Opuntia Cactus

[Cindergirl1]

Which variety of this cactus is the best to feed my Leopard tortoise?

I'm going to try and grow some and since he is only 20 grams at the moment, I have time to give it a try. Growing would be primarily indoors, as I live in Northwestern PA and it is hardly ever warm.

Thank you.
Terri

 

[tortadise]

Opuntia and all the varieties is the best. however not sure if it will survive those winters up there. You can get some and put it in a pot and bring it in during the winter.

 

[kjr153]

I too was wanting to grow this. Where can I buy them with the root still intact and not just clippings of them?

 

[tortadise]

Umm not sure where you can get actual plants of it for sale. I know there are some online. But all you have to do is get a mature pad and put half of it buried in the soil and it will take off. Usually takes a calender year to start buds off one pad. I grow them in mass quantity because sometimes it takes a while for them to root, and start budding new pads.

 

[Len B]

Opuntia Humifusa will grow just about anywhere, it's natural range runs from Montana to Ontario to Mass, south to Florida to New Mexico. There is a spine-less variety available that is just as hardy as the one with the long spines.It does not get tall but is a ground hugger and spreads out, is one of my favorites, been growing it in the Wash DC area for years.

 

[CLMoss]

I have seen opuntia plants for sale on ebay.

~C

 

[Brewster320]

I actually saw two varieties for sale at my local nursery, and I live in Mass so it was kind of shocking. They had O. humifusa and then another larger spineless variety. I decided to go with the large spineless. Hopefully it does well.

 

[Redari]

I bought some from Tyler at Tortoise Supply and 2/3 sprouted within a month! Tell him you want to replant and he will send you the really large pads, which replant better. I am getting TONS of new buds in the one I planted in my tortoise enclosure, I think because it's under the UVB light.

 

[Itort]

A point to remember is the majority of the the opuntia sold for food (human and animal) is O. ficus-indicus which is not winter hardy in northern areas. If you can find O. humifusa (espically spineless), go with that. I have had great success with this specie as far noth as Minnesota and have seen it wild in Manitoba.

 

[Brewster320]

The one i picked up is "Opuntia x ellisiana". It was grown in Connecticut and says its hardy too Zone 5 (-20). On google the info I've found is Opuntia ellisiana is hardy to zone 7 but possibly even colder. I don't know if theres a difference between "Opuntia x ellisiana" and "Opuntia ellisiana" but see as it was grown in CT I think it should survive the winter, right?

 

[Len B]

The one i picked up is "Opuntia x ellisiana". It was grown in Connecticut and says its hardy too Zone 5 (-20). On google the info I've found is Opuntia ellisiana is hardy to zone 7 but possibly even colder. I don't know if theres a difference between "Opuntia x ellisiana" and "Opuntia ellisiana" but see as it was grown in CT I think it should survive the winter, right?

Any chance of you posting a Pic of what you got? or do either one of these look like it? These are new to me (i have no idea what they are) and I kept the one outside in a dry pot over winter not knowing how cold hardy it is, and the other two(also in pots) were planted in the ground until about a week ago, I got them local and knew they would survive our wet cold winters.

 

[Itort]

The one i picked up is "Opuntia x ellisiana". It was grown in Connecticut and says its hardy too Zone 5 (-20). On google the info I've found is Opuntia ellisiana is hardy to zone 7 but possibly even colder. I don't know if theres a difference between "Opuntia x ellisiana" and "Opuntia ellisiana" but see as it was grown in CT I think it should survive the winter, right?

Any chance of you posting a Pic of what you got? or do either one of these look like it? These are new to me (i have no idea what they are) and I kept the one outside in a dry pot over winter not knowing how cold hardy it is, and the other two(also in pots) were planted in the ground until about a week ago, I got them local and knew they would survive our wet cold winters.

Len, the ones in your pictures are O. humifusa .

 

[Len B]

The one i picked up is "Opuntia x ellisiana". It was grown in Connecticut and says its hardy too Zone 5 (-20). On google the info I've found is Opuntia ellisiana is hardy to zone 7 but possibly even colder. I don't know if theres a difference between "Opuntia x ellisiana" and "Opuntia ellisiana" but see as it was grown in CT I think it should survive the winter, right?

Any chance of you posting a Pic of what you got? or do either one of these look like it? These are new to me (i have no idea what they are) and I kept the one outside in a dry pot over winter not knowing how cold hardy it is, and the other two(also in pots) were planted in the ground until about a week ago, I got them local and knew they would survive our wet cold winters.

Len, the ones in your pictures are O. humifusa .

No, we are still having March weather and my older humifusa's haven't even started to stand up yet, here are my humifusa one type with spines and one spine-less, pics just taken.

 

[kjr153]

Do the ones from the nursery usually have fertilizer? What do you do in that case?

 

[Brewster320]

The one i picked up is "Opuntia x ellisiana". It was grown in Connecticut and says its hardy too Zone 5 (-20). On google the info I've found is Opuntia ellisiana is hardy to zone 7 but possibly even colder. I don't know if theres a difference between "Opuntia x ellisiana" and "Opuntia ellisiana" but see as it was grown in CT I think it should survive the winter, right?

Any chance of you posting a Pic of what you got? or do either one of these look like it? These are new to me (i have no idea what they are) and I kept the one outside in a dry pot over winter not knowing how cold hardy it