EVERYONE CAN GROW OPTUNIA CACTUS

[TylerStewart]

ooh i gotcha, Those pads arnt true spinless cactus pads, They have been despined by tortoise supply, so once you have your plant established it will start growing spines. If you want true spinless cactus pads the only person i know for sure to get the real ones from is Coastal on here, His site is coastalsilkworms.com, also the cacuts you have, you must be very carful handling pads straight off the plant, im sure you already experience the tiny spines that you cant see!

We don't remove spines from the pads prior to shipping.... Like I've got time for that!!! There are tiny spines on ours, and essentially all cactus pads. I'm not sure I've ever seen a cactus pad that was so thornless that I would rub it against my naked bottom (try not to make a mental image out of that one). Ours will regrow just fine and not have spines as they grow any more than the original pads.

The type of pads sold at RivenRock have less spines than ours, but they still have spines. We have a big patch of those growing here, but not yet to the point of selling them. Neither variety has enough spines that it's going to matter when feeding it to tortoises.

Side note, I wouldn't claim that they are good "down to 20 below" as the OP said.... The root trunk can handle some pretty cold temps, but at about 25 degrees (above 0), we were having the thinner pads freeze off on the RivenRock variety (which tend to be thinner than ours). The normal pads we sell are ok down to around 18 degrees and then they start freezing as well (depending on how long it is that cold for). Once they freeze, they basically die (turn real soft) and fall off. Like I said, the plant (lower, thicker parts) will survive some very cold temps, but if all the top of it freezes off each winter, you're not going to make any progress with it. I'm not sure I'd consider any of them great for Northern climates unless you can bring them in during the winter.

 

[wellington]

ooh i gotcha, Those pads arnt true spinless cactus pads, They have been despined by tortoise supply, so once you have your plant established it will start growing spines. If you want true spinless cactus pads the only person i know for sure to get the real ones from is Coastal on here, His site is coastalsilkworms.com, also the cacuts you have, you must be very carful handling pads straight off the plant, im sure you already experience the tiny spines that you cant see!

Where is your info from. They are already growing, larger then the pads they sent me and no spines. If they have spines, then they also lied, as I asked if they were the spineless ones. Wouldn't be good business for them. They have hair like spines.

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Sorry, Tyler already clarified about all the needles they are pulling out of their cactus, haha.
I don't know about the lower part only being able to survive. I also have no exact name of the cactus the person was talking about, as I didn't know about all the names other then prickly pear and it was spineless and looked exactly what I planted. So, i already thought they were my zone (5) hardy, then seen the reenforcment of hardy to 20 below. Now, with all you bubble busters guess I will have to wait till next spring to see if they survive

 

[SulcataSquirt]

Sorry didnt mean to bust no bubbles. I just wanted you to know that once you have a mature plant that their will be big spines coming out of the pads. it takes several months for the big spines to form. opuntia ficus indica google it and look at the images. I keep my cactus in big pots and put them in my sun room for winter. I will take some pictures and post them of the cactus i have, I have 3 mature plants that are true spineless, i have not seen one spine or tiny hair like spines. The cactus im talking about is coastals varigated and someother type of cactus that he doesnt have on his site right now, Im not sure the exact species but coastal im sure could tell you.

 

[TylerStewart]

guess I will have to wait till next spring to see if they survive

If you planted them in the ground, just wrap them really heavy with burlap and/or plastic sheeting in the fall. It'll look like hell, but might pull through some pretty cold temps. A guy I used to work with had tomato plants here that would die in the winter, and he'd wrap them with Christmas lights (the nets) and then in clear plastic and he said the heat from the lights and protection from the plastic put him months ahead of everyone else in the spring.

 

[wellington]

guess I will have to wait till next spring to see if they survive

If you planted them in the ground, just wrap them really heavy with burlap and/or plastic sheeting in the fall. It'll look like hell, but might pull through some pretty cold temps. A guy I used to work with had tomato plants here that would die in the winter, and he'd wrap them with Christmas lights (the nets) and then in clear plastic and he said the heat from the lights and protection from the plastic put him months ahead of everyone else in the spring.

A friend of the family does the Xmas light thing too. Works good I hear. Thanks for the tip of wrapping the cactus. You know though, if it works, that means I won't need to buy any more, from you..

 

[EP429]

I need to break down & buy some of the spineless variety.
The spined stuff grows wild down here & is free if you're dumb enough to try cutting it down (me) but I'm kinda burned out on de-spining them.

For what it's worth, I've found that my welding gloves do a great job at keeping the little hair-like spines out of my skin

 

[Aubs1220]

I live in Northwest Indiana. I found some cactus pads at my local store ( Don't know what variety) I live in farming country so have good black soil- would that be ok to just stick in the ground and let it grow? Also, is it too late to do now? Hopefully freeze won't come until Nov, but who knows.

 

[wellington]

I live in Northwest Indiana. I found some cactus pads at my local store ( Don't know what variety) I live in farming country so have good black soil- would that be ok to just stick in the ground and let it grow?

It will grow if you plant it. Just not sure now if it will survive the winters. I know some will, but don't know the specific name of them. According to info I had found on the Internet, most optunia will survive zones 4 and above. However, I am finding on this forum, that some needs to be in zone 7 and up. Try it and see if they survive the winter, or bring them in if you don't want to chance it. But, yes you can plant it and it will grow.

