My Jordanian Greek, Gracie, practically inhales opuntia fruit and pads whenever I can get my hands on them but it's somewhat expensive to order them online just as food and no stores here sell cactus of any kind (even the Mexican markets) so I'd like to start growing some of my own.
I live in northern Utah where we sometimes get summers over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and winters well below freezing. The problem is that most opuntia varieties I have come across either have lots of spines or can't handle the winter temperatures. I know I could just cut/burn the spines off of normal varieties but I have several curious cats and small children and I don't want to have to deal with cactus "slivers" on a regular basis so I'd really like to get a spineless plant that I can grow here.
The Utah Department of Agriculture has a web site that lists drought tolerant low water usage plants that they recommend for the area and there is a "Beavertail Cactus" on that list. A quick Google search says that this is a large pad spineless variety of prickly pear that can handle temperatures as low as 20 below zero, which would be ideal although it apparently grows fairly slowly.
The problem is that I called all plant nurseries in the state, even ones that are hours away, and none of them had even heard of the plant or any other spineless cactus, and didn't have any idea where I could get it. I can't find it available for purchase online either so I'm hoping someone can give me some help finding it or another similar cactus variety that will work for me.
I live in northern Utah where we sometimes get summers over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and winters well below freezing. The problem is that most opuntia varieties I have come across either have lots of spines or can't handle the winter temperatures. I know I could just cut/burn the spines off of normal varieties but I have several curious cats and small children and I don't want to have to deal with cactus "slivers" on a regular basis so I'd really like to get a spineless plant that I can grow here.
The Utah Department of Agriculture has a web site that lists drought tolerant low water usage plants that they recommend for the area and there is a "Beavertail Cactus" on that list. A quick Google search says that this is a large pad spineless variety of prickly pear that can handle temperatures as low as 20 below zero, which would be ideal although it apparently grows fairly slowly.
The problem is that I called all plant nurseries in the state, even ones that are hours away, and none of them had even heard of the plant or any other spineless cactus, and didn't have any idea where I could get it. I can't find it available for purchase online either so I'm hoping someone can give me some help finding it or another similar cactus variety that will work for me.