Jane wrote > I think the only way to weed around a cactus is > to use a long-nosed pliers or large tweezers. > I recall my mother doing that with her cactus collection.... An important skill cactomaniacs learn is moving extremely slowly and carefully when putting hands or heads near spiny plants. At a slow enough approach contact with a spine will be felt before it penetrates. Before long one learns to pick up most cacti with bare hands using the entire hand to distribute the contact area and diminish pressure on any one spot. Not Opuntia with their nasty glochids, but other spiny succulents. It really impresses the general public at cactus club sales. I no longer wear gloves when working with cacti because they give a false sense of security. Heavy boots are also a must unless one enjoys uprooting spiny things implanted in the foot through canvas. Weeding cactus beds is much easier than most people think. Keep the first principal above in mind. Wait until the soil is dry if possible. Use a long-handled tool such as http://tinyurl.com/ah3g72c/ to loosen the soil around the base of the plant. The weeds usually flop over sideways away from the cactus. Then slowly and carefully approach the weed with your hand and pull it out. It unquestionably takes more time to weed around cacti than another kind of bed but it's not that much longer. Remember too, if your soil is as loose as it should be for growing cacti in cold places, the weeds come out more easily. There are a number of cacti and other succulents with root storage organs. I will extoll Opuntia chaffeyi, a diminutive prickly pear from Zacatecas, Mexico. It has 1/4" / 60mm diameter near-cylindrical stems lacking spines (but it does have glochids) that are annual in habitat and mostly persistent in cultivation. They grow from big white rhizomes that can be raised with each repotting above the soil level in the container for an impressive display. Stem or root cuttings serve equally well, proving the underground parts are modified stems. The plant survives at least some winters in St Louis, Missouri, USA and takes harder frosts if dry. O. chaffeyi will grow well in a 2 inch / 5cm container or fill a much larger container with a root mass overtopped by pale green stems, to perhaps 8" / 20cm tall on a big plant. It is an indicator plant for the presence of squirrels. Leo Martin Phoenix Arizona USA