They are a novelty rock-garden plant around here.
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Could be. I stopped paying attention after I realized none of the fruit was what I’d hoped for. But that was one I’d originally ordered.
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Hey Kelby. Have you found any that you enjoy the fruit from?
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I’m pretty certain I tried the mesa sky. It was very seedy, I just tasted a little of the juice. It was palatable, not really something I would go after. Not sure how to tell if it was ripe though.
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While I have had purple fleshed dragon fruit with a stunning flavor. All of the prickly pear (tuna) i have ever eaten have been very mild even when well flavored. The juice however takes a limonaid to the next level. Not everything is nessisarly a flavor bomb but it is an enhancer.
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Yeah. I haven’t figured that out either.
Are you talking about store bought versions? If so, I agree that they’re very mild. Sort of like a mix between watermelon and raspberry. But I still think they’re pretty good. I was hoping I could get them to ripen to a better quality by growing them myself.
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I find the straight run wild fruits to be delicious, way more flavorful than a store bought tuna. However, (and I’ve probably mentioned this elsewhere, so apologies) the big downside is there are more seeds than pulp, and the fruit is small as you know. I’ve never had trouble telling when they are ripe, just wait until they’re a nice uniform red to burgundy. Unlike the O. ficus-indica fruits, you can eat the skin on them, which makes it easier once de-spined and improves the seed to flesh ratio, but dilutes the flavor. All in all, it’s mostly a novelty.
There are a couple species that might be able to make it where you are that has fruits sort of halfway to the size of O ficus-indica. Those are O engelmanni and O stricta, I believe. I had a small potted plant of probably O engelmanni that survived a few z6 Kansas winters on the south side of a house until I decided to get rid of it (never got big enough to fruit in that pot). Experimental farm network sells seeds of what is probably O stricta collected in z7 NJ, so that could be worth trying.
I also want to try to pollinate with O ficus-indica pollen as prickly pears hybridize readily, but there may be ploidy issues.
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Another great source (the source, one might argue) for cold-hardy cactus is Mesa Garden in NM. They have the largest selection of seed that I’m aware of, but you have to either be willing to put in some serious browsing time and/or already know what you’re looking for. They use cryptic cultivation codes to describe germination, hardiness, etc. Their target audience is definitely botanical collectors rather than ornamental or fruit growers, so you’ll have to dig and read between the lines to find out about fruit. Some of the hardy Escobaria (sometimes called Mammilaria) have small edible fruits as well. I believe @Luisport is growing some and could comment on fruit quality. They have an O engelmanni seed (Carrizzozo, NM, huge edible fruits) rated for 10F and up, but that’s based on where they collected it, so it may be hardier.
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Description of fruits of Escobaria missouriensis from Yellow Pincushion Cactus - Escobaria missouriensis
Pincushion cactus fruits are juicy, sweet and edible, and they do not require peeling. They were eaten as a confection by the Blackfoot Indians.
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@jcguarneri, you may be our best hope for delicious, large, cold hardy cactus in the north. I’ll be rooting for you.
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Haha! No pressure. I have a feeling it’s going to be like what they say about good, cheap, and fast- you can have up to two out of three!
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I have been growing nopal cactus up here in PNWet for about 20 years. I plant them in gravel also. If you think they will melt, you can cut a single pad and put them indoors. They will heal if dry. They will store amazing amounts of time if dry, like 6 months! Then plant in the spring. They fruit here sometimes, sometimes not. Sometimes you have to wait until the next spring for them to ripen. They taste good when they do. We don’t get the heat all night and all day for 6-9 months like some places, although we got 108, 112, and 116 in a row a few days ago.
John S
PDX OR
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I have a bucket full of Mesa Sky pads that still look good I cut last fall.
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Check out @luisport 's cactus fruits. Escobaria fruits are similar - small berries tucked among the spines. All cactus fruits are edible, from what I understand, and some are tasty. Only a few (O ficus-indicum and dragonfruit, for example) will give significant harvests of large fruit. Saguaro is supposed to have big, tasty fruit, but you’re not gonna be able to grow that outside of a greenhouse, and the yield would be small.
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Fruitwood nursery has a good selection of cactus: https://www.fruitwoodnursery.com/cacti-and-succulents/prickly-pear
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I’m trying these (Vineland) and also their Willoughby Spit cactus seeds this winter. Germination is, as expected, slow. After a month and a week+ I have one Vineland and six Willoughby Spit seedlings. They’re cute little dudes; here’s one getting its first true pad:
I soaked them for twenty-four hours in filtered water before surface sowing them under humidity domes and on bottom heat. I’m thinking both—and the Vineland especially— might’ve benefited from some sort of scarification and/or stratification. Of course, it’s way too early to give up. Opuntia seeds are apparently notoriously slow and uneven germinators; I’ve heard of some taking months to pop up.
If any of you adventurous sorts want to try, they’ve still got these seeds in stock:
They also run an “open source” breeding program that might be of interest to some folks here:
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I’ve been growing this cactus for a few years unprotected in 7B. It has produced a few small fruit, but the flowers are particularly stunning. I also have a larger, yellow flowered prickly pear with more substantial fruit.
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Wow, that red inner is stunning! I planted some Opuntia humifusa last year here in zone 5 and they did survive the winter. No flowers yet, but maybe next year.
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Update on my Experimental Farm Network “Vineland” and “Willoughby Spit” seedlings. No more germination from the former, but two more of the latter finally sprouted.
They’re doing pretty well, though I must admit that I’ve kind of neglected them during garden and orchard season. Something broke one of them—but I’m attempting to root the broken top half, and I expect that the bottom will probably push new growth one day. A couple, as you can see, are growing new pads.
Anyone else try these seeds?
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