As a native South Texan , most of us have taken our Mesquite and cactus landscape for granted. I had no idea that this ecosystem was unique. It does sadden me to know it’s disappearing , but maybe your information will catch the attention of the right people . For me , I was very happy to find out that a cactus I bought at a local Dallas nursery was one you featured here : Mammalaria Heyderri. I will be taking special care of this one👍🏻
I live in Laredo Texas and plan to stick my foot in conservation efforts for our thornscrub would love to meet you someday maybe we can work together to get these beautiful landscapes back!
As a conservator of Aloe melanacantha, Cylindropuntia hystrix, Melocactus Aureus, Stenocactus multicostatis Inermis, American Chestnut, Chinquapin, and Xenotoca daodroi: you're an absolute inspiration! These videos are invaluable and have helped me keep up my passion for my projects. Thank you so much for making them!!
In Australia they have been marketing manfreda x agave hybrids as “mangaves” and from what I can tell, are at that early stage of finding interesting forms to breed out.
God Damn You... Please keep going strong! Many, many people ALL AROUND THE WORLD hear you and take it all to heart... You are speaking the words of angels... God Bless You...
My family is from Catorce in San Luis Potosi Mexico and the plants they have, the most interesting would be lophophora williamsi, astrophyta asterias, Larrea tridentata (for kidney stones) and they also got those huge agaves all westward toward Zacatecas
I'm in central Texas and we are just now getting cooler weather and dew in the morning. The deer are everywhere. Prickly pear cactus fruit are a beautiful purple.
I love these videos from where I grew up in S. Texas but they also depress me because I've seen the changes when I go back and spend time. It's been gradual enough that it's only in the last few years that my friends who still live there have realized how rapid the rate of change has become. The terrain where I live in western Virginia is too mountainous for exothermic rates of human sprawl but even here there are once common things that you now have to go look for. I heard a couple of kids talking about frogs recently and was saddened when it became clear they had only ever seen a couple in their whole lives.
Could you do a video on the ultramafic soils in the montaintops of Borneo? E.g, Kinabalu, Murud, Trus Madi, etc. It'll probably be an expensive trip for you, but I'd love to see your reactions to all the endemic montane vegetation found here.
I hiked Mt. Kinabalu in 2019. I stopped to look at plants so many times I almost missed dinner at the hostel near the summit. Definitely worth doing, and it would probably be cheaper than his trip to New Caledonia. The only problem with Mt. K is that the hikes are guided to prevent plant poaching and falling off of cliffs; I don't know if that would work with his style or not. I went in middle of tourist season for people from China, and the trails were packed, so I'd advise going in the rainy season. Might see one of the giant leeches that way too.
There's an empty plot of land in front of my house that can't really be used for anything and it upsets me that they keep mowing it and clearing it. I wanna try talking to my city and see if it could be used as a small conservation ground.
My family had a book about cactus titled "What Kind of Cactus Izzat?" It was by illustrator, Reg Manning, 1941. (Who Is who in the desert) His cartoons of cactus was entertaining but also informative. I loved that book. It's been reprinted. Would be fun if you found your own copy and went through the various desert plants he talks about and finding the living plants. Feral pigs are such a problem around the world. I was reading about the Kanaele Bog, Kauai, Hawaii and how they had to fence it off to keep pigs from destroying it. There doesn't seem to be much choice about controlling them except trapping and hunting.
found an uprooted M. heyderi about half an hour north of there on a derelict section of San Antonio Viejo. Potted it and it puts out beautiful flowers and fruit once in a while
I hadn’t been to my family’s land in Riviera, TX in 25 years. It used to be completely covered in cactus. Today we went to check the place out, and there was absolutely zero cactus. It blew my mind. Can’t believe it.
Maybe can get some high school volunteers if they have to do for graduation, diversion program, probationers and or parolees doing some community service out there? Would be an interesting mission for someone to lead is my thought if no one else is serious or able.
