Portable spiky friends!

[n00dle]

I think this would look real great with a peyote in it ;)

Iwantoneofthose.com

[zee_werp]

WTF? Man, it really gets to me how some companies choose to view and treat cacti like plastic ornaments. Just today I went to this new 'Mega' department store that opened up to check out their cactus selection....I nearly fucking spewed when I saw them, cacti that would normally sell for $4 at another department store (from the same source nursery, I recognise their strains), thrown into glossy glazed pots ON ANGLES (i.e. the 'soil' was at a 35 degree or so angle), literally GLUED into their pots. The soil looked like white sand but when I touched it it was actually a hard layer of plastic completely sealing them in. All this for just $16.99. FUCK!! I went and expressed my digsust to the garden department manager. I told her where to source them direct, minus the shity pots that they are glued in to. She agreed that they were shit, so hopefully next time they won't get them. I honestly wanted to go grab some regular terra cotta pots and some soil and repot all the poor little guys, though i'd literally have to chisel them from their pots.

Then there's the stories of the ones in the states with plastic flowers hot-glued onto them.

[n00dle]

holy crap dude, it's a cute thing. nobody forced you to buy it. i thought it would be cool to put your -own- peyote in this so that you could carry it around and take care of it, not using the stock plant.

I mean, i had a little mobile garden for a while that went places with me, about 4 san pedro's.. it was cool..

The people here know how to care for plants and love them too. Its just a container. The love comes from the person, not the container, or the place you bought it. I thought that was a pretty obvious

You can still water them. I like em :D its a cool idea, so nyeh.

Edited April 1, 2006 by n00dle

[Agamemnon]

Yeah, that's pretty cool nOOdle, I reckon I could swing that on my key thingys! Seems a little overpriced tho..Im just wondering if you couldnt mod something similar at a fraction of the price?

[zee_werp]

I suppose it depends on why you like cacti and want to grow them. I like to treat my plants with respect, whatever genus or species they may be. Key rings get knocked around, put in your pocket, left in the sun, whatever. After a month of ordinary use, the 'dome' would be all scratched up, the dirt would have leaked out and the plant will most likely be baked to death from the high temperatures occuring in the dome.

The idea of putting a loph in one of those just seems so contrived..."look at how cool I am with my peyote keyring"...will it be the next latest trend to hit the ethnobotany scene? Hahaha.

I realise all this may come across as a little 'abraisive', but I honestly just think that this kind of shit is a lame way of making money. I know no one forced me to buy one, and I won't be...I was just voicing my own opinion on this tacky piece of consumerist BS...

[n00dle]

I treat my plants with respect too. It doesn't mean you can't laugh at something and go 'heh cool'. I think you're taking this a bit too emotionally.. Perhaps you should get a jade keyring instead

[zee_werp]

If I actually thought it was cool, then I would say 'heh cool' but I don't. I'm not saying that I'm gonna give you shit personally if you chose to buy one, or anyone else for that matter, but I really just think it is a tacky, and inconvenient way to kill a nice little cactus.

I am probably taking it 'emotionally' since it was just today that I got all wound up over those ones I saw glued into their pots. It just doesn't sit right with me.

Maybe one day I will make a jade keyring...for now I just use exactly that...a key ring...as a key ring. Cheap, simple, and effective. No cactus cruelty involved! *gets to work screen printing SPCC&S patches* hahahaaa

[planthelper]

the poor cacti, most of them will die very fast, thats plant crulety.

that's so low, just to make a bob, the poor cacti has to suffer.

time to form a plant respite association.

[Agamemnon]

Yep, I can can certainly see and agree with your point of view Zee werp..fu** thats bad glueing cacti to get extra sales!

I totally agree that's consumerism gone mad. As is the cactus keyring. The dudes that designed that couldnt give a toss whataever cacti they squeezed in there..as long as they got the payola!

But for me, to carry the sacred peyote with something I use often is a symbol of my beliefs and outlook, much the same as christians carry the crucifix

Unlike the usncrupulous capitalists who foister such goods upon the consumerist masses, I would nurture my lopho till she outgrew her chamber (of my own construction), whereupon she would be repotted to a higher plain!

Edited April 1, 2006 by Agamemnon

[zee_werp]

Maybe we should sell some TBM's on ebay as 'living dildoes'. We could even make some sealed off plastic bits for the root mass shaped like a ball sack!

[n00dle]

10 admire concept

if concept not work then

goto 10

[zee_werp]

But for me, to carry the sacred peyote with something I use often is a symbol of my beliefs and outlook, much the same as christians carry the crucifix

What, are you saying you want to kill and torture your peyote like Jesus on the cross? hahaa

A crucifix is DEAD...it is a symbol of Jesus, not the real thing. Do you think that if Jesus came back as a little dude 1 inch tall, that a true christian would think 'Hey, now I can chuck that little guy in a key chain. That way I can take my saviour with me everywhere and I can use him to start up my SUV! It won't matter if he gets a little beat up, I'm sure he'll be just fine in a little plastic bubble. And whats more, all the folks down at church will think that's really cute and neat!!'

Edited April 1, 2006 by zee_werp

[Agamemnon]

Oh dear! The christian example was just one of many zee werp. Would the maoris carrying their own patrticular symbols(bone carvings) be politically correct? Or perhaps the tribes in south america who follow the Ayahusca road? I understand your objection to the commercial suggestion of a vehicle to carry something thati is respected by our community.

Think of chakra stones...crystals dangling from aware peoples necks...prayer wheels from tibet....diifferent people and cultures expresing their view of the world by SYMBOLISM.....essential, intrinsic to all human societies! But most important of all, respect diversity of views!

[zee_werp]

Exactly, symbolism. The point I was trying to make was that christians don't go around carrying a mini Jesus in a plastic bubble, just like how I personally would not carry a living peyote around in a plastic bubble. I would consider using a key ring of a carved representation of a peyote though, if I were so inclined as to use a more fancy key ring to my current 'key ring'.

I 100% respect differing views, any human has the right to use symbolism, the only thing I am 'anti' here is the key chains. Get one if you want. I'd encourage you to if it will make you feel more spiritually connected. But my guess is that the plant will either be dead after a month, or else the effort required to acutally prevent it from dying will make the key chain absurdly impractical (you better be turnin' on that ignition nice and slowly!)

Edited April 1, 2006 by zee_werp

[Salviador]

Imho, a cactus in existance is better than a cactus not in existance. That particular cactus in the key ring would not have existed because there would have been no need to fill that keyring. I like the idea because the keyring, for me, would trigger calming, exotic, sacred thoughts whilst stuck in traffic or at my desk.