Excellent video, Manuel, and thank you for spreading the word and also for all your passion on this sad topic of plant poaching! Sadly, with the enormously grown global popularity of cacti over the past decade or so, unfortunately also the threat to their natural habitats via poaching has grown enormously. It is the shared responsibility of all of us cacti growers to keep educating each other (and also newcomers to our hobby) about how vital it is to ONLY purchase plants that are seed-grown by legit or official growers and nurseries, or even better to grow them ourselves from seeds coming off plants already raised and grown in cultivation. Otherwise we will experience, in our lifetimes, the same demise of these plant populations as of so many other, now extinct plant and animal species on our planet. Thanks again for this video and for sharing!
Thank you for spreading awareness on how bad poaching is for wild plants. You are right, nature is for everyone, and it’s really selfish to take these beautiful cacti from their natural habitat. Subscribed!
Hi, i am following your channel since a few weeks. What a great video’s👍🏻 especially because you keep repeating the importance of conservation! This video is really usefull for beginners and experienced growers. In the Netherlands where i am from. There are a lot of people growing cacti from seed. This so we can overfload the market with seed grown specimens for a low price. (I give mine away for free). Thats seems to work because in my years of collecting i neven came across a poach specimen in the netherlands. I am sure also here there will be some. But not as much. Hope you keep up the great work you do and keep informing people about the beaty and importance of cacti and there nature!
Hi Danny, that’s really great to hear. I know many countries in Europe are very advanced at cultivation and it makes me really happy that you guys are doing that on the other side of the world. It really makes a huge difference for these plants and ultimately our planet.
Thanks for educating people about this problem. Poaching tells so much about an individuals morals and view on the world and it just makes me sad and angry. There's plenty of seed vendors and people cultivating plants (from seed) to buy from here in the US. Respect for life in every form doesn't take much effort at all, just a little extra thought. Love your videos, keep it up man!
Props for protecting the plants and their habitat, I'm glad people like you are discrete about this. These plants belong in nature first, I'm lucky to have good shops in The Netherlands and plenty of seed grown cacti so I can enjoy some specimens at home :)
for salvaged vs poached, the only time I'd believe someone if they say a plant was salvaged is if they were giving it away. someone once gave me an A. fissuratus. that person said they salvaged it from a construction site. its hard for me to doubt them as they didn't sell it to me. in fact, it cost him money since he paid for the shipping. the plant is doing fine btw and has flowered a few times over the years i've had it. i've collected a lot of seeds from it too. though, i have yet to sprout any of the seeds. life sometimes gets in the way.
Hi Miguel😊🙌Sorry I think I said 'Manuel' again in the last post😅I agree and think your episode on poaching cacti was excellent. I agree that even if an authority salvages poached cacti it doesn't help at all to sell them because it once again puts a dollar value on them. I truly hope that poached cacti will be devalued for being unworthy of cultivation because they are unsuited for collections and that more people will have good morals and avoid poached cacti. Thanks again Miguel😊🙏
So many poached Uebelmania pectinifera and Aztekium ritteri on Ebay right now. Absolutely heartbreaking. I've luckily been able to bid on a few that are clearly not poached seedlings, but it still enrages me seeing the $3,000 clusters of scarred Uebelmania and $300 sun bleached ritteri
Hi Manuel. I fully endorse wat your mesegs r about. I can't help wonder at d bounty and beauty God has endowed us on earth, even in d most inhospitable places!! U've been able, thru your videos, to educate us about it, esp about d unscrupulous blackmarket trade. B4 watching your videos, I didn't even know abt dis problem! Because d cacti I buy r always cultivated ones(how d vendors cultivate them I wouldn't know). To think dat people r prepared to buy frm d blackmarket jus to show off their'collection' of 'rare' cacti to me is reprehensible. I can empathise with your sense of distress wen coming across evidence of d rape of God given nature jus to feed such egos. Pls continue your good work. ❤
I just started collecting cactus cause of you're videos my brotha thanks for the helpful info when i start buying other cactus besides lowes and homedepot ones lol
What should we look for when we buy cactus? I like to buy plants in trips but wanna be sure they’re not poached. I don’t know enough to identify seed grown vs. wild poached.
