I’ve had a little Hoodia gordonii for a few years and I’m never quite sure if I am giving it what it wants. Shortly after bringing it home it turned sort of white. I thought for sure it was dead and then last year a little green offset grew. Which also eventually turned sort of white.
Yesterday I was potting up some seedlings and as I walked toward the backyard I startled a flock of band-tailed pigeons. As they took to the air I heard a crash and discovered the little Hoodia had been knocked over.
On the plus side now that it is knocked out of its pot I can see that it has some new growth forming. I potted it up into a slightly bigger pot and moved all the succulents off the top shelf where apparently the pigeons like to roost. I’m not sure if it is exactly thriving but at least it is alive.
And here is one of the culprits at my ground feeder. As far as I am concerned band-tailed pigeons are only one step better than regular city pigeons which are only one step better than rats. They are similar to mourning doves but nearly twice as big and dark grey with a green and white band around their neck. I try to love all the birds equally but these guys are kind of annoying. They usually come in a big flock of a dozen birds and when they get frightened (which is all the time) they take off at once and their big beating wings sound like a jet engine. Not only do they greedily pig out on the ground feeder but they are incredibly agile and I have seen as many as three of them at once clinging to my little hanging bird feeder. But I guess you have to take the good with the bad. If I want to attract the quails I have to put up with these big clumsy creatures that knock over little clay pots.
pesky pigeons! If I don’t net greens like cabbages and brussels I won’t have any left – and I meean any, they will strip a plant bare. Frustrating to say the least.
Sorry about your hoodia! I only get a few pigeons once in awhile (too suburban for them, I think) but those sweet mourning doves come here by the dozens. And scare the LIFE out of me when I round the corner and they spaz out and take flight.
Yeah that is one of the things that drive me crazy about mourning doves. They are always sneaking about under foot and they always scare the hell out of me when they take off. These big doves are even worse. But it could be worse. In the Florida Keys I have relatives and they have these doves there that make this horrible “Meh! Meh!” sound.
This spring we had huge flocks of these birds zipping around our woodland. I’d never seen so many! We don’t feed the birds here (beyond habitat plantings), so we don’t encourage all the rodents to come looking for a handout. However, the band-tailed pigeons were clearly finding something on the woodland floor to forage for, in flocks! It can be quite startling when they all rise up off the ground at once, and take flight! I’m sorry about your Hoodia, but it looks promising with the new growth!
Yeah I am glad my flock is just a dozen right now. I read that they can travel in flocks of 500. Not something I would want to encourage.
The little Hoodia should make a recovery. Maybe now that it is in a slightly bigger pot it will even do some more growing.
So, what’s the appeal of the Hoodia? I mean, I’m a lover of almost all succulents, but I’ve never gotten the appeal of this one. What does it “do?”
What do other succulents do? Interesting form? Nice flowers? Aside from their properties as an appetite suppressant these are more the interesting form type. Nice looking when they form a big clump.
The flowers are sort of flesh colored disks. Not terribly attractive and unpleasant smelling like other Stapeliads I believe.
I think one of the reasons I like them was we grew them from seed when I was a student and the seedlings look like cute little green people.
Touche. I had forgotten I used to be a succulent freak and would have kinda the same reaction to people when they asked me “why?” But I guess I was under the impression that Hoodia was really rare or expensive, or something.
If I own it assume that it is not expensive. Even if it is a little rare.