Does this Cactus look ok to feed

[Albinoboidsetc]

The bartender last night, after a farewell celebration no less, invited us to her house to get some cactus pads. I really believe she just wanted to watch 3 drunk guys wrestle with a 5 foot tall prickly beast, one of the guys assumed it was to get him to her house but her girlfriend soundly put an end to his theory. Long story short I wake up to being covered in little tiny thorns, a hat full of them, luckily not a good hat, and 3 pieces of cactus that have white stuff on them. What I want to know, is should these still be OK to feed the little guys or should I just plant them, also is it OK to give baby Sulcatas those fruits?

 

[Yvonne G]

Yup! That's opuntia alrighty.

 

[franeich]

I think I would just plant those. From what I have been told you should only feed the new lighter green growth. Not sure what white stuff on it would be. Maybe some kind of fungus or disease.

 

[Albinoboidsetc]

Thanks, I know the type of cactus is OK, I was just wondering if this looked OK even though it has all the discoloration and are the fruits ripe enough to feed the babies. I'm still new to torts so I might get to worrying too much but I guess that's better then not enough . I'm thinking about planting at least one of these pads, maybe two. That would bring me up to 5 total, I figure between 5 I should be able to grow enough to keep these two happy.

*franeich I guess I was typing when you responded, thanks it is kind of creepy looking, and I do have some coming in the mail anyway.

 

[Len B]

The white stuff looks like either sun damage or frost damage I get a little frost damage every winter on some of my cactus. Since torts do not digest seeds you should cut the fruit (seed pod) in half and remove the seeds and plant them.

 

[Albinoboidsetc]

The white stuff looks like either sun damage or frost damage I get a little frost damage every winter on some of my cactus. Since torts do not digest seeds you should cut the fruit (seed pod) in half and remove the seeds and plant them.

From all the info I am finding out about Opuntia that is what it looks like, so I'll try one pad, I'll peel first just to be safe, Thanks everyone, I'll post some pictures after I offer it to them

 

[Yvonne G]

No, it would be fine. All that scarring is just stress on the plant. Nothing to worry about. However, what Franeich said about the new growth has merit. Its much easier for the tortoise to bite the tender new pads as they grow out.

 

[franeich]

I remember reading somewhere that the dark green pads are too high in something to feed. I cant remember what or where I read it. I only feed the light green new growth.

 

[Itort]

Because you know they are hardy to your area, I'd plant them and feed off of the plants that grow.

 

[Albinoboidsetc]

I did skin and chop up the smallest one and they seemed to like it, for their 5 o'clock snack I mixed what was left with a couple pieces of Zoo Med, I think they would rather have had their spring mix, I'm going to plant the rest of it and maybe use the seeds to try to get some more growing, I do have some cactus coming in the mail too so that will be good

Here they are with the first cactus taste, the one on the right, Dipp, is on his third piece in that pic and the one on the left, Dott, is trying his first.

 

[Missy]

Dipp & Dott Are super cute

 

[Tom]

I'd plant it.

Does the white stuff look like this?

Its an insect that covers itself in stuff that looks like fungus. Smoosh and smear it with a gloved hand and see if it looks like deep maroon blood. The Indians used to use this as a natural dye/ink.

Smoosh them all and rinse them away. Repeat every two or three days until they are gone and don't come back.

Now that its been in your yard, it will infect all of your other cactus too. The ONLY way I've been able to control it is constant vigilance. Soapy water and insecticides did not work.

 

[Albinoboidsetc]

Wow, no luckily no I don't have that. A guy I was speaking to today that says he is a cactus farmer was trying to describe that problem to me today. That stuff is ugly. From what he said the white marks on mine are just from the cactus being under stress. Tomorrow I am just going to put the two I didn't hack up out in the yard, in a spot that I set up that none of the dogs can get into, with some other pads that I bought at the nursery. Might as well plant the seeds in the fruit too. I'll just wait till the cactus I ordered to get here to worry about feeding them anymore Thanks everyone for the input.