I have opuntia humifusa (eastern prickly pear) and what I do is leave the fruits on the plant. Then the following year I take them off the plant and then cut them in half. Next I put the cut side up in a pot of soil then cover with 3/4 to an inch of soil. They sprout in 2 - 3 weeks.
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About half of my cactus in a cut in half ibc container the rest are in pots
Seedling cactus I started last year
A fruit from last year that survived -6
The fruit cut in half
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That looks great! What species of opuntia are they? What zone are you?
I have these enchinocereus seeds going for about a month. Going pretty well. I still don’t know what particular varieties taste the best, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
Echinocereus reichenbachii perbellus
Echinocereus coccineus
Enchinocereus fendleri rectispinus
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Desert glow barely survived for me in 8a. Honestly, i think high rainfall in fall and winter kills them. The expansion when the freeze hits melts most of them.
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Opuntia humifusa
Zone 6a/6b usda says 6b but every year it get to -6 F and below
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So far it has handled -9F (maybe more since I’m in a river bottom) without any damage.
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We have a lot of drizzle here between November and April. I just plant them in gravel. Some make it, some don’t.
John S
PDX OR
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Sorry John, if I missed it in this thread, but are you growing Opuntia ficus-indica, the classic prickly pear, or rather more cold hardy opuntia species?
Does this look acceptable?
I just got these pads from the asian market. The ends were cut already and I mounded up the soil slightly on the ends.
Yes, just the one you buy in the grocery store. An older Latino man was fascinated watching my wife buy them. He was trying to not let her see that he couldn’t believe she was buying that. Many people buy foods that are not in their family history.
John S
PDX OR
I like to plant them sideways, so they are perpendicular to the soil line. They rot less that way. I also plant them in gravel.
John S
PDX OR
Thanks, John. They are not for sale in my local stores here in Europe but it looks like I can buy prickly pear pads online that are being sold as tortoise feed.
I saw this picture of someone’s happy pet tortoise eating his greens. So cute!
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@JohnS
The pads are laying flat on the ground and in an area that previous owners used to park cars, or a motorhome. Lots of gravel!
However, I can pile more up wherever it is they are to grow.
long term update on the cactus here
all but two are doing well no flowers or fruit but many new pads. I tried to pad start more and only one took:
the others went white and seem dead. this spot gets good sun and heat and less water as it’s under a tree and roof edge.
the spineless has gotten huge! again no flower or fruit but I could eat some pads soon. one was knocked loose during a wind storm and I’m about to try to root it to get another plant. all that from one pad. I love these plants, they are incredibly strong.
it makes these little soft spines then they fall off. I might pull one young pad to eat fried.
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Aren’t the “spineless” ones still covered in the tiny, brutal glochids?
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That’s certainly true for my “spineless” prickly pear. Easily dislodged by barely brushing the plant with a gloved hand - and they really are painful!
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they are only in the spots where a spine would be- pretty easy to avoid and remove! compared to the others. you can see a few in the second photo of it
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I thought I’d give an update. My enchinocereus are doing well. I added some organ pipe cactus and Peruvian apple cactus seedlings. They will grow much larger than the enchinocereus and need to be brought inside during the winter, but I’m excited for the future fruit; supposedly the best cacti fruit.
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Cacti are another hobby, which dates back way further than growing fruit.
This summer I propagated around 35 spineless Opuntia’s from cuttings. The fruits are small but very sweet. The fruits are the only part of the cactus containing glochids.
They easily survive -6 Celsius and five months of winter rain.
All my other cacti are inside, where it also gets below freezing. Almost all cacti can easily survive -6 Celsius, but winter rain would instantly turn them into mush.
This Trichocereus is also very winter hardy, as it has been outside for years in pure clay soil and survived at least 15 winters with lots of rain. It is in good soil and dry winter conditions now.
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Nice to see this thread. I got a prickly pear cactus pad from facebook marketplace last year and planted it at my folks’ place in central NH (5b). They have a big granite slab up the hilly driveway that gets hot and dry with occasional runoff for water; I found a large crevice, filled it with sandy soil, and placed the pads on it. They survived the summer nicely; we’ll see if they survived the cold snaps this winter, and maybe eventually if the fruit tastes any good.
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