Gosh so much information to digest at one time. I've got several of the single Brugs ya'll mentioned for postage. I even tried to buy some doubles or triples on ebay. I can see this Brug and Dat thing can get out of hand real quick can't it? It has been one month and one day since I saw my very first Brugmansia and I now have 10 named singles and a whole bunch of NOID singles. LOL I am going to get all the barn sweepings out this winter and work them into the areas I will be planting these little Brug jewels all over the place. I'm fairly sure they will love it here and I have plenty of room for them. I've been working on turning this place into my own little tropical paradise. I think 35 acres is enough room to raise as many different kinds as I can get my hands on. I too have a bunch of Banana Trees and other tropical plants. I'm still looking for someone to trade something for and get a Pink Banana tree. What do you professional growers use to provide heat underneath the cuttings? Could I use an electric heating pad with a large glass cake pan setting on top of it for the double and triple cuttings should I come up with some? If not please tell me something that your common home gardener could use for heat on the bottom. I know if I tried the heating pad I couldn't get it wet. I don't think that would be a problem. Please give me some other advice and suggestions. I would be heartbroken if I killed one of them babies. This is a good thread. Happy Gardening Marian

You're not losing a plant; you've just added two more. I suspect too much wafer and/or poor drainage. Cacti and succulents often drop leaves in response to too much water, and those pads look very turgid. I would follow David's soil advice. Get them into something that drains really well and has no peat in it at all. Pumice, Al's gritty mix, even gravel, lava rock, or river stones will be better than normal potting soil. In order to keep cacti longterm in peat mix, they must be in tiny pots with well-established root systems, then you only water when the plant shrivels. Bone dry is what cacti NEED. They suck up as much water as they can store it in their stems/leaves, and that's what they live on, not wafer at the roofs. When you water a turgid cactus, the water has nowhere to go and the roots just stand in it and rot. Fat cactus means do not water no matter how dry the soil is. In a home, most cacti can go many, many months without water.

Nature's provided you with a base and support - just cover the flattened base pads with about 1/2" of soil and away they'll go in the spring, although there will be some growth year-around if the weather is warmish and there's some water and sun. Opuntias (the genus of cactus you have) have species that grow from the Peace River in northern British Columbia all the way down the Americas to Tierra del Fuego - they're easily one of the most opportunistic, as your picture aptly shows, members of the Cactus Family. Or don't cover it with dirt - your Opuntia will grow anyway, just not as quickly / lushly as that of one planted.

This is long, but important, so please read all the way through. My personal theory as to WHY the dirt in these pads do not like to come clean in the first place is because they are all made out of synthetic microfiber blends. This is NOT a rant about doing everything in your life all-natural so please stay with me. In the beginning of my Cosmetology education, I learned that synthetic fibers (such as those used on wigs and cosmetology tools and brushes, do Not like hot water. Only cold or at least tepid water could be used unless you enjoy having your brushes, cloths and wig hairs get all tangled and matted up in an instant, melted in some cases, or hairs/fibers fused together. It’s synthetic. It can’t take the heat. With that said, I suspect these companies insisting on using microfiber steam mop pads are setting us all up for failure from the beginning. Steam is insanely hot and WILL melt and fuse the little fibers together during use (this is why they say not to put them in the dryer). Steam blows open the fibers in an intense way which is something else I learned in Cosmo school. Steam always works better than hot water in opening up skin pores for instance. Material fibers are no different… unless that material blows up but then breaks down with said heat. Polyester and Nylon just can’t take the heat. You might ask why the heck these companies would make their pads with microfiber if that were true. I’m glad you asked - I suspect the mop companies use these materials anyway, because it’s much cheaper than cotton and will slide nicely across the floor. They know if their customers feel they have to push too hard, they won’t want to use it and will go with the other company that does use microfiber. Let’s be honest, “microfiber” is like some positive buzz word in the retail industry when actually many of us avoid it like Covid. It only has a few good qualities, none of which are involved with mop heads. Microfiber, is good only for scrubbing, acting as a water repellent in some cases, and behaving somewhat like Velcro when used for dry sweeping. Have you ever tried to remove things that stuck to microfiber material after being in the wash or dryer? It’s not fun is it? When microfiber is used in wet cleaning applications however, that synthetic material DOES NOT ABSORB. It just doesn’t. It’s synthetic. Synthetics don’t absorb like a natural fiber (e.g. Cotton) does. Try wiping dry your kitchen countertop with a microfiber wash cloth, and then try again with an all cotton and you will see what it is I’m saying. All of this to share that I finally found a solution to not only keep my microfiber pads from getting too dirty (or worse than they already are), but to also pick up dirt far better than what the pads were originally doing (I have one of the Bissell Power Fresh Pet steam mops for reference). SOLUTION: I take a damp, wrung out steam mop pad, flip it inside out (I also cut off the scent disk pocket), place it on my steam mop, then place the mop down on top of a 100% cotton shop towel and click down the flip scrubber piece in the back of my mop so that it grabs my towel. At this point, I use the mop as usual on the highest steam output setting. Why do I flip the mop pad inside out? Because I discovered that it allows the towel underneath to stay put a little better and glides across the floor better as well. I have also only ever done this with a damp, completely wrung out mop pad in place, but with a dry shop towel. After the towel gets dirty, I rinse out the mop pad and wring it out again as much as possible before placing back on my mop and grabbing another clean, dry shop towel. The benefit here, is not only are my floors getting that much more clean, but I can buy cotton shop towels by the mass for much cheaper than those mop pads AND they clean up white so much easier! If you want to bleach, then bleach. If you want to use your usual make-em-white method, then do that instead. The world is your oyster. Cheaper Works better Cleans up Whiter Easy It’s what has finally worked for me and my mop. I hope it helps some of you too.