@@RareCactusthanks. I’d like to see video showing the traits of a seed grown plant. As you go through each trait mention what would be different in a wild poached specimen. It’ll help to have a visual.
It’s sad that people poach Copiapoa. There gonna die after a few months because they got RIPPED out of the ground! Just get a nursery grown tiny seedling and get the fulfillment of growing it to a large size!
Just a question out of curiosity. If I see a seedpod from the habitat, grab that seedpod and cultivate that as my own, do you consider that poaching? (Not like I can do that anyway because I live several timezones away lol) Thanks for the very informative video, BTW!
Id say to an extent. Crime pays does it. Hes grown many field collected seeds. And most of the cacti in greenhouses and stuff are all originally from a field collected seed pod. Thats how i see it but some people might still view it as poaching so
I believe he grows plants in general from field seed, but not slow growing endangered cacti which in my opinion should be left alone since they don’t produce much seed to spare. Maybe 20-30 seed per plant.
nursery can have a similar cactus for less price at your country. i think the only "luxury" that buyers wants to have, is the "natural look". but they don't know that the plant cannot acclimate and it will die. also, i think there is "harsh growing" technique in nursery which replicate the "natural look" of cacti in their habitat?. So you don't have an excuse to purchase poaches cacti? personally, all the problem revolve around money, who buy and who sell, so if we were to spread the message, educate the buyers, we would have less poaches. which is what made this video and channel so good! from a buyer side of the story, i feel like majority of poached cacti buyers are rich and not informed buyers, so they are tricked into the market of poaching cacti. another way to stop poaching can be "sharing" the species to countries, if they are grown in nursery, they will reach the buyers easier.
In europe before 1980s, many old collectors have imported this plants legally and the plants are now more than 40 years here and i dont think it is wrong to buy the plants which are legally imported years ago. But i agree it is wrong to buy wild plants from poachers
You're assuming every location has a conservatory or something similar to house and take care of these plants. Sometimes the best people to take care of them are the ones who come across them. Otherwise land development will swallow them up and they will be lost to the cultivating world altogether. This is particularly true in my home towns of Florence, AZ and Weslaco, TX where poaching is at an all time high ( in areas deemed nature preserves/national forests ) in those instances it is never okay to rip them from the ground.
The only thing I assume is that people who tell themselves stories to poach and keep cacti, like telling themselves that they're "saving them" are poachers. And looking for special cases to make it seem ok, is nonsensical. Why are some people obsessed with looking for instances in which poaching is ok? Are you a poacher? smh...
@@RareCactus yeah I am, flat out. But again I'm not doing this in sanctuaries or national forests or anything like that. I find them in abandoned buildings in places where they're going to do construction and get torn out anyway. So don't get all high and mighty on me. There are other ways to do things other than your way to conserve our flora, so get off your high horse 👌
@@RareCactus also, you never answered the question of what we're supposed to do if we don't have sanctuaries or places to house these plants safely....go ahead I'll wait 👍
@@davidruiz2474go check your local legislation, what you’re doing isn’t just selfish and ignorant but also illegal. You do have plenty of sanctuaries in the United States, but of course it’s easier to fill up your little garden and tell yourself you’re a conservationist. Like all the other poachers out there. You’re the problem and that’s the reason you’re all bootyhurt about my video. Please keep commenting so UA-cam can know to show this to even more hypocrite poachers like yourself. Couch conservationist.
@@davidruiz2474I’m sure you checked and did everything you could to try and get them to a botanical garden before you took them home and repeated to yourself “I’m saving them” 🤡
Yeah, you're part of the problem YOU have made it clear that there are Dollars to be had for "lazy bums". Out here in the "Habitat", we see them they leave. Most leave hastily, without so much as a by your leave...