Nick Volte in Australia is becoming a bit despondent with the harm the buffel is doing. Recently said he feels he's no longer recording nature to celebrate but rather to make a record of what we once had. So tragic. That cacti name reminded me that I saw recently that the majority of latin names of flora and fauna in colonial lands are named after european guys.
think "enslaving is bit harsh of a way to put it lol It's a far more mutually beneficial relationship. but i love the crass way you describe everything
I appreciate the closer look at buffel grass, but I don't know if I can discern it from other grass, yet. Is this the same grass we see on the sides of the highways and in school yards?
Yes, the old buffel grass took over the newly "discovered" pastoral rangelands of Australia, during colonisation. These places were prized for the native grasses, etc. But the altered management system ( from subsistence to commerce) unbalanced the ecosystem, concurrent to the near destruction of the oldest culture's on Earth. A fitting metaphor, for race relations in Australia.
Please save this place. This footage makes me so sad, it's an absolute tragedy. I am crying over this ecocide! Powerless to support this ecosystem. A fence and a small swale. Please come together, Rewild for life. It's our duty to repair the land for future generations. F*ck the government
One wonders why the pigs don't uproot and eat the bufflegrass which would seem to be an easier target than the cacti. Maybe the bufflegrass tastes bad or they are looking for the water stored in the cactus?
Sounds like it's time for a bar-b-que with pulled pork. I worked at a rural resort that had a pig farm with poor fencing nearby. Amazing the damage a few pigs can do.
Excuse my adhd if you already said, but how did the buffelgrass get there? You mean humans put it there to feed cattle? And how do the pigs eat the cactus with all those spikes?
Ranchers brought them it in because since it is more productive in terms of forage as nothing native attacks or eats it aside from the rancher's cattle which is also exotic. In AZ, it was also planted for erosion years ago.
@@anotherhuman8211 Cogon grass similar story here in FL. I want to try elephants, small ones, because they yank grass up by the roots. Long grass. If I could live another lifetime it would be with some elephants removing grass that burns too hot for the pines and hardwoods.
@@ROTALOT Nice. What is a small elephant? Do you think we could breed them like mini-horses and let them into our living rooms and teach them to hold our cell phones without dropping them?
You realize the majority of wildlife can't eat grass, right? Do they teach you in school about the kind of stomach flora (bacteria that is) that are required to break down grass? Do you have any concept of the fact that the majority of animals and insect species can't eat grass? These are rhetorical questions. I don't expect an answer. I'm just kind of amazed by the level of simplicity in your thinking here.
@@alphaomega8373 comment and troll all you want but deer didn't evolve with buffel grass dummy. It's useless for wildlife and wipes out far more than it feeds. I can't help you that was your public education systems job and it sounds like they failed.
I inherited buffelgrass as ornamental grass pieces at my farm, I split them several times this year. The seeds are asshole burs with a thorn. It hasn't been aggressive in our zone, as far as I know. Fuck buckthorn have a nice day
It's ridiculous. Deserts are deserts because of elements beyond human control , like Hadley cells and rain shadows. They're to be embraced for the cool animals and plants that have evolved in them. Completely impractical to try to control them or make them something else.
So I had to google Hadley cells and rain shadows. Lol. But I get your point. I find it interesting to a degree. But ultimately agree that it’s best to leave shit alone and let it do its own thing. I’ve also always been fond of desert plants and animals. They all look so cool. Thanks for the reply man.
Food for pollinators, fruit is food for birds, they harbor beneficial am mycorrhizae and bacteria on their roots, they hold the soil together, prevent erosion, and literally a metric fuck ton of other benefits that most of us don't see because we are ecologically blind
Well that was fuckin' depressing... it's gotta be torture to ne a botanist in some of these places. Having to watch entire habitats going to shit in front of yer eyes... bummer.
The mixed forest has few blackberries that persist. I seem to have blackberry flavonoids produced in-vitro, get this ..by feeding Psilocybe allenii, inputs I thought it might like. The first solution had decaying fruiting bodies but I kept the concentrate for further experiments. I also seem to be enjoying the banana from a specific fungal chemotype, again, metabolising in-vitro. The banana was a cleaner culture, with bulk stirred-in ingredients forming metabolites.
As a native South Texan , most of us have taken our Mesquite and cactus landscape for granted. I had no idea that this ecosystem was unique. It does sadden me to know it’s disappearing , but maybe your information will catch the attention of the right people . For me , I was very happy to find out that a cactus I bought at a local Dallas nursery was one you featured here : Mammalaria Heyderri.
