Different kinds of spineless opuntia?

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Terry Allan Hall

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Ran out of the store-bought pads, and rather than drive the 23 miles to the nearest town w/ a grocery, I cut a pad off of the spineless opuntia I've been growing...and noticed that my "home-grown" has MUCH tougher skin than the store bought pads (had to sharpen my Buck before I finished cutting it up, 'cause my torts were having no luck w/ quartered pads, while the store-bought stuff doesn't dull the blade to any great extent).

So, is there different varieties of spineless opuntia?
 

Yvonne G

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I'm sure there must be. I've always wondered when people say they just give the pads to their tortoises. Even my 140lb aldabrans have trouble biting my pads if I don't use the potato peeler on them before serving.
 

dmarcus

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My biggest issue is the cactus that develop that fibrous materialin the inside that makes it hard for the torts to bite apart, even cutting it is hard.

I have planted grocery store cactus that did not have the fibrous material when I planted it but after a few months in the ground, it has them all through out the inside of the cactus, and it's just in a few types of opuntia, not all of them...
 

Terry Allan Hall

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dalano73 said:
My biggest issue is the cactus that develop that fibrous materialin the inside that makes it hard for the torts to bite apart, even cutting it is hard.

I have planted grocery store cactus that did not have the fibrous material when I planted it but after a few months in the ground, it has them all through out the inside of the cactus, and it's just in a few types of opuntia, not all of them...

I wonder if the store-bought pads are grown somewhere w/ less limestone in the ground?
 

dmarcus

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Thats a good question. I have spineless cactus that we got from a local garden store that has the fibrous material in it, and we have spineless cactus that we got online that we put in pots and they don't have it. The ones we normally buy at the grocery store don't have it.
 

Terry Allan Hall

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dalano73 said:
Thats a good question. I have spineless cactus that we got from a local garden store that has the fibrous material in it, and we have spineless cactus that we got online that we put in pots and they don't have it. The ones we normally buy at the grocery store don't have it.

Think I'm going to try planting some of the store-bought pads, as well as new growths from my yard plants, in 5-gall buckets of commercial top soil, just in case the excessively alkaline soil out here causes the fibrousness.
 

dmarcus

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Here is a photo a grocery store pad we planted in the ground. It actually got thicker before it started producing new growth.

IMG00312-20110722-1247.jpg



This one we laid flat in a pot with cactus soil. It didn't get the fibrous material and didn't get thicker.

IMG00154-20110624-1052.jpg
 

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You will want to feed the young, tender growth before it develops fully. This is what your buying in the stores and used in Mexican cooking. The older growth will be much tougher and stringy. Typically the spineless varieties have a tougher skin compared to other with spines as its the only form of protection the pad has.
 

Terry Allan Hall

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coastal said:
You will want to feed the young, tender growth before it develops fully. This is what your buying in the stores and used in Mexican cooking. The older growth will be much tougher and stringy. Typically the spineless varieties have a tougher skin compared to other with spines as its the only form of protection the pad has.

That makes sense! Thanks!
 
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