Grow opuntia they said....... Now what?

[Odin's Gma]

Ask and ye shall receive. These are the cactus pads I ordered a little over a month ago, as reptile food, and instead planted them to make more reptile food! So, now what? How do I tell when the fruit are ripe? when do I start feeding it to the beast? ( I know I have to burn or cut off the spines and glochids) How long until I have to repot? I didn't expect almost all of them to make it!

This was them one month ago:

This is them this morning

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

I would devide them and put one or two in a larger pot so they aren't so root bond so they grow bigger and I would trim some of the new growth to the torts !

 

[wellington]

Wow, I would kill to have them growing so nicely. I don't know how to tell if the fruit is ripe, yours don't look ripe yet. Not sure if you wait until they bloom or not, but I bet your torts would love those fresh tender new pads. You can take them an feed at any time. You can also take them and replant them. If your torts are small, chop it up, if they are larger give them a whole pad.

 

[Tom]

Oh my. Way too crowded there. I usually put one pad to a pot...

I wouldn't worry about the fruit, just feed out the pads. No need to burn anything. Just use a glove and slice or break the pad off. Drop it into your enclosure as is. I like to feed the pads to them on a tray or a bed of grass hay.

 

[Odin's Gma]

I would devide them and put one or two in a larger pot so they aren't so root bond so they grow bigger and I would trim some of the new growth to the torts !

Oh my. Way too crowded there. I usually put one pad to a pot...

Had I know that I was going to have a %95 rooting rate I would have! As usual I bit off more than I could chew, guess I am going to have to pick up a few (or a dozen) new pots...

I wouldn't worry about the fruit, just feed out the pads. No need to burn anything. Just use a glove and slice or break the pad off. Drop it into your enclosure as is. I like to feed the pads to them on a tray or a bed of grass hay.

I smell a wonderful photo opportunity today! So, with the new pads I can just feed as is? Heck, this will be easier than I thought!

Wow, I would kill to have them growing so nicely. I don't know how to tell if the fruit is ripe, yours don't look ripe yet. Not sure if you wait until they bloom or not, but I bet your torts would love those fresh tender new pads. You can take them an feed at any time. You can also take them and replant them. If your torts are small, chop it up, if they are larger give them a whole pad.

Some of them have already bloomed and dropped the flowers, now I am just waiting to see what happens next. Since I don't know what types of opuntia they are I don't know what color the fruit will be when it's ripe.

 

[wellington]

It's too bad you don't live in a zone that you could plant them outside. Boy, would you have a lot to sell. There is cactus that is cold hardy that you may want to try growing in your yard. As long as they get sun in the winter, they will do fairly well. I just don't remember the name of them. You might want to try some of them too. Just google cold hardy cactus. They will drow lower the the ground, but can also be fed to torts. I think they have longer thorns, I would make sure they were removed. I personally would not feed any cactus if it had thorns, even though they aren't removed for the torts in the wild, if a tort had a problem with one, it's a vet bill for us. However, your young pads don't loom like they have any on them yet.

 

[Odin's Gma]

It's too bad you don't live in a zone that you could plant them outside. Boy, would you have a lot to sell. There is cactus that is cold hardy that you may want to try growing in your yard. As long as they get sun in the winter, they will do fairly well. I just don't remember the name of them. You might want to try some of them too. Just google cold hardy cactus. They will drow lower the the ground, but can also be fed to torts. I think they have longer thorns, I would make sure they were removed. I personally would not feed any cactus if it had thorns, even though they aren't removed for the torts in the wild, if a tort had a problem with one, it's a vet bill for us. However, your young pads don't loom like they have any on them yet.

Way ahead of you! I couldn't find any live plants of the cold hardy types, but I ordered seeds of two of them, macrorhiza and humifusa and today I just found my first macrorhiza sprout! So next year he will have his very own outdoor opuntia, but for the winter months I think I have him covered.

 

[Blakem]

Yeah, your little pads should be fine without getting the thorns out. Even if you have to, they should almost flick off with a knife. I found my sulcata laying on some fallen over opitunia while eating another pad. He was fine and I only picked one thorn from his chin.

 

[Odin's Gma]

Yeah, your little pads should be fine without getting the thorns out. Even if you have to, they should almost flick off with a knife. I found my sulcata laying on some fallen over opitunia while eating another pad. He was fine and I only picked one thorn from his chin.

Well, I know Odin has no trouble barreling through rose bushes or raspberry brambles and I have seen him eat both without trouble, but some of those opuntia spikes I have seen look like daggers comparatively speaking!

 

[Blakem]

Yeah, I know another forum member that found a spine in his sulcatas eye ball. Those tiny spines are boogers though!

 

[Odin's Gma]

Yeah, I know another forum member that found a spine in his sulcatas eye ball. Those tiny spines are boogers though!

Geez Louise! That'll give me nightmares! I'm taking off any spikes I find.

 

[Ariza]

Geez, you have an amazing green thumb! I'm jealous.

 

[wellington]

Geez Louise! That'll give me nightmares! I'm taking off any spikes I find.

This is why I always burn and scrape them. In the wild no one is there to take care of them, they have to just suffer or help themselves some how, but there is no way we would just let them get infected and/or suffer and that's not cheap.

 

[wellington]

Way ahead of you! I couldn't find any live plants of the cold hardy types, but I ordered seeds of two of them, macrorhiza and humifusa and today I just found my first macrorhiza sprout! So next year he will have his very own outdoor opuntia, but for the winter months I think I have him covered.

Good for you. Thanks for listing them too. One of these days I will get some. I had some growing once in my old yard, but before I had tortoises and I got rid of them. Boy, did I wish I wouldn't have done that after getting tortoises.

 

[Odin's Gma]

They are still a bit crowded, but they have a bit more legroom now.


And the fresh, young pads? Holy smokes were they ever a success! He went for it BEFORE the strawberry tops! (but after the squash flowers)

Super glad they are doing so well, I am concerned that by next spring they will be gone.....

 

[mlummus]

This is why I always burn and scrape them. In the wild no one is there to take care of them, they have to just suffer or help themselves some how, but there is no way we would just let them get infected and/or suffer and that's not cheap.

How do you burn the pads? Sorry if that is a stupid question... Lol

 

[Blakem]

You don't have to feed it that often. I only feed cactus 2 times a week or so. id Just let it grow for now, only cutting off pads sometimes.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

As I've stated in the past, It is much easier to grow it than to kill it.

 

[wellington]

How do you burn the pads? Sorry if that is a stupid question... Lol

I hold it over the stove with tongs and burn as much of the spines/hair spines off as possible. Then I will scrape the spines off too. Some will just burn away, the ones that don't are easier to scrape off with a knife once they have some burn on them.

 

[mlummus]

Ah, alright! Thank you!