A Gardeners Forum Forums Gardening Reference Gardening in 2004 Cactus

I didn't put this in the mystery plant section because I know that someone is going to know, right off & I need to make sure of what I'm doing to the poor thing. Phoebe, don't cry when you see it, OK?

There is a story behind it...my sister left it here, in a bucket, no soil. Several sections were kinda starting to curl, so I potted it. But the soil was very compact & hardening like concrete. I bought some of that cactus soil, and repotted it a couple of days ago. Anyway, by this time it was beginning to root pretty good but I was worried about it not draining good. Now, I think maybe I've got that ok. I do have a few rocks in the bottom of the pot so that the soil doesn't block the drain hole and I staked it because it was leaning before & started growing the wrong direction. I plan on putting it in a rock garden that I'm going to have ready this fall. So, what kind of cactus is it? Any more advice?

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prickly pear
BUT you won't actually know which one till it blooms most bloom yellow some bloom orange a few red some are yellow but inner flower is orange.......AND they set fruit...least some do,but some don't,most the fruit taste good and have had one the fruit was kinda tart.AND there is one yes one as far as know when doing search that has no flower or anything no fruit either,so is solely "pad"propagted.


mines just in sandy loam& really needs a weed job,but you can guess why have not weeded.I actually looked at it today...once stared at weeds a minute locateing it...and from the looks...would be easier to dig and move to a weedless spot than to weed and keep weedless spot weed free.mine blooms juneish,was early this year,but frost was over early too.In our winter mine does a lil shrivleing(ya know looks like it ages B4 Me eyes)but the shrivles go away when warms up.and beware...deer will feed on them.I have a calloused pad due to a deer that walked in yard when gate ws open...or maybe he hopped over for a snack.which I seen a deer today.ran across road on way into town,wished had a gun.I bet he was 150-175 lbs,had felt on antlers...he knew where he ws going too.he ran stright.not all dizzy blonde like some of um do.anyway...ya got a prickly pear& WATCH THEM SPINES.the long ones not too bad...itsthe shorty ones....which you can take a lighter and burn those off.I recomend borrowing or buying some welding gloves...or cheapey way is folding a few layers of newspaper and useing tongs.and if you DO get fruit set.is lots of seeds inside...like 40 or more& they need cold treatment to grow before planting.fruit is good but little of it is in there .And can remove spines from pads and puree and is good for uclers& very healthy.I have a old post on here somewhere about it.

Thanks! Yeah, when I was repotting it, I had a heck of a time getting it out of the hardened dirt...tried one pair of gloves, had to go get a different pair. I've got the little prickly things in various places, just keep finding them, LOL. I think I ended up taking all of them off of one pad while I was working with it. Thanks for the info! I don't know why my sister left it here (she's the gardener) but I've adopted it & I'm gonna make it live. When she saw my Mother of Thousands, a few months ago, I thought she was gonna cry, so I repotted them (a little deeper) and started taking care of them. They look a LOT better now

Hi Sami!
Your cactus seems to be a species of the Opuntia gender, maybe O. bergeriana or O. cochenillifera . But don't trust me, 'cause I'm not an expert in Cactaceae, just a curious gardner.
Best gardening!

Eddy - Brazil

when you get thoswe pricly things make a paste of dish soap& brown sugar,take a baggie and tape over fingers when go to bed wash hands in morning and should be gone...some reaction makes them rise to surface and has to be on a few hours...so does better at bedtime.

when you get thoswe pricly things make a paste of dish soap& brown sugar,take a baggie and tape over fingers when go to bed wash hands in morning and should be gone...some reaction makes them rise to surface and has to be on a few hours...so does better at bedtime.

cactus to eat!
http://www.desertusa.com/magdec97/eating/nopales.html

Desert!
http://www.desertusa.com/magnov97/oct_pear.html

I take my grill lighter and burn off while on plant...its easier....and then ya won't need tongs

and a list of catus to check out
http://www.desertusa.com/cgi-bin/swish-cgi.pl

Cool! I didn't know I was growing something I could eat, LOL! Lots of good info there. Thanks a lot!