only downside they dont grow back

Good etiquette (for those of us in SW USA at least):

I might notice a beautiful, tasty speciman growing in somebody's front yard and if it's really big and overgrown, there's a good chance you could go up to the door on a weekend with $20 bucks and ask them if they'd be willing to let you prune out a few branches...maybe to help get a cactus garden growing in you desert-of-a-backyard. An especially good idea if if the speciman is so overgrown that its rubbing against their house or eaves. They might even be nice people and worthwhile meeting. You could offer to show them how easy it is to transplant cuttings around their own house...that's good karma!

I've done this twice, once I got 20' of a powerful T. pach for $20, and another time I got 80' of a hugely overgrown T. scopulicola for $40. I probably could have talked them into letting me prune their plants for free, but offering them money just keeps things smooth, and the karma good. I suppose I could even go back next year and prune some more for them.

I've also found some really great stuff growing wild in overgrown city-owned canyons, and in a garbage dump ... those, I did liberate a few feet.

Been there. Key word is "liberate"!

I have to get me some cacti.

2CB, those bridgesii cacti look like they are healthy, ready to give some serious love.

As far as taking down the cacti, while it might be karmic'ly jaded, sometimes the wolves and the lions gotta take every opportunity they can to survive, so I see nothing too bad. But I'd be pissed if I was planning a Halloween moon voyage and someone stole my ticket. It's on you to fix it down the line. Or may it's not.

Ok thanx for that, I will definitely do it more ethically in future. The large one i was talking about , is owned by different people who definitely put it there purposefully (its in a cactus specific garden) and is huge , so i will ask and maybe they will sell me some . As for the other people's cactus i took , i do feel bad and would like to replant in future , but i left the majority of the plant ,so if it was indeed their " ticket" i hope it will still be good for them.
Have you ever had problems with people knowing its psycho active , and getting suspicious of you when you ask for some?
Can bridgessi grow into very large multi branched specimens ?

Apologies for the slip up. wont happen again (i'll "fix it down the line" really just didnt even think about it like that.

Hope you learned a lesson here, Magic Man.



Just don't wear those plaid shorts and your Phish t-shirt and you should be all right!

Out of curiosity, is it a common occurance for cacti to be stolen? should I be concerned about having my cacti in plain sight?

<I grow all sort of botanicals in my garden and some are accessible to street walker...
It's not outside but on the limits of my garden.. SO I naively imagine poeple knowing such plants wouldn't steal it..
Like they won't think this nasty way lavos mentionned:

"As far as taking down the cacti, while it might be karmic'ly jaded, sometimes the wolves and the lions gotta take every opportunity they can to survive, so I see nothing too bad. But I'd be pissed if I was planning a Halloween moon voyage and someone stole my ticket. It's on you to fix it down the line. Or may it's not."

there is no need to steal it.

A few seeds from a pods maybe, but no cuttings !

the need is to grow it yourself if you're so hungry or even buy some dried chips and go !

Nasty way lavos mentioned

I was just offering another perspective, I mentioned that it would be a jaded act and that I'd be pissed if someone stole it from me. But when it comes right down to the here and now, if someone else hasn't used it, and it's in the open for him to grab, then I say the 'owners/growers' put it there knowing this. If someone comes and 'liberates' some, unfortunate for one, but fortunate for another.

In a society where the ingestion was not prohibited, the would be thief would have probably been introduced at an early enough age to grow his own without the need to eat it for immediate alleviation. Now, he might be about ready to jump ship here, and that lone green un-liberated cactus could help. I'm just saying. Not trying to be nasty, just look past the moral of it.

Remember that there are people in the world who would rather openly give to thieves than to see them silk and seethe becoming vicious with hunger or locked behind bars and given to a more criminal spirit. I would rather have someone ask me than have it taken. But if I had to take it, I would.

But, asking IS the proper thing to do.