Hi, l came across your channel a few months ago. While l congratulate you on your videos and your passion for conservation of cacti and the habitat they grow in. I think you have to be careful about how much you talk about this subject in your videos. Remember you are preaching mostly to the converted. We already know and agree with your position. I'm afraid that your continuous preaching on the evils of poaching will become a 'white noise' to people, and either it will result in people not listening, or not viewing your videos at all. Which will be a shame, because on the whole they are excellent. If you want my advice don't preach about poaching in every single video. Sometimes, let the viewers enjoy these amazing landscapes you bring to us without the subject of habitat destruction. I'm not saying you should stop completely, far from it. Keep up this good work, but l feel that your channel could suffer from the continuous bad news. Let people enjoy the cacti subject sometime without the continuous dark clouds. Yes every now and again do a big video on conservation, it's needed, but let people enjoy the wonderful habitats you bring to us.
What evidence made you come to this conclusion? If anything, conservation brings outsiders in on a cause and brings attention to the wider public who might not even be aware that there is a plight on rare cacti from poaching. This is a strange take.
Thanks for commenting. While the growth of this channel is important to me, the message of not destroying something I’ve grown to love and care for is more important to me than any views lost because some people may not understand the gravity of the situation. I can’t cover up the holes in the ground when I go to remote localities, or my frustration when I see them. People need to be aware of what’s going on out there and if I hide that to get views, I couldn’t live with myself.
i get what your saying, but i think thats your feeling compared his own feelings, enjoyment and want to teach. you dont have to watch of course. i enjoy all the videos and i think he grabbed my attention from this niche. i feel lucky to learn this 1 year into growing and learning.
@tylernaturalist6437 Hi, my evidence is being involved in conservation. In my experience people become apathetic about conservation because rolling back the tide of habitat destruction seems too big, it overwhelms people. Also, people have their own clouds and sometimes they need to see and hear about beauty. The ratio of showing the beauty of the natural world to get people engaged in its conservation, and turning people off is a tricky balance too achieve. In my experience people become war weary about bad news, and they mentally switch off.
🏜Have some here and there iz show it sometime. when I c some iz check it out and will add more dirt around the base if need be even give a drink if Have water
You will never be more proud than to show off a cactus you grew from seed!
That’s very true!!
Not easy at all!
I love and appreciate your cactus conservation videos. Thank you for creating awareness and spreading the passion for cactus.
You are so welcome! Thanks for watching 💚
Your dedication to conservation of these precious cacti is admirable.. thanks for another excellent vid, Manuel 👍
Thanks so much for watching, you’re very welcome 🌵
Excellent video, Manuel, and thank you for spreading the word and also for all your passion on this sad topic of plant poaching! Sadly, with the enormously grown global popularity of cacti over the past decade or so, unfortunately also the threat to their natural habitats via poaching has grown enormously. It is the shared responsibility of all of us cacti growers to keep educating each other (and also newcomers to our hobby) about how vital it is to ONLY purchase plants that are seed-grown by legit or official growers and nurseries, or even better to grow them ourselves from seeds coming off plants already raised and grown in cultivation. Otherwise we will experience, in our lifetimes, the same demise of these plant populations as of so many other, now extinct plant and animal species on our planet. Thanks again for this video and for sharing!
You’re very welcome Joe. As you say, it’s up to us to make a change and save these beauties. Glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for watching
Thank you for spreading awareness on how bad poaching is for wild plants. You are right, nature is for everyone, and it’s really selfish to take these beautiful cacti from their natural habitat. Subscribed!
Hi Vera, welcome and thanks for watching and even more for caring about nature. That’s what’s of most importance. Caring while we still have it 💚🌵
Thank you once again for getting the word out. Inappropriately hard up against your back in supporting you. :)
You’re very welcome, Stan. Thank you for your support!
Hi, i am following your channel since a few weeks. What a great video’s👍🏻 especially because you keep repeating the importance of conservation! This video is really usefull for beginners and experienced growers. In the Netherlands where i am from. There are a lot of people growing cacti from seed. This so we can overfload the market with seed grown specimens for a low price. (I give mine away for free). Thats seems to work because in my years of collecting i neven came across a poach specimen in the netherlands. I am sure also here there will be some. But not as much. Hope you keep up the great work you do and keep informing people about the beaty and importance of cacti and there nature!
