How do I feed this?

[byerssusan]

How do I feed this cactus to my sulcata? And is it the correct type..the prickly pear? I was driving down the road and saw a huge one so got a couple ..Heres a pic to make sure it is the prickly pear.

 

[dmarcus]

Do you know for sure that the place on the road that you got this from did not use pesticides? I have found them on the side of the road but I wait until I get new growth to feed because I don't know what may have been sprayed in the area. It is the correct type though..

 

[byerssusan]

Well i am pretty sure they have not been sprayed by anything..They are like 5 feet from the road. And the roads here I have never seen them use pesticides..they just mow down what weeds..lol..there is no grass...down. How do I get new starts? Geesh I never knew this was the kind I could use. Good Lord there all over around here. Hate hearing anyone has to pay for these...Thank you for letting me know it is the correct kind.

 

[dmarcus]

All you do to feed it is to chop it up, once your tort is big enough you can feed it whole..

 

[byerssusan]

Oh okay..Thank you so much. I am excited to see her reactions too it. See if she is interested in something different. I hope so.

 

[Laura]

if you cut on of those pads in half and let the end dry a bit.. put it in well drained soil... and very easily grow your own!
It will last a while in the fridge.. you can freeze it too, but it get mushy..

 

[redbeef]

if you use it fresh, be sure to wash it: i don't know how high traffic that road is, but if it's like the ones here in Socal, whether or not it's been sprayed, it's certainly going to be covered in exhaust fumes and particulates.

best bet is to try and grow it on your own from that piece and then you'll know it's good and clean

 

[byerssusan]

Thanks for the info..And yeah I am going to try and grow it myself. It's all over out here so I don't see why I couldn't. With green thumb or not LOL.. *S*

 

[laramie]

I think desertgrandma posted that she puts the cactus in a blender and then gives it to her torts. I actually want to do that as well, I just need a blender first.

 

[byerssusan]

Thats a great idea for the babies. I don't have a blender either.. And figuring out how not to get poked with those needles from the cactus is an art of it's own LOL..