Use a cactus or succulent compost, or a mix of soil-based compost and perlite. Water whenever the compost has dried out, allowing any excess to drain away. Feed with a cactus fertiliser once every two months from spring to early autumn. In winter, move to a cooler spot to encourage flowers.
Repot young plants every spring, and mature plants every couple of years. You can grow prickly pear cacti from seed, but the easiest way to propagate them is by taking cuttings. Be sure to use tweezers or tongs. Shrivelled leaves are a sign of underwatering. Water the compost gradually over a few days, letting any excess drain away. If parts of the plant have gone mushy, they have rotted. This is due to overwatering and this may also have been combined with low temperatures.
Depending on how widespread the problem is, you could cut away any rotted areas and repot the plant into fresh compost. If your cactus has patches of brown or white, this is sunburn. Move the plant out of direct sunshine in the hottest months. If your prickly pear is splitting, this is due to overwatering.
Color: Blue-green pads; yellow, orange or red flowers followed by fruit that changes from yellow to red. Many are spineless and also lack glochids. This Opuntia starts out as a succulent shrub and eventually matures with a woody trunk and becomes tree-like. Color: New pads mature from red to dark green, yellow flowers followed by purple or red fruit.
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.
More about the newsletter. Copyright All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Get planting advice, garden design tips and trends, monthly checklists for your area, product specials and more in our weekly newsletter. Subscribe No Thanks. From tools to furniture, these garden products are sure to delight. Prickly pear rarely needs fertilizer when planted in the ground unless you have very poor soil.
You can apply a balanced fertilizer during the growing season, following product instructions. You also can choose a high-nitrogen fertilizer for larger pads or a low-nitrogen fertilizer for more flowers and fruits.
You can propagate the plant through cuttings or by seed. To propagate by cuttings, sever a few pads from the parent plant, and let them dry to allow the wounds to heal. Next, place the butt end of the prickly pear in a pot with dry soil, and refrain from watering to avoid rot until you witness growth. When the cutting has taken root, it will provide resistance to a gentile tug; if there is no resistance, and the cutting comes right out of the soil, reposition it and wait some more.
To propagate by seed, cut open a ripe fruit, scoop out some seeds, and rinse the pulp from the seeds. Let them dry thoroughly. Sprinkle the seeds into a pot of moist not wet and well-draining soil.
Lightly cover the seeds with a thin layer of soil or sand. Then, cover the pot in clear plastic wrap, and place it in a warm, sunny spot.
Seed germination can take several weeks or months. When growing prickly pear in containers, choose a pot with generous drainage holes at the bottom. Fill it with a well-draining potting mix, such as one specially made for succulents. Then, put on thick protective gloves to plant your new prickly pear in its pot. When your prickly pear becomes root-bound or is too large and unstable in its container, only then should you consider repotting.
To do so, first make sure the soil is dry. Then, shimmy the plant away from the pot by grabbing its base and knocking away the old soil. Place it in a slightly larger pot, and backfill with well-draining potting mix. 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. Harvest fruit by twisting the fruit and gently pulling it away from the pad.
You know the fruit is ripe when the glochids, or thorns, fall off the light or dark colored bumps on the fruit. Be sure to wear gloves to protect your hands from thorns when harvesting from the prickly pear. Cover the soil with mulch in winter.
To prevent damage from the cold, even if you live in a warm climate, cover the soil surrounding the prickly pear with mulch in the fall. Did you know you can get expert answers for this article? Unlock expert answers by supporting wikiHow. Can I grow prickly pear cactus at a high altitude of meters in Lebanon? Andrew Carberry, MPH.
Support wikiHow by unlocking this expert answer. Not Helpful 1 Helpful Not Helpful 5 Helpful 8. My prickly pear cactus won't fruit. It is in a sunny location in Southern California, what's going wrong?
It is possibly its focusing on growth more than reproduction, meaning it's growing more instead of flowering. The recommended solution is to add a fertilizer. Often, these fertilizers are labeled "super bloom" or "ultra bloom".
Not Helpful 0 Helpful Will my prickly pear that was left outside in its pot over winter still rejuvenate? It should. They wrinkle a bit from the cold, but they bounce right back in the spring. Prickly pear cactus is hardy and can be successfully grown as far north as Canada. Not Helpful 3 Helpful I propagated my prickly pear from a pad two to three years ago and it's healthy, but hasn't grown another pad or flower.
I live in Johannesburg. What can I do? While cacti are extremely drought tolerant, they still require water. If it is not growing, it likely needs additional water. Cacti also are intolerant of shade. Not Helpful 5 Helpful Shadow Gaming. You can take the seeds from the fruit and use them to grow more cacti. Only take fruit that has ripened and is solid red in color. Not Helpful 1 Helpful 8. Place the leaves flat on a moist part of the ground in the full sun, it should grow its own roots and begin producing fruit.
Not Helpful 4 Helpful Early spring is the best because it is the best growing season for the plant. That will allow it to grow once you plant it. Not Helpful 0 Helpful 4. Outdoors, it needs full sun. Indoors, a south-facing window is the bare minimum, and will likely result in poor growth. Not Helpful 7 Helpful 9.
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