A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Cactus

This may seem silly, but it is a problem.

After moving around some of my plants my cactus was falling and for some reason I grabbed it

These things are tough to get out and just wondering if there is any advice to helping this problem out. Basically my 4 fingers on my left hand some are really in there.

YIKES! That's gotta hurt!

Thing is....the only way to get them out...is to pull them out. You will probably need someone (with a steady hand) to do this for you. A very fine tweezer will work just as well as the splinter remover we use in the ER....but....don't worry....if you miss a few, your body will (over time) push them to the surface. Just watch for signs of infection.

Good luck!

Foreign Body Removal.

See: http://www.hypertension-consult.com/Secure/textbookarticles/Textbook/131_foreignbody.htm

Scroll (down) to cactus Spines

Golden K,
That post brought back some memories for me!!
YIKES!!!!

I worked in the restaurant business for 16+ years,
and have composted for almost as many,
and one restaurant down the street from my work place would leave me big boxes of kitchen scraps to feed to my bunnies and compost!!!

He'd leave me some great stuff!!

But one night out side, there'd been an extra stuff sitting there on top of my stuff for me,
and low and behold it was a gorgeous cactus,
OOooooh!! So neat I thought!!! I went in and
I had a few cocktails with him and he told me the story of how he had gotten it. So I then preceeded to pack my car and go home with all my goodies!!!

I got home and took all my stuff out at the barn,
and drove up the driveway and got out of the car
and got my purse, and work stuff and got into the back seat and picked up my new prize and as I was
swinging the door shut, the plant, being a bit too top heavy and very dry dirt, preceeded to plop over, and wellllllllllllllll of course, what's the first reaction when something falls over????????

It should have been to THROW IT AS FAR AS POSSIBLE,
IS WHAT IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN!!!

OH MY GOSH!!!! I knew I'd wake up in worse shape than I was in~in the first place!!!
I don't remember exactly how long it was, I'll say almost 2 hours of getting everyone of them out.

But I have learned my lesson... TRUST ME!!!
If a cactus starts to fall over in front of me,
I watch it go PLOP!!!

Thanks for the memories!!! LOL

Weezie

Oh, I just used a pointy ended pair of tweezers,
did I mention, one, by one, by one, by one, by one, by one, by one................ :rolleyes:

Yikes Papito....I read that link you gave. Hmmm....must be an American one right? Lots of differences here....not to mention....a FB could be anything from a speck of dust to a bullet. Many FB's are removed by the lowly ER nurse...but the doc gets all the credit.

LOL Weezie, that helps reading that. I think I still have 3 to go and was told to use this disgusting stuff. I'll just wait for it to go by themselves.

Papito, thanks for the memories Zippers

GoldenK,
What was the discusting stuff???

My father~in~law swears by VICK'S VAPOR RUB
for drawing out stuff like that and silvers....
I havent' personally used it, but that side of the family does and says it works great.

I put some one effected area and cover with a
band~aid so the sheets, socks, whatever doesn't
get all that goop on it!!!

Maybe some of our nurses could also add some
tricks?????????????????????????????????????

Weezie

DUCT TAPE!!!!!
The adhesive is soooo agressive that many times you can slap on a hunk of it, rip it off....

....also, if it's under the skin...a milk-soaked bread poltice will draw it out overnite

How do you make one of those Jillie???

Weezie

GoldenK, I hope you get them all out okay...

And weezie!!! OUCH!!!!!! That had to be painful!!!!! If I ever get a cactus, and it's about to fall I'm not going to grab it--no way!!!!! :p

You know Loz, it's a natural reaction when
something falls,
I knew better, but, just couldn't connect it fast enough,
that I shoulda just let it go PLOP!!

The reactions are quicker than my brain,
I guess in some cases that's good.
Considering my brain somedays.

Weezie

Weez, you just take a slice of torn-up white bread, pour enuf whole milk on it to get it smooshy, but not drippy. Place it on the splinter & cover it with one of those really large bandaids, & wear it overnight. It helped bring a euphorbia thorn outta the bottom of my foot last summer (it's an old remedy from my Grammie)

You know Jillie,
sometimes, those are the best kind!
Weezie

It's called a drying savv that only Eckerd's had. They even said it was called off of the shelves, but had their version of it. Also said 'Boilease' wasn't the same as it used to be. It's black, smells like bad tar, very strong, and I kept it on for a day. It did something 'cause the pains all gone from where I put it.

Back to the butterfly gardening

I always used some good and sticky bubble gum... Press it on, pull 'em out!

Speaking of cactuses I bought a packet of seeds today and just finished planting them....I've never saw cactus seeds before so I was excited.....I keep telling myself, if one of them falls--DO NOT go to catch it!!!!

I started some seeds a few years ago. They germinate fast....and of course grow slowly. I still have 8 of the babies left...some are an inch tall....others are about 3 inches tall. It was fun though....your gonna love it.

flower , I think it will be a ton of fun....I love watching plants grow from seeds, there is something so self rewarding about it....Of course there were quite a few seeds in the packet, I don't need 20 of them so I'll be sharing them with my mom.