October Speaker - Grab A Shovel: An Honest Talk About Conservation in the Cactus and Succulent Community by Kal Kaminer
Kal Kaminer has been obsessively growing cactus and succulents ever since he moved to Los Angeles and needed some plants to fill an empty balcony. Collecting plants soon turned to growing, and he began selling at many of the California cactus and succulent shows. He's also an avid grafter, focusing on grafting the most unusual and bizarre mutant cactus. In 2020, Kal opened his retail nursery, LA Succulents, in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. His nursery specializes in unique and unusual succulent plants, including Ariocarpus, Astrophytum and Stapeliads, of which he grows over 200 species.
The topic of Kal's presentation is "Grab A Shovel: An Honest Talk About Conservation in the Cactus and Succulent Community." The illegal plant trade has historically weaved its way through the Cactus and Succulent hobby in the US, especially in California. Kal will explain to us why plants collected from habitat are strongly desired among collectors, where these plants come from, and why it's wrong for consumers to buy collected plants. He will educate us in identifying these types of plants, and the part we can all play to stem the trade of field collected plants in our community. As someone who was once on the wrong side of this issue, he fully understands why it's so critical that we promote a conservation-minded approach to collecting cactus and succulents, and looks forward to sharing his story and outlook with us.
