So i bought 6 lbs of cactus pads for food. It is more than i thought it would be. I can plant about a third of them. What is the best way to preserve the rest? How long will they last if i just put them in the fridge?
cactus pads
- Thread starter Jodie
- Start date
Don't put them in the frig. Put them in a dry not hot and not cold place, you can also freeze them. I have done this. They get slimy, but the torts still like them. I would dice mine in good size chunks and freeze.
Thank you!
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Thanks. I wish I'd asked. In the fridge they get very rubbery.
If you lay them out flat in an area out of the sun, but with good ventilation, they will last for months. Don't keep them in a box or something like that with no ventilation.
Would warm and humid be bad?
The only humidity I ever have here is inside my closed chambers, and I don't store cactus pads in there.
Seriously though, I don't really know. It is always very low humidity here. This would be a good question for Uncle Len! Hey uncle Len! Could you Len-d some knowledge here?
@Turtulas-Len
I don't think there is one simple answer to this question. Two big factors are, what type of opuntia, and how mature the pads are. The opuntia I grow here are a more low temp tolerant and able to take a very high humid environment whether hot or cold than what most people sell for food. So for most of what I grow, storing in a warm and humid area would not necessarily be bad. I just did a couple month test storing opuntia in water in the refrigerator and it seems that it held up fine. Several of the torts that are inside for winter ate some of the test cactus today. But just because my home grown cactus did fine doesn't mean all opuntia will fare as well.
