I've been battling Helix aspersa for many years now. I use Sluggo, a non-toxic snail bait. Snails eat a pellet of corn meal and iron phosphate, and go away to die. The bulk of it is corn meal. The active ingredient is iron phosphate, or fertilizer. There is no chemical residue. It dehydrates snails because they would need to drink a lot of water to dilute the iron phosphate they ate. Since snails get all of their water from their food, and can not drink, they just stop eating and walk away, never to be seen again. The stuff is non-toxic to dogs, birds, etc since the overall amount of iron phosphate is low, and they can drink water. I don't how this product would be considered outside the bounds of 'organic' gardening. Yes, copper strips will stop snails in their tracks. The only problem is that you may need of lot of it, and you may only be trapping the snails inside the bounds of your metallic pen. Beer in pie plants will attract them. You can squish them, drown them. or eat them, your choice. Nightly patrols about an hour of two after dark with a flashlight can help. Handpicking each night can help reduce the population of hidden snails. You can find them coming out to feed, and can destroy them any way you choose. All snail baits except Sluggo (or equivalent) rely on a same nasty chemical, metaldehyde. It is the number one cause of premature dog deaths in California, and probably kills a lot of wild life as well. It really is a toxin. Small amounts of iron phosphate are not. Try it. You will like it. Brad

Forum etiquette requires some consideration for the time of those you are asking for help. Post threads asking questions about related plants, and limit the number to five or less. This way you are likely to get helpful responses. For now, this is the best I can do. You can still use forum (html) code to paste hyperlinks. Syntax: [_a href=URL of photo_]Short name[_/a_] Remove underscores. Paste in your link url. Type short name. Make sure the code works in PREVIEW. Spend the time to create clickable links and will you get more helpful responses than: First is a Cactus Last is not a Cactus Brad

Well, I did think the pot looked a bit too big, although I was wondering if I could get away with it with a really gritty mix. The cactus in question is Mammillaria pilcayensis cristata. The inside bottom of the pot is somewhat uneven, higher in the front and lower in the back, so there is a rock in the back to make the plant sit level. I think there's enough depth over all. It does have plenty of drainage holes. I guess I think I should put something else in it, but a little voice in the back of my head say, meh, go for it! I probably should listen to reason. I could put something else in it temporarily and hope that cactus grows larger somewhat quickly. Well, quicker than Aztekium, say! Most of my other plants are either too small or too large or wouldn't look right in it. Guess I'll just have to buy another plant, oh no :-) Any ideas for what to look for?

Thanks, you never know where I'll show up. ;-) Its my understanding that the IPG collection was privately owned by someone who lived in Cananda and was then gifted to IPG in owners later years. IPG has had this only for a little over 10 years now.