Two of my children picked up cactus from a big box store, they each bought the same type. They did not notice right away that the yellow flowers on top were glued on. They do not like this, so want to remove them. These cactus are putting out their own small pink flowers. Is there any way to take off the fake yellow flowers without harming the cactus?



Thank you for any help.

It's iffy. Some are well glued on and rip the cactus' "head" off and some come off easier. I've had success removing some before (removed some flesh in the process, but 6 months later it healed just fine and you wouldn't know it was the same cactus). Others, it practically killed off the top because it removed so much. Positioning of the fake flower seems to make a difference too. Their growth point is in the center, so having it glued slap dab in the center (and glued really well) makes it harder to remove.

I really hate those glued on flowers! You can try to gently twist it off with a tweezer while holding down the cacti with tongs..but it may leave some injury, but the plant will just callus it and heal itself, you can sprinkle a little cinnamon on the wound to lessen fungal entry point. Just ignore the defacing that happens for awhile.

Here is a video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

The glued-on flowers can open/close for months with variances in humidity. They are real flowers, just from other plants. Since they're on there, it's OK to enjoy observing them, even if you'll be glad when they're gone later. That seems like something kids would be into, and part of what they paid for.

Most of them I have seen are certainly not real flowers but man made cheap crap. I am talking about the glued on stuff - not grafted which can be just as hideous. At least in that case, you can rip the grafted top off and have a Dragon Fruit.

http://cactiguide.com/article/...

I recently purchased an Old Man of the Andes from Lowe's that had the glued on straw flowers. I let it sit on the porch for a few days and then was able to use tweezers to remove them without damaging the cactus. I too wish the growers wouldn't do that. It just looks silly.

Aww the cactus itself I bought and it was labeled Strawberry Cactus.. Awesome to finally see another..

The children were so adamant about not having those flowers, they cut off the majority, but left the bottom alone. Thank you all for the replies. We will try the heated Xacto knife when we have time. Life has been a little crazy right now and I want to make sure this is not rushed.

Their plants, their rules! Glad they're proactively making them more like-they-like-'em. The flowers don't need to be attached to the cactus to continue opening/closing, if they are the strawflowers mentioned in the article I linked to.

Chillybean said:The children were so adamant about not having those flowers, they cut off the majority, but left the bottom alone. Thank you all for the replies. We will try the heated Xacto knife when we have time. Life has been a little crazy right now and I want to make sure this is not rushed.

I hate the glued on straw flowers. I was happy to hear that your children are loving plants already. My mom was the one who inspired me. It's great when they get into plants and gardening at a young age. I recently met a fellow who was in his 40's but he had an Adenium that he'd been caring for since he was 8 yrs old.

I recently came across a post on another page, in which a person had written to a cactus grower about these glued-on flowers and copied/pasted the grower's reply. The grower agreed the practice is ridiculous, and they do it only because the 'big box stores' they supply (presumably Lowes, Home Depot, etc) demand it. The reason? Those decorated cacti sell 3x better than the plain ones! The strawflowers are bright and cute and dupe the average, plant-clueless customer into buying the plant.

A store would have to offer the same cacti sans flowers to gauge their ability to compete with the ones with the flowers. I rarely see any unmolested cacti for sale, but regularly see the glued-flower ones. Basing a business model on duping the clueless should be too embarrassing and bothersome to the conscience to do, yet some people do anyway.

I also do not understand why they don't put a cute little label about enjoying the other plants' borrowed flower, watching it open/close with fluctuations in humidity, until the young cactus can produce some of its' own. With positive & honest spin, they could probably sell even more.

And they could also sell the plants that make the flowers that people seem to love so much.