 

[Yvonne G]

Sorry didnt mean to bust no bubbles. I just wanted you to know that once you have a mature plant that their will be big spines coming out of the pads. it takes several months for the big spines to form. opuntia ficus indica google it and look at the images.

The images that come up when you GOOGLE it show many different varieties of opuntia. The so-called spineless varieties actually DO NOT grow long spines (glochids). They DO have tiny stickery hairs in each little spot on the pad, but not great big spines. I have several mature plants that are well over 10' tall. They DO NOT have long glochids, only tiny stickers.

Here's a good article on spineless prickly pear cactus. If you scroll down and look at close-up pictures of mature pads, you can see the tiny hair-like glochids, but NO great big long ones:

http://desertification.wordpress.co...to-combat-desertification-willem-van-cotthem/

 

[Aubs1220]

I live in Northwest Indiana. I found some cactus pads at my local store ( Don't know what variety) I live in farming country so have good black soil- would that be ok to just stick in the ground and let it grow?

It will grow if you plant it. Just not sure now if it will survive the winters. I know some will, but don't know the specific name of them. According to info I had found on the Internet, most optunia will survive zones 4 and above. However, I am finding on this forum, that some needs to be in zone 7 and up. Try it and see if they survive the winter, or bring them in if you don't want to chance it. But, yes you can plant it and it will grow.

It'll be an experiment and I'll only be out 3 bucks if it doesn't work. Project for the afternoon!

 

[Aubs1220]

Oh one more question- How quickly do they grow on average? When should I consider my experiment a failure or success?

 

[SulcataSquirt]

The cactus I have growing doesnt not have the spines nor does it have the little hairs, i can run my hands up and down the pads, they do not have little pores where the tiny hairs grow out of. I also have the so called "spineless" cactus also, which grows the little red hairs that are needle shape and cant see them once they are in your fingers. Also, of course their are many different pictures of cactus when you google opuntia ficus indica but you have to find the picture that say opuntia ficus indica under it and it will show you what the mature plant looks like.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

Sorry didnt mean to bust no bubbles. I just wanted you to know that once you have a mature plant that their will be big spines coming out of the pads. it takes several months for the big spines to form. opuntia ficus indica google it and look at the images. I keep my cactus in big pots and put them in my sun room for winter. I will take some pictures and post them of the cactus i have, I have 3 mature plants that are true spineless, i have not seen one spine or tiny hair like spines. The cactus im talking about is coastals varigated and someother type of cactus that he doesnt have on his site right now, Im not sure the exact species but coastal im sure could tell you.

Hey if you could help me get the name of these so i can buy them off of whomever you purchased them from i would greatly appreciate it!!! I really want to plant these for my 4 sulcatas

 

[wellington]

Tortoisesupply.com is where I got mine.

 

[SulcataSquirt]

 

[wellington]

The cactus I have growing doesnt not have the spines nor does it have the little hairs, i can run my hands up and down the pads, they do not have little pores where the tiny hairs grow out of. I also have the so called "spineless" cactus also, which grows the little red hairs that are needle shape and cant see them once they are in your fingers. Also, of course their are many different pictures of cactus when you google opuntia ficus indica but you have to find the picture that say opuntia ficus indica under it and it will show you what the mature plant looks like.

At 14.99 a pad, I will stick with the ones I have. Spineless with the little hairs,that don't bother me a bit. You can just scratch it gone, at least I can.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

So do the ones you have grow spines? Or are those pictures a comparison? Thanks

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At 14.99 a pad, I will stick with the ones I have. Spineless with the little hairs,that don't bother me a bit. You can just scratch it gone, at least I can.

So out of a pad grows a whole plant? Or how does planting them work?

 

[SulcataSquirt]

picture 2,4,5,6,7 are my true spineless cactus, not one spine or hair, they are from coastal. Picture 3 i dont even touch that cactus very dangerous! i got it from a customers yard I did some work in, picture 8 i got some cactus pads from dorisviola on ebay, they have tiny hair spines growings now, picture 9 is a "spineless" cactus, haha it just happend to have little tiny red spines everywhere and also has sprouted out about 10-15 random inch spines.

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All it takes is one pad, or half, you just have to make sure the bottom is dryed and calloused before you plant it.

 

[wellington]

I bought mine from Tyler of tortoise supply.com. 4 pounds for 11.95. Don't know how many pads, but deff more then one. They also have a special going on, 10 pounds for 18.95. The ones that are 14.99 for one pad, that is from the place SulcataSquirt is talking about. One pad will get you some new pads, not sure how many, mine have 1-2 new pads growing on each one. I planted about 5-7 pads, two of mine doesn't have anything new growing. Will be a while before you will have a good supply if you only plant one.

 

[NinjaTortoises]

picture 2,4,5,6,7 are my true spineless cactus, not one spine or hair, they are from coastal. Picture 3 i dont even touch that cactus very dangerous! i got it from a customers yard I did some work in, picture 8 i got some cactus pads from dorisviola on ebay, they have tiny hair spines growings now, picture 9 is a "spineless" cactus, haha it just happend to have little tiny red spines everywhere and also has sprouted out about 10-15 random inch spines.

Oh wow cool, hey i would like to have some of your spineless type too because im thinking that true spineless a but difficult to find, where can i get some just like yours? I already buy from tortoisesupply when i need some stuff

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So how would i prepare it for planting? Could i cut it in half and plant it? Or does one pad have to stay intact to plant? I think i mightve read wrong