I will be taking special care of this one👍🏻
I live in Laredo Texas and plan to stick my foot in conservation efforts for our thornscrub would love to meet you someday maybe we can work together to get these beautiful landscapes back!
🥰👍👍
I'm from Nuevo Laredo, Mx. It's very sad to watch our Tamaulipan thornscrub being destroyed by urban developments...
@@klawdyarv847 La gente no ve lo que tiene alrededor de ellos, es una magia única. Gusto en saludarte!
Act Now
It would be funny to watch Tony play geoguessr and utilize his botany knowledge.
When you squish us we ooze a red pigment as well!
Keep up the good message Tony. I'll be doing my part by helping collect seeds up here outside Toledo for the nature conservancy tomorrow morning.
❤
As a conservator of Aloe melanacantha, Cylindropuntia hystrix, Melocactus Aureus, Stenocactus multicostatis Inermis, American Chestnut, Chinquapin, and Xenotoca daodroi: you're an absolute inspiration!
These videos are invaluable and have helped me keep up my passion for my projects. Thank you so much for making them!!
engaging for the algorithm... and to hold my seat so i can watch this tomorrow
Lt. Aldo Raine on cactus conservation "You each owe me 100 feral snouts! And I want my snouts"
Better than foreskins, I guess.
In Australia they have been marketing manfreda x agave hybrids as “mangaves” and from what I can tell, are at that early stage of finding interesting forms to breed out.
God Damn You... Please keep going strong! Many, many people ALL AROUND THE WORLD hear you and take it all to heart... You are speaking the words of angels... God Bless You...
My family is from Catorce in San Luis Potosi Mexico and the plants they have, the most interesting would be lophophora williamsi, astrophyta asterias, Larrea tridentata (for kidney stones) and they also got those huge agaves all westward toward Zacatecas
I'm in central Texas and we are just now getting cooler weather and dew in the morning. The deer are everywhere. Prickly pear cactus fruit are a beautiful purple.
It's the most beautiful time of year in the state
I love these videos from where I grew up in S. Texas but they also depress me because I've seen the changes when I go back and spend time. It's been gradual enough that it's only in the last few years that my friends who still live there have realized how rapid the rate of change has become.
The terrain where I live in western Virginia is too mountainous for exothermic rates of human sprawl but even here there are once common things that you now have to go look for.
I heard a couple of kids talking about frogs recently and was saddened when it became clear they had only ever seen a couple in their whole lives.
Great episode, much nicer than any strip mall I've ever seen
At first I thought he said strip hole. Sounds like one of those gentlemen's clubs down by the docks.
Ive been disappointed to se less and less heyderii over the years. Also have been curious about that algea.
You know it's serious when fences and hunting get the stamp of approval.
More quality information. Food for my brain. Thanks
Could you do a video on the ultramafic soils in the montaintops of Borneo? E.g, Kinabalu, Murud, Trus Madi, etc. It'll probably be an expensive trip for you, but I'd love to see your reactions to all the endemic montane vegetation found here.
I hiked Mt. Kinabalu in 2019. I stopped to look at plants so many times I almost missed dinner at the hostel near the summit. Definitely worth doing, and it would probably be cheaper than his trip to New Caledonia. The only problem with Mt. K is that the hikes are guided to prevent plant poaching and falling off of cliffs; I don't know if that would work with his style or not. I went in middle of tourist season for people from China, and the trails were packed, so I'd advise going in the rainy season. Might see one of the giant leeches that way too.
i am there at least weekly. The javelinas are numerous. Many other native plants and wildlife are there.
That's the language I have been looking for, shifting baselines. Unfortunately, it's quite an entrenched mindset...
Good video sir! These habitats are worth saving.
Mammillaria Heyderii is one of the most common cactus here in my town, also echinocactus poselgeri...
There's an empty plot of land in front of my house that can't really be used for anything and it upsets me that they keep mowing it and clearing it. I wanna try talking to my city and see if it could be used as a small conservation ground.
