True, but the thing is that most people miss: what's the population doing? If it's declining, you have a problem because if that trend continues you'll have no more cholla cactus, and thus no more cholla wood for our hobby.
So, yes, taking cholla from dead plants is good, but what's great is making sure the population you're taking from (or your supplier as the case may be
) is healthy enough that it's not going to run out of cholla in the future.
Another thing that ties into that is why they're dead in the first place, and as mentioned this could lend an idea into the health of the population. If there's a large, healthy population there will inevitably be some dieoff (RIP) but that's how we get cholla wood. However, if there's an unusual proportion or number of cholla wood available, it's not necessarily a time to rejoice (because of more money and profits). It may instead be a time to be concerned and take a look into what's causing the unusual dieoff.
If it's a fungus, pesticide, or similar, I'm not sure we want it in our tanks (for one thing), but it would also threaten cholla populations everywhere. Just look at the amphibian fungal problem that's causing massive dieoff and you can see what it can do.
If it's an unusually hot summer with not enough water, it's not too big of a deal. A "farmer" or collector could simply water healthy plants next year to compensate.
If the dieoff is caused by natural population growth and cycles (say there were a lot of young cholla one year similar to our baby boomer generation), there's no reason for concern as it's what we'd expect.
The issue is a lot of times people's inclination is to rejoice when they should ask questions, but that's a natural tendency and usually only someone who's trained (or has a knack for knowing these things/has been paying close attention) could possibly reasonably be expected to know when to rejoice and when to possibly be concerned and look into the larger picture of what's going on
Sent from my Nexus 9 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
