ShannonC
Active Member
My husband's boss sent me some Opuntia pads for my torts a couple of months ago. I followed the directions and let them callus over, then put them in the dirt, gave them a little water, and left them alone. Some of them eventually rooted and started growing new baby pads. Some of them have roots, but no new growth, some of them just dried up and never did anything. (They don't have the long spines, but they do have tons of glochids)
So.....I ordered three of the spineless ones that have very few, if any, glochids. I put one in a pot outside in the sun.....I put one in a pot inside, in the window sill......I couldn't decide how I wanted to do the last one, given the success/failure rate of the first batch. So, I just put it on top of my fish tank. My fish tank has a wooden cabinet stand and a matching wooden canopy, which has about 1" openings between the boards on the very top. After it was up there for a couple of weeks, I decided I better do SOMETHING with it before it dried out. So, I went to get it and put it in some dirt......there were roots growing from the side of the pad toward the water in my tank!!! The pad is bout 9" above the water level, so no contact with the water at all!! It's only in the section that was across the board opening, so about three "eyes". I thought it was SO cool! I left it there. The roots keep growing longer, but at a very slow rate, and are nowhere near the water yet. I have to show it to everyone that comes to the house!! LOL
So.....I ordered three of the spineless ones that have very few, if any, glochids. I put one in a pot outside in the sun.....I put one in a pot inside, in the window sill......I couldn't decide how I wanted to do the last one, given the success/failure rate of the first batch. So, I just put it on top of my fish tank. My fish tank has a wooden cabinet stand and a matching wooden canopy, which has about 1" openings between the boards on the very top. After it was up there for a couple of weeks, I decided I better do SOMETHING with it before it dried out. So, I went to get it and put it in some dirt......there were roots growing from the side of the pad toward the water in my tank!!! The pad is bout 9" above the water level, so no contact with the water at all!! It's only in the section that was across the board opening, so about three "eyes". I thought it was SO cool! I left it there. The roots keep growing longer, but at a very slow rate, and are nowhere near the water yet. I have to show it to everyone that comes to the house!! LOL