GO FOR IT, & GET AS MANY FOLK INVOLVED AS YOU CAN,
BEST WISHES & KINDEST REGARDS, IM CERTAIN WITH PLENTY OF PRESSURE THEM PEN-PUSHERS WILL YIELD!!
Do it!!!
Please do this and get back to use with updates :)
My family had a book about cactus titled "What Kind of Cactus Izzat?" It was by illustrator, Reg Manning, 1941. (Who Is who in the desert) His cartoons of cactus was entertaining but also informative. I loved that book. It's been reprinted. Would be fun if you found your own copy and went through the various desert plants he talks about and finding the living plants.
Feral pigs are such a problem around the world. I was reading about the Kanaele Bog, Kauai, Hawaii and how they had to fence it off to keep pigs from destroying it. There doesn't seem to be much choice about controlling them except trapping and hunting.
I was in the TXCC buffel grass gave me nightmares for years
Sucks about the declining habitat. That was interesting to see. Thanks!
found an uprooted M. heyderi about half an hour north of there on a derelict section of San Antonio Viejo. Potted it and it puts out beautiful flowers and fruit once in a while
I hadn’t been to my family’s land in Riviera, TX in 25 years. It used to be completely covered in cactus. Today we went to check the place out, and there was absolutely zero cactus. It blew my mind. Can’t believe it.
Thanks!
Maybe can get some high school volunteers if they have to do for graduation, diversion program, probationers and or parolees doing some community service out there? Would be an interesting mission for someone to lead is my thought if no one else is serious or able.
The gunshots sound enough like raindrops on the umbrella that I wouldn't have noticed if you didn't mention it.
Thanks!!
Thank you!
Nick Volte in Australia is becoming a bit despondent with the harm the buffel is doing. Recently said he feels he's no longer recording nature to celebrate but rather to make a record of what we once had. So tragic.
That cacti name reminded me that I saw recently that the majority of latin names of flora and fauna in colonial lands are named after european guys.
I miss the mesquite groves but now have sand live oaks Quercus geminata to champion.
buffelgrass sounds a lot like the human species. ;-)
Sad seeing places get completely messed up by invasives
Opuntia Whatever its a pain in the ass..as I remember from living in TUcson…oh yeah and thanks for all the info!!😊
The buffle grass has invaded Australia too! Ruining the native plants and reptile population in central Australia
think "enslaving is bit harsh of a way to put it lol It's a far more mutually beneficial relationship. but i love the crass way you describe everything
I appreciate the closer look at buffel grass, but I don't know if I can discern it from other grass, yet. Is this the same grass we see on the sides of the highways and in school yards?
Yes, the old buffel grass took over the newly "discovered" pastoral rangelands of Australia, during colonisation. These places were prized for the native grasses, etc. But the altered management system ( from subsistence to commerce) unbalanced the ecosystem, concurrent to the near destruction of the oldest culture's on Earth.
A fitting metaphor, for race relations in Australia.
Did you hear any of those crazy Grackles? I've seen them a lot around mesquite trees.
Yeah they're mobbing the power lines around the car slums and strip malls right now
:) new CPbBD!
:( is sad...
keep spreading the good word
I miss the days when every square foot of TX countryside didn't have shooting going on 24/7.
Oh Tony.😍
Please save this place. This footage makes me so sad, it's an absolute tragedy. I am crying over this ecocide! Powerless to support this ecosystem.
A fence and a small swale. Please come together, Rewild for life.
It's our duty to repair the land for future generations.
F*ck the government
Here’s something a little different……how about video on Ferdinand Lindheimer, our father of Texas botany.
When you coming back down to Hidalgo County?
One wonders why the pigs don't uproot and eat the bufflegrass which would seem to be an easier target than the cacti. Maybe the bufflegrass tastes bad or they are looking for the water stored in the cactus?
I would guess the grass is poor in nutrients.
How does the buffle grass start to take over?
Is sad seeing the habitat being destroyed 😢
Rate, and comment.
Sounds like it's time for a bar-b-que with pulled pork. I worked at a rural resort that had a pig farm with poor fencing nearby. Amazing the damage a few pigs can do.
Surprised the gun range doesn't host a wild pig hunt.
5:58 is that an Olive Sparrow?