Hi Danny, that’s really great to hear. I know many countries in Europe are very advanced at cultivation and it makes me really happy that you guys are doing that on the other side of the world. It really makes a huge difference for these plants and ultimately our planet.
Thanks for educating people about this problem. Poaching tells so much about an individuals morals and view on the world and it just makes me sad and angry. There's plenty of seed vendors and people cultivating plants (from seed) to buy from here in the US. Respect for life in every form doesn't take much effort at all, just a little extra thought. Love your videos, keep it up man!
I definitely agree. Way too many vendors of ethically grown plants to justify buying poached. Thanks for watching!
Props for protecting the plants and their habitat, I'm glad people like you are discrete about this. These plants belong in nature first, I'm lucky to have good shops in The Netherlands and plenty of seed grown cacti so I can enjoy some specimens at home :)
Thanks my friend! It’s up to us all to protect these beautiful plants 🌵
So unfortunate, thank you for spreading awareness on this epidemic
You’re very welcome, that’s a great way to put it: epidemic
Hey socal! Nice to see you love cacti too!
for salvaged vs poached, the only time I'd believe someone if they say a plant was salvaged is if they were giving it away. someone once gave me an A. fissuratus. that person said they salvaged it from a construction site. its hard for me to doubt them as they didn't sell it to me. in fact, it cost him money since he paid for the shipping. the plant is doing fine btw and has flowered a few times over the years i've had it. i've collected a lot of seeds from it too. though, i have yet to sprout any of the seeds. life sometimes gets in the way.
For sure I agree. When they’re not profiting from it I can definitely believe them!
Hi Miguel😊🙌Sorry I think I said 'Manuel' again in the last post😅I agree and think your episode on poaching cacti was excellent. I agree that even if an authority salvages poached cacti it doesn't help at all to sell them because it once again puts a dollar value on them. I truly hope that poached cacti will be devalued for being unworthy of cultivation because they are unsuited for collections and that more people will have good morals and avoid poached cacti. Thanks again Miguel😊🙏
Thanks so much! My name is Manuel so you got it right! Haha
Thank you for your consistent quality :)
You’re very welcome Jose, thanks for watching!
So many poached Uebelmania pectinifera and Aztekium ritteri on Ebay right now. Absolutely heartbreaking. I've luckily been able to bid on a few that are clearly not poached seedlings, but it still enrages me seeing the $3,000 clusters of scarred Uebelmania and $300 sun bleached ritteri
It’s really sad and that’s why it’s important to educate people on how to identify them when they’re poached!
Hi Manuel. I fully endorse wat your mesegs r about. I can't help wonder at d bounty and beauty God has endowed us on earth, even in d most inhospitable places!! U've been able, thru your videos, to educate us about it, esp about d unscrupulous blackmarket trade.
B4 watching your videos, I didn't even know abt dis problem! Because d cacti I buy r always cultivated ones(how d vendors cultivate them I wouldn't know). To think dat people r prepared to buy frm d blackmarket jus to show off their'collection' of 'rare' cacti to me is reprehensible.
I can empathise with your sense of distress wen coming across evidence of d rape of God given nature jus to feed such egos. Pls continue your good work. ❤
Thanks so much! We are incredibly lucky to live in a beautiful and abundant planet. We have to make sure it stays that way.
Thank you for making this video. Hope more and more cactus enthusiast aware that they destroy the nature by buying wild specimen.
You’re very welcome, I agree that we’re all responsible for this beautiful planet 🌎 ❤ Thanks for watching!
Keep educating thanks for doing what your doing Manuel 💪🏼
Will do! You’re very welcome, thanks for watching 🌵🙏🏽
Thanks again for sharing your passion on this topic.
Glad you enjoyed it! You’re very welcome
I just started collecting cactus cause of you're videos my brotha thanks for the helpful info when i start buying other cactus besides lowes and homedepot ones lol
Thanks so much and welcome! Glad to help
What should we look for when we buy cactus? I like to buy plants in trips but wanna be sure they’re not poached. I don’t know enough to identify seed grown vs. wild poached.
