some kind person gave me a prickly pear cactus start and it is doing well and i love it
now i want to grow more and wonder if the prickly pear pads sold in the mexican grocery store would grow? or are they treated so they will not grow?
prickly pear cactus
I would like to know that too. I tried to do it a few months ago and the whole thing rotted from the top down. I have rooted many other prickley pear with sucess including just laying them down on top of the soil and watering. This was an accident but it worked out wonderfully.
It's hard to say but I do know that they are not spineless, they remove the spines. If you want more there are many mail order nurseries that sell them. But beware some have very painful spines and lots of small irritatiing hairs. I bought 2 of the spineless type and now have many. Last winter made them fall apart so to speak so each little broken piece can be rooted. Just don't water them until growth of new pads begins, if you do they often rot. They are easy to propagate, just wait till they make new pads and cut them off to root. I have some that I removed and still haven't repotted. If I come to the fall roundup in Arlington I can bring them...if I ever put them in dirt.
C
I am not a 'thorns' person as I am a touchy feely gardener but if they are like the succulents (which I love) you will want to allow the broken pieces to air dry and callous over before you place them on soil. I would not plant them in soil but rather lay them at an angle supported by a rock or the edge of a container. The roots will grow out of the side of the cacti pads. Also, if I am not mistaken the store purchased pieces are sealed with a type of wax to retain moisture. You might try trimming that end lightly, then air dry before placing in soil. As you are already growing some, you will have a good idea of the type of soil required. If you try it, please let us know what your results are ~ success or failure.
thank you all for so much advice! i will pick up some leaves when i am going that way and give it a try-and will let everyone know the results--i have kind of gotten into letting things grow from "nothing"--like i have a pineapple top that is growing in a pot in the yard and another pineapple top waiting to go in the dirt, and i have little starts from my coleus and african violets along with branches of oleander and swedish ivy starts and even cane begonia waiting to be planted--i am enjoying it all and so any other ideas for starting something from nothing will be appreciated!
A sweet potato suspended in a jar of water will make pretty vines and the vines can be removed to grow new sweet potato plants.
i read this at the wrong time! cooked and ate sweet peppers tonight!
i will maybe give that a try tho--next shopping trip
meant to say sweet potatoes not sweetjpeppers-----oh no! now i am typing the way i talk!
This message was edited Jul 7, 2010 7:26 AM
Sweet potatoes ~ not peppers. Don't know what peppers would do...
Podster, my hubby is from deep east texas, where are you? He's from Jasper.
My best cactus grown from leaf/pad was given me by a park worker setting in a new bench at our hike n' bike trail. I carried it home in my bandana and it grew well when I let it "harden" then scraped up the soil a little where I wanted it, and laid it on it's side. It grew three pads and a deer bit into the top of the tallest one and it grew heart shaped. People asked if I'd done it on purpose. I have since seen them notched like sunbursts or shapes cut through them. These are prickly pears.
planolinda, have you tried avocado pits? Put three strong toothpicks around the sides mid-way and suspend over a jar with bottom half in water. I haven't tried rooting oleander but I don't love mine, it was a mistake as it was labeled dark pink and is very pale pink.
Honestly I just pot the prickly pear pads and they grow for me...just don't water.
C
Right, I don't water 'till there's new growth.
I have been to Jasper and always thought it a nice size town but not a direction I go very often. We are about 70 miles north of Jasper and almost as far east as you can get, close to Toledo Bend.
I have a relative that has land out in Kerrville and I took some long thorned prickly pear home with me. I left it out for about 2 weeks before I potted it. Let the cut end callous over first, then put it in a pot of half cactus soil and sand. I just put the cut section half way in the soil and let God do the rest. I dont even ever water that thing and its doing awesome. This was last Summer when I potted it and it lasted threw all of the freezes this past winter.
well-----------i got 2 cactus pads at the grocery store-one little and one big--i put the little one on top of the dirt in a big potted plant in the atrium and the big one i put on the dirt outside
i will let everyone know what happens--but as far as not watering--we do expect rain this week so it will get watered----i also broke off the little pad (about the size of my thumb) from the prickly pear i already have growing and put it into the dirt---
on another note--lowes has prickley pear cactus for 9 dollars--big with plenty of pads--so i will resort to that if i need to but i am holding off for now--also folks sell the pads on ebay! but with shipping they are kind of pricy for one pad
i have avacado in the house and might give that a try--
planolinda, if you are ever near Cleburne, Tx. Come by. I will give you the stickerless cactus pads. It is almost impossible to kill them other than too much water and too low temps.
thank you tenner
stickerless would be nice!
by the way--where is cleburne
Linda....Cleburne is about 45 minutes south of me, so if you venture that way you better stop here too!