Excuse my adhd if you already said, but how did the buffelgrass get there? You mean humans put it there to feed cattle? And how do the pigs eat the cactus with all those spikes?
The hogs dig the cactus up, in order to eat the roots.
Ranchers brought them it in because since it is more productive in terms of forage as nothing native attacks or eats it aside from the rancher's cattle which is also exotic. In AZ, it was also planted for erosion years ago.
@@anotherhuman8211 Cogon grass similar story here in FL. I want to try elephants, small ones, because they yank grass up by the roots. Long grass. If I could live another lifetime it would be with some elephants removing grass that burns too hot for the pines and hardwoods.
@@ROTALOT Nice. What is a small elephant? Do you think we could breed them like mini-horses and let them into our living rooms and teach them to hold our cell phones without dropping them?
Next it will be invasive elephants eating all the native grasses haha
People literally shooting right next to you?! 💀
The more grass the more wildlife, the more food.
You realize the majority of wildlife can't eat grass, right? Do they teach you in school about the kind of stomach flora (bacteria that is) that are required to break down grass? Do you have any concept of the fact that the majority of animals and insect species can't eat grass?
These are rhetorical questions. I don't expect an answer. I'm just kind of amazed by the level of simplicity in your thinking here.
@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt There are loads of different grasses some call weeds, I watch deer eat almost every morning, Have great day.
@@alphaomega8373 comment and troll all you want but deer didn't evolve with buffel grass dummy. It's useless for wildlife and wipes out far more than it feeds. I can't help you that was your public education systems job and it sounds like they failed.
Tricky part about eliminating invasive plants: the seed bed.
I inherited buffelgrass as ornamental grass pieces at my farm, I split them several times this year. The seeds are asshole burs with a thorn. It hasn't been aggressive in our zone, as far as I know.
Fuck buckthorn have a nice day
The seeds aren't burs. This grass isn't freeze tolerant. Sounds like you have it confused with something else.
@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt I believe I have cenchrus polystacios. God damn common names ruining diversity appreciation.
Yeah buffel grass is horrible, I’ve seen forests taken over by it.
In an earlier video you mentioned something about mesquite being an entheogen. What?
What’s your opinion on desert reforestation?
It's ridiculous. Deserts are deserts because of elements beyond human control , like Hadley cells and rain shadows. They're to be embraced for the cool animals and plants that have evolved in them. Completely impractical to try to control them or make them something else.
So I had to google Hadley cells and rain shadows. Lol. But I get your point. I find it interesting to a degree. But ultimately agree that it’s best to leave shit alone and let it do its own thing. I’ve also always been fond of desert plants and animals. They all look so cool. Thanks for the reply man.
Texians have been forbidden from erecting fencing any where near the border.
*"Texians"? Also, this is patently false lol
@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt You live in Texas and have never heard of us?
what exactly is the purpose of the small cactuses. what eats them what do they shelter
Food for pollinators, fruit is food for birds, they harbor beneficial am mycorrhizae and bacteria on their roots, they hold the soil together, prevent erosion, and literally a metric fuck ton of other benefits that most of us don't see because we are ecologically blind
Well that was fuckin' depressing... it's gotta be torture to ne a botanist in some of these places. Having to watch entire habitats going to shit in front of yer eyes... bummer.
The mixed forest has few blackberries that persist. I seem to have blackberry flavonoids produced in-vitro, get this ..by feeding Psilocybe allenii, inputs I thought it might like. The first solution had decaying fruiting bodies but I kept the concentrate for further experiments. I also seem to be enjoying the banana from a specific fungal chemotype, again, metabolising in-vitro. The banana was a cleaner culture, with bulk stirred-in ingredients forming metabolites.
A Sticky Fingaz swapped with Clarence bit... @ 4 minutes
DJ 13 - POCKET DJ Summer Mixes (64-Bit) 15 7 2023 Mix 4 [ONE TAKE, NO EDIT] ua-cam.com/video/y9ZVysnEHdw/v-deo.html
Could goats or something eat the grass but leave the spikey stuff alone?
Probably not unfortunately.. requires human hands.
@@CrimePaysButBotanyDoesnt Selective burning? Slow it's spread, choke it out?