Barking at the base; missing spines, extremely white skin in the case of Copiapoa. I will make a video about this subject! 🤓
@@RareCactusthanks. I’d like to see video showing the traits of a seed grown plant. As you go through each trait mention what would be different in a wild poached specimen. It’ll help to have a visual.
It’s sad that people poach Copiapoa. There gonna die after a few months because they got RIPPED out of the ground! Just get a nursery grown tiny seedling and get the fulfillment of growing it to a large size!
It really is, we have to care for our planet better ❤
Just a question out of curiosity. If I see a seedpod from the habitat, grab that seedpod and cultivate that as my own, do you consider that poaching? (Not like I can do that anyway because I live several timezones away lol) Thanks for the very informative video, BTW!
Id say to an extent. Crime pays does it. Hes grown many field collected seeds. And most of the cacti in greenhouses and stuff are all originally from a field collected seed pod. Thats how i see it but some people might still view it as poaching so
I would recommend buying seed from cultivation as they are cheap and readily available.
I believe he grows plants in general from field seed, but not slow growing endangered cacti which in my opinion should be left alone since they don’t produce much seed to spare. Maybe 20-30 seed per plant.
@@RareCactus im trying to buy copia seeds from mesa. 10 seeds is like 20 + 15 usd. Which i find is insanely expensive
@@claudekim7876 I sell them for almost half that price 😅 that’s just pure greed.
Do you sell seeds? I would love to grow some that look so amazing.
Hey there! Yes I do, please check out my website www.eastcoastcamanchaca.com
nursery can have a similar cactus for less price at your country.
i think the only "luxury" that buyers wants to have, is the "natural look".
but they don't know that the plant cannot acclimate and it will die.
also, i think there is "harsh growing" technique in nursery which replicate the "natural look" of cacti in their habitat?. So you don't have an excuse to purchase poaches cacti?
personally, all the problem revolve around money, who buy and who sell,
so if we were to spread the message, educate the buyers, we would have less poaches. which is what made this video and channel so good!
from a buyer side of the story, i feel like majority of poached cacti buyers are rich and not informed buyers, so they are tricked into the market of poaching cacti.
another way to stop poaching can be "sharing" the species to countries, if they are grown in nursery, they will reach the buyers easier.
Definitely! It’s important to educate new buyers and collectors! Thanks for watching ❤
It’s the immediate shock of environment and the lack of quality care from a Sulenter (succulent planter).
Great video. Good job.
Thank you! Glad you liked it
Another claim from poachers is they're from land development so they've been salvaged or that it was growing of private owned land sold by land owner.
Another widely used one for sure. “Ethically harvested” 🤦🏽♂️
In europe before 1980s, many old collectors have imported this plants legally and the plants are now more than 40 years here and i dont think it is wrong to buy the plants which are legally imported years ago. But i agree it is wrong to buy wild plants from poachers
Definitely. I think those plants should go to a botanical garden, but that’s just my personal opinion 🤣
You're assuming every location has a conservatory or something similar to house and take care of these plants. Sometimes the best people to take care of them are the ones who come across them. Otherwise land development will swallow them up and they will be lost to the cultivating world altogether. This is particularly true in my home towns of Florence, AZ and Weslaco, TX where poaching is at an all time high ( in areas deemed nature preserves/national forests ) in those instances it is never okay to rip them from the ground.
The only thing I assume is that people who tell themselves stories to poach and keep cacti, like telling themselves that they're "saving them" are poachers. And looking for special cases to make it seem ok, is nonsensical. Why are some people obsessed with looking for instances in which poaching is ok? Are you a poacher? smh...