Maybe we could have a "get together" of some sort.
Well Linda wants to come here but we never seem to make the time.
this coming week is not good but the following week is--
Just checked my calendar. Did have company coming but they cancelled....I am free except Friday mornings. Dmail me when you decide what day is best Linda, then we can dmail you tanner and see if you can make it. I don't like to post plan details on line.
Sheila, that sounds like a plan. Pick a place and I will come with cactus. I am usually not available on Fridays and Saturdays.
I will dmail you my address when we set a day/time.
While on a family trip to Fredricksburg, I found a paddle of thornless prickly pear lying on the sidewalk next to a nice large specimen. I thought it make a neat memory, so I picked it up and brought it home. I put it into a mix of sand and potting soil after a few days, and it took right off and is planted in one of my beds now. I also like to drop by the local nurseries when I travel in the appropriate weather zones. I guess plants are kind of my equivalent of travel tchotchkes. :)
And you don't have to dust them Dennis!
I was given a start of a thornless cactus from someone down in Cleburne once. She showed me paddles where she allowed her kids to carve out their initial I think it was. The cactus heals itself and keeps on growing. I kept it for quite a while, but it wasn't fitting in with my other plants so I passed it and some agaves on at a RU.
Well we had our meeting and swapped cactus, beebalm, soap, candles, and loads of other stuff. PlanoLinda and tannergal were troopers in the heat that day; we enjoyed it. Bill, Linda's DH came also, hopefully he will join us at RU this October.
I think it is great you all got together.
" PlanoLinda and tannergal were troopers in the heat that day; we enjoyed it. Bill, Linda's DH came also, hopefully he will join us at RU this October."
actually plano linda and tannergal were just trying to keep up with sheila who is like the energizer bunny!
and yes bill enjoyed himself--now he sees there are perks to being married to a dave's gardener!!
LOL!! I knew we had so much to dig and pot.
Next time I have someone over I am going to make sure I have things potted up ahead of time to share. I had just emptied everything I had when we had a plant share at our neighborhood association meeting last month. ....So I have already started potting up stray plants for the next time!
I am in awe of Josephine and her collection of plants in her yard, but especially those she grows for native plant sales and round ups! They are everywhere in her yard, all organized and she knows all their names!
oh you did pretty good with the names too! i liked helping --really -i did like helping-----it gave me ideas of how to do things, it was fun learning about the plants and it was nice visiting and getting better aquaintaed
but YOU were the one who worked so hard--i just bumbled around and asked for the name of each plant 3x LOL
i just know josephine is the same way--organized and plant savy!
lastly---don't plants have wonderful names?
Yeah like frogfruit, LOL!
BTW did you look at the icy formations of the Frostweed?
i sure did and i love it but am a little confused how it happens
It is the juices of the plant and when we get a hard freeze the stem bursts open and the fluid squirts out and freezes. You have to get up early and go out and check each of the stems...even the small ones put a little out. As soon as the sun hits them they begin to dissappear. This pic shows it really well.
Oh My!! I just love the Frostweed in all seasons, such a wonderful plant.
isn't nature just so amazing?!
josephine you don't even need to tell us how much YOU like frostweed :)
i look forward to enjoying it in all seasons as well
Plus it is a butterfly host plant!! This little Silvery-Checkerspot was one of several I raised one year.
everytime i see a new butterfly i think of you sheila--
saw an orange one yesterday--not monarch and not the one you have in your pic--different
Bet it was the Gulf Fritillary that uses the Passion Vines for it's host plant.
that's it all right!!
and of course i do have th passion vines for it---do passion vines bring humming birds? i can't seem to attract many
Not really. But the Turk's Cap and Flame Acanthus sure do. If you don't have those, Josephine can fix you up come October I bet.