Hmm, Looks like you have good collection.......... (y)Prickly Pear Cactus PropagationView attachment 92899View attachment 92900
From a very old cactus, cut a pad that is at least six months old, the older the pad the faster you will get new pads, flowers and fruit. Allow the cut part of the the pad to form a callous. This will take a week or two in warm weather but longer when the air is moist. Be sure to allow more time rather than less, to avoid rot. Sit the pad upright while it forms callous so that it will not curl.
When planting the pad, settle it upright only about an inch deep in a mixture of equal parts of soil and sand. We have found that any soil that drains well works fine. Planting the pad too deeply will encourage rot. Water the pad. Let the soil dry between future waterings. Wait several months before beginning to harvest either pads or fruit, or future harvests will lessened. Generally, the second or third pad to form will bear flowers and fruit, but a pad from an older plant may flower and set fruit sooner than a section from a younger, immature pad.
Remember to plant the oldest pad that you can find. The pads from the grocery store are harvested for human consumption and are young and tender and aren't old enough.
If you prefer more flowers and fruits, give the plants a no-nitrogen fertilizer once a month, even through the winter. During this dormant period, the plants require a bright situation and enough water only to keep the pads from shriveling. The cactus will bloom and set fruit from early spring through the summer, depending on the variety. Each pad can support numerous flowers, each yielding one fruit. Up to 30 blooms have been counted on mature pads, but 8 to 16 is a good number to allow for development of good-sized fruits. The fruits are ripe enough to harvest when the glochids fall off. Twist, rather than pull, the fruit from the pad to avoid tearing it.
These pads were harvested from a plant that is over 30 years old.
These were planted in May 2014.
Sent from Rodney Earl Pettway's iPad using TortForum
Does anyone know an EASY way to de-thorn Prickly Pear cactus? My property is loaded with it, but it is not the spineless type.
I u
I use a torch - hold it parallel to the pad - makes the job kind of fun.
Thanks, both great ideasI buy cheap pot scrubbers at the dollar store (like scotch brite) and dedicate one to cactus only. Lightly scrub the pad until all the glochids have been removed. Then toss that scrubber pad so you don't accidentally pick it up again and get more stickers in your fingers.
I just put a smaller pad callous - end down in a small pot under fluorescent light with regular potting soil and watered well when it got dry. I alsopropped it up with some toothpicks. This is the pic after 2 weeks...dunno if it's a flower or a pad yet...
It's interesting to see how small the container needed to plant this pad. I always think they need bigger, but yours seem do well.
Does anyone know an EASY way to de-thorn Prickly Pear cactus? My property is loaded with it, but it is not the spineless type.
I ordered the same type, along with humifusa seeds. Just put them in dirt a few days ago and have no idea how long they will take, but am really looking forward to having cactus in my yard! Who would have thought there were cactus that were hardy in Minnesota and the UK, right?Just ordered these seeds. Opuntia macrorhiza (Blue Morph) - Very Hardy Plains Prickly Pear - Fresh Seeds
Are these any good? Will they take long from seed? Please don't tell me my tort grows quicker. lol