@@RareCactus yeah I am, flat out. But again I'm not doing this in sanctuaries or national forests or anything like that. I find them in abandoned buildings in places where they're going to do construction and get torn out anyway. So don't get all high and mighty on me. There are other ways to do things other than your way to conserve our flora, so get off your high horse 👌
@@RareCactus also, you never answered the question of what we're supposed to do if we don't have sanctuaries or places to house these plants safely....go ahead I'll wait 👍
@@davidruiz2474go check your local legislation, what you’re doing isn’t just selfish and ignorant but also illegal. You do have plenty of sanctuaries in the United States, but of course it’s easier to fill up your little garden and tell yourself you’re a conservationist. Like all the other poachers out there. You’re the problem and that’s the reason you’re all bootyhurt about my video. Please keep commenting so UA-cam can know to show this to even more hypocrite poachers like yourself. Couch conservationist.
@@davidruiz2474I’m sure you checked and did everything you could to try and get them to a botanical garden before you took them home and repeated to yourself “I’m saving them” 🤡
I got big on cacti last year and personally I would rather have the seed, I want to be able to say I actually grew it myself if anyone was to ask me.
It’s very rewarding to feel responsible for growing them, keep planting seed! 🌵💚
I love your shirt with "Russia" on Espanol and russian
Thank you! It’s a Russian vintage stamp 🤓 I’m not a fan of Russia itself or anything 😅
thnaks bro
You’re welcome!
Do NOT share pics of poached cactus.
Got it!
Don’t buy poached cacti.
@@RareCactus
Ohhhhhhhhh,...Okay.
That makes more sense.
Yeah, you're part of the problem YOU have made it clear that there are Dollars to be had for "lazy bums". Out here in the "Habitat", we see them they leave.
Most leave hastily, without so much as a by your leave...
@@frankmorris4790 thanks for the mindless comment. It helps more people see my video. 😂
Hi, l came across your channel a few months ago. While l congratulate you on your videos and your passion for conservation of cacti and the habitat they grow in. I think you have to be careful about how much you talk about this subject in your videos. Remember you are preaching mostly to the converted. We already know and agree with your position. I'm afraid that your continuous preaching on the evils of poaching will become a 'white noise' to people, and either it will result in people not listening, or not viewing your videos at all. Which will be a shame, because on the whole they are excellent. If you want my advice don't preach about poaching in every single video. Sometimes, let the viewers enjoy these amazing landscapes you bring to us without the subject of habitat destruction. I'm not saying you should stop completely, far from it. Keep up this good work, but l feel that your channel could suffer from the continuous bad news. Let people enjoy the cacti subject sometime without the continuous dark clouds. Yes every now and again do a big video on conservation, it's needed, but let people enjoy the wonderful habitats you bring to us.
What evidence made you come to this conclusion? If anything, conservation brings outsiders in on a cause and brings attention to the wider public who might not even be aware that there is a plight on rare cacti from poaching. This is a strange take.
Thanks for commenting. While the growth of this channel is important to me, the message of not destroying something I’ve grown to love and care for is more important to me than any views lost because some people may not understand the gravity of the situation. I can’t cover up the holes in the ground when I go to remote localities, or my frustration when I see them. People need to be aware of what’s going on out there and if I hide that to get views, I couldn’t live with myself.
i get what your saying, but i think thats your feeling compared his own feelings, enjoyment and want to teach. you dont have to watch of course. i enjoy all the videos and i think he grabbed my attention from this niche. i feel lucky to learn this 1 year into growing and learning.
@@jamescarr2156 thanks James, I’m glad I captured your attention and awareness to these magnificent plants and their challenges. Thanks for watching 🌵
@tylernaturalist6437 Hi, my evidence is being involved in conservation. In my experience people become apathetic about conservation because rolling back the tide of habitat destruction seems too big, it overwhelms people. Also, people have their own clouds and sometimes they need to see and hear about beauty. The ratio of showing the beauty of the natural world to get people engaged in its conservation, and turning people off is a tricky balance too achieve. In my experience people become war weary about bad news, and they mentally switch off.
Stay cult
Cult? 🤔
What was you excuse to ware T-shirt with Russia statement?
It’s a stamp and I don’t need an excuse 🤣
🏜Have some here and there iz show it sometime. when I c some iz check it out and will add more dirt around the base if need be even give a drink if Have water
I don’t water them because I rarely have enough water to spare out there 😅