there were some glochids left or they wouldnt have got stuck in your hand.

As for removal they will usualy get infected after a few days then pop out along with the puss, other options are to use something like magnoplasm (sp?), pick it out with a pin/scalple/tweezers or squeeze it out with your nails.

Thier leaves had been picked off because they are cuttings and the tip leaves had dried up outside after a few hot windy days on the balcony. dont worry though they will take off like champs, no problems, stick them in a glass of water with 1cm of water in it till they root. (some 'plant starter' would be good too)

Im sorry you seem to be unhappy, I tried to contact you to talk to you about it but you didnt reply to either of my PM's.

Generaly speaking free stuff trades tend to take a little longer to send out than other trades and I have been treating a root mealy infestation and leaf miner on my pereskio's and wanted to make sure you didnt get any nasty suprises along with your cuttings so they had been quarantined for a while.