# Moving An Older Opuntia



## Turtulas-Len (Jun 14, 2014)

I decided to start moving plants today. This is the first of several I plan to move to what I believe are better locations. It was rather uneventful, I dug it up before I thought about taking pics. The first pic is it right after digging it up, laying on the ground , I was a little surprised how big it was, before digging I thought it was 2 plants.

Then I slid it onto a large plastic bag, because I had to move it quite a ways.

That handle is from a rake that is turned upside down so it will grab the plant and I pulled it to it's new home.

After getting it in place I tied some twine around it to the fence to help hold it up until it is good and rooted in. I actually did finish just forgot to take the last pic. lost about 8 pads in the move which I don't think is bad. I have a re-potting to do that is going to be more difficult to complete without destroying the plant. still not 100% sure how to keep it together while moving this

into a much larger pot. The pot it is now is a 10 inch concrete, one with a small base, in a short time it will have a tendency to tip over, can't have that, this may be my RED Bloomer.


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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Jun 14, 2014)

I would have planted cactus pad in the new spot and when it got big enough I would just cut down the old one and Barry the parts in the ground to add veg. Matter to the soil . But they are nice looking plants . Good luck . 


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## Team Gomberg (Jun 14, 2014)

Wow! ...but you failed to mention your battle wounds. How many "boo boos" did you get from this big ol' beast?


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## Jacqui (Jun 15, 2014)

Team Gomberg said:


> Wow! ...but you failed to mention your battle wounds. How many "boo boos" did you get from this big ol' beast?



That was exactly my question. I know just looking at the pictures I got a few punctures.


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## Yvonne G (Jun 15, 2014)

I'm afraid you're quite a bit more adventurous than I...I would have cut it back drastically before trying to mess with it.


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## bigred (Jun 15, 2014)

I probably would have just planted more pads in the new area, you are braver than I am. I was wondering how many times you got poked to


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## tortadise (Jun 15, 2014)

Still looking for that red bloomer huh? Len I have a very mature plant of that species. It took 8 years for it to bloom. It bloomed purple.


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## Jacqui (Jun 15, 2014)

Kelly now you have caused him to lose the pleasure of his expectations, you meanie. Purple sounds pretty and I am thinking after he repots it, he may need a blood transfusion.


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## Tom (Jun 15, 2014)

Len will you let us know how this goes? I've never tried to dig one up and replant it. I've always just plopped a new mature pad into the ground and started from scratch if I wanted to grow it in a new place. It is so easy to propagate here. I feed out a five gallon bucket of cut off pads once or twice a week all summer long here.

Jacqui, What do you think is your issue with cactus? Is it a winter thing?


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 15, 2014)

Here is the plant where it is going to stay, all mulched up to keep the warm soil moist.

I have done this before and with this particular type of opuntia I have a system that works for me, so for the most part very few pokes or boo boos. Kelly I've had this one 10 years and this year it decided to bloom for the first time. It's a pretty purple. The one I'm getting ready to re-pot looks to be a different kind. so still could get a red bloom

Tom I don't have problems with propagation, I do it different than you and probably everyone else on this forum in the early spring. I cut and plant in plastic pots on the same day using un-watered soil it may be dry or wet but I don't water at all, we get enough spring rain to take care of their water needs. In the late summer or fall I do it the normal way, let it crust over before planting in case it doesn't root out enough to make it through winter. Where you live plays a big part of how to grow cactus and what cactus you can grow year round, what I do here may not work in a different location, like Nebraska,


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## Tom (Jun 15, 2014)

I've started them in pots before. Not the same day as they were cut though. I should give that a try and see what happens.

Thanks for the idea Len!


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 22, 2014)

I moved the cholla into a bigger pot without destroying it, or me. What made it easy was when looking closely at the concrete pot it was in, I saw a small crack running from top to bottom, so stuck a small screwdriver in the crack and twisted it and the pot split in half, That gave me a solid bound root system to handle it by. Was able to glue the pot back together, as good as it was. Here it is in it's new home,I hope it likes where I put it and grows tall and sturdy.


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## naturalman91 (Jun 22, 2014)

Len said:


> I moved the cholla into a bigger pot without destroying it, or me. What made it easy was when looking closely at the concrete pot it was in, I saw a small crack running from top to bottom, so stuck a small screwdriver in the crack and twisted it and the pot split in half, That gave me a solid bound root system to handle it by. Was able to glue the pot back together, as good as it was. Here it is in it's new home,I hope it likes where I put it and grows tall and sturdy.
> View attachment 84670



i have a cactus just like that do you feed it to torts? it looks to spiney to me even if it were despined


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## parrotlady (Jun 22, 2014)

I don't know about others, but I never feed it to my tortoises. It happens to grow wild around my place. I grow it outside my fence to keep would be thiefs out! Nobody has ever climbed over my fence. It is very daunting.


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 22, 2014)

No I do not feed this type, I also have others that are not suitable for tortoise food but grow just to see if they can survive our winters and me. I have been playing with cactus as a hobby for almost 50 years.


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## Turtulas-Len (Oct 26, 2014)

Tom said:


> Len will you let us know how this goes? I've never tried to dig one up and replant it. I've always just plopped a new mature pad into the ground and started from scratch if I wanted to grow it in a new place. It is so easy to propagate here. I feed out a five gallon bucket of cut off pads once or twice a week all summer long here.



Here is a pic taken this evening, I believe the roots have taken a good hold and it should do great next spring.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 26, 2014)

Turtulas-Len said:


> I moved the cholla into a bigger pot without destroying it, or me. What made it easy was when looking closely at the concrete pot it was in, I saw a small crack running from top to bottom, so stuck a small screwdriver in the crack and twisted it and the pot split in half, That gave me a solid bound root system to handle it by. Was able to glue the pot back together, as good as it was. Here it is in it's new home,I hope it likes where I put it and grows tall and sturdy.
> View attachment 84670




You are truly a brave, brave man. Did you know that cholla is also known as the jumping cactus? So-called because when you get near it seems to jump off the plant and attach itself to you.


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## Turtulas-Len (Oct 26, 2014)

Yvonne G said:


> You are truly a brave, brave man. Did you know that cholla is also known as the jumping cactus? So-called because when you get near it seems to jump off the plant and attach itself to you.


Yes I have experienced that, Once it attaches it is almost impossible to remove with fingers, because you can't release it. I think there is glue in them little stickers.


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## motero (Oct 27, 2014)

It is Teddy Bear Cholla that is called jumping cactus. The spines are barbed like a Porcupine quill, very painful to remove. The Cholla in this post looks like Staghorn Cholla. Sonoran tortoises do eat Cholla spines and all.


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 8, 2015)

It's been a year since the move and it survived, even has some blooms.

Here are pics of some of the other plants used for tortoise food that are planted in the ground,


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## Yvonne G (Jun 8, 2015)

Dang that first one's pretty. Love the different colors of the blossoms.


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 9, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> Dang that first one's pretty. Love the different colors of the blossoms.


That is one of my favorites, not only is it a pretty plant, it also produces large tender pads that have very few spines for the tortoises to eat without a whole lot of cleaning. This is a 12 inch pad,

The real spines come later in the season though, Also it does great in the cold, wet, sub freezing temperatures we get over winter.

I almost forgot about the fruit, already I have picked 400 from this bunch in the russian area. Here are 300 of those waiting to be fed off.


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## DeanS (Jun 16, 2015)

@Turtulas-Len do you think maybe you can grow a few more cactus...I don't think you have enough! 

...and congratulations on your efforts...the _fruits_ of your labor are paying off!


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## DeanS (Jun 16, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> Dang that first one's pretty. Love the different colors of the blossoms.


No kidding!


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## Turtulas-Len (Jun 29, 2017)

It's been 3 years since I moved this plant it is still doing fine and growing even though I have neglected it this year. As you can see I need to pull weeds.

There is a bunch of new growth pads and fewer fruit because of the later in the season harvest for tortoise food.


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