New pads appear in pairs, giving rise to its nickname, bunny ears. Although spineless, this variety still packs a punch with numerous clusters of glochids that can cause significant skin irritation with the slightest touch. Color: Light green to blue-green pads, yellow-orange flowers followed by purple-red fruit. Color: Blue-green pads turn purple in cold weather or drought, bright yellow flowers with red center followed by purple-red fruit. Another variety that handles colder climates, with long dark spines that accent the blue-green or purple pads.
This large-growing variety can with or without spines, and its fruit is better left for the birds. Color: Blue-gray pads turn purple in winter, yellow flowers followed by purple fruit. Get plant information, gardening solutions, design inspiration and more in our weekly newsletter.
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Other: Because of their spiny nature, prickly pear cactus are deer resistant. Where to plant: Prickly pears need a location that receives full sun with well-draining soil.
How to plant: Transplant at the same level as they are currently growing; deeper planting may cause them to rot. Other: Wear thick gloves and heavy long sleeves to guard against being poked by a spine or touching the skin-irritating glochids. See more on starting from seed or pad cuttings under Propagation. Soil: Prickly pears prefer alkaline to neutral soil. Watering: Prickly pears are extremely drought tolerant. Birds are attracted to the small purple fruit of this colorful Opuntia.
In colder climates, plant non-hardy types in containers so they can be moved indoors. Use spineless varieties where people or animals might come in contact with them, or simply to get the look and not the poke! Prickly pear is a surprisingly simple cactus.
It's easy and undemanding to grow, hardy enough to survive in climates down to at least USDA Zone 4 , and boasts a cheery, delicate flower. The cactus can either be started from cuttings in the early summer or from seeds in late spring. Still, for an element of surprise in your landscape, slip in an eastern prickly pear or two.
Eastern prickly pear is an easy-to-care-for cactus, favored by desert dwellers and cool-weather gardeners alike. Its stems are divided into flat paddle-like segments that are approximately two to five inches long with a blue tint.
The narrow spines are wedge-shaped and the flowers, which come into bloom in mid-summer, are a brilliant yellow. The flowers are followed by edible purple or red fruits called tunas. These are the prickly pears and, though they're not as large and tasty as the prickly pears of O. Prickly pears are a cactus, so they need well-draining soil first and foremost.
Plant in full sun in a sandy or gravely mix and go easy on the water. As with most cacti, the eastern prickly pear does best in full sun for at least eight hours a day. That being said, it can handle partial shade if it's planted in hotter climates, like a more traditional desert landscape. More light exposure will also lead to a larger plant and more blooms come mid-to-late spring and summer.
In order for the prickly pear to thrive, it needs to be planted in well-draining soil. Your best bet is a mixture that is dry, sandy, or gravelly, but it can also do well in a mixture that is primarily clay, so long as it drains very well and the soil does not retain much moisture.
When it comes to pH levels, prickly pear isn't especially high-maintenance and can thrive in a neutral-to-acidic mixture with a pH level of 6. As to be expected, the prickly pear cactus is extremely drought tolerant, so when it doubt, water it less than you think it needs.
In most areas, your typical rainfall will likely be enough for the cactus to thrive but if not, you can plan to water the plant every two to four weeks. Stand the fruit up on one end. Make a thin, vertical slice down one side of the skin, and carefully stick a finger underneath.
Peel away the skin by unwrapping the fruit like an orange. Use your fingers to break apart the flesh to find the seeds, which are studded throughout the fruit. Prepare a garden pot. Take a small garden pot that has a hole in the bottom. Cover the bottom of the pot with a layer of small rocks, which will allow water to drain better. Fill the pot with soil that contains about half soil and half sand, rough pumice, or loam. These soils drain better than ones with a high clay content, and are more similar to the natural desert soils a cactus prefers.
Poke several holes in the bottom to allow water to drain out. To grow multiple prickly pears, prepare several garden pots in this way. Plant the seeds. Lay one or two seeds on top of the soil. Gently press the seeds into the soil and cover them with a light dusting of soil. You want the soil to be moist, but not wet. Keep the pots in a warm but shady place. As the seeds grow, keep the soil moist until they germinate. Prickly pears grown from seeds tend to take longer to grow than propagated plants, and the resulting cacti could take three to four years to produce flowers and fruit.
However, growing plants from seeds is important for ensuring genetic diversity. Method 2. Find an establish prickly pear to propagate. Another way to grow prickly pear is to use a cutting from an established plant.
To propagate prickly pear from existing plants, you use cuttings from the pads of the plants, which are actually modified stems or branches. Cut off a pad. Let the pad form a callous. To prevent infection and rotting, you must let the cactus pad cutting form a callous where it was cut before you can plant it. Lay the pad on a bed of soil or sandy soil for one to two weeks, until the cut has healed.
Fill the bottom of a medium planting pot with stones to allow for drainage. Fill the rest of the pot with sandy or loamy soil, which will also allow for good drainage. The ideal soil will be a half-and-half mixture of soil and sand or pumice. Plant the pad when the cut has healed.
Make a one- to two-inch hole in the soil with your finger. Place the pad upright in the garden pot, with the cut end in the soil. Bury the end. Do not bury the end more than one or two inches deep, otherwise it could rot. Water the plant. Water the plant only when the soil looks dry, about once or twice per week. Place the pad in the sun. Unlike prickly pear seeds, pads need plenty of direct sunlight. Once the cutting has established roots it will be ready for full sun exposure.
Method 3. Choose a permanent location for the cactus. You can continue growing your prickly pear in a pot, or you can transplant it into the ground. To transplant the cactus, choose an outdoor location that gets lots of full sun exposure. Even if you keep the prickly pear in a pot, it still needs to be positioned somewhere that gets full sun. If you live in a climate with colder winters where temperatures dip below 14 degrees F degrees C , keep the prickly pear in a pot so you can move it indoors when the weather gets cold.
Transplant the cactus. The best time to transplant a prickly pear is in the late spring, when the risk of frost and excessive rain are done. Get the pot as near to the hole as possible. Gently tip the pot upside down and cup the plant with a gloved hand. Place the roots in the hole and cover it with soil.
Pack the soil down with your hands and saturate it with water. During the first week, water the plant every three to four days. After that, water the cactus every three to four weeks. After the first year of establishment, it will not need any extra watering aside from the rain it gets. Harvest pads and fruit once the plant is established. Let the prickly pear establish itself for several months before harvesting pads or fruit. Wait for the plant to grow a second or third pad before harvesting pads, [16] X Research source and wait until there are at least eight blooms on a pad before harvesting the fruit it produces.
This is when the acid content is lowest. Remove the pads just above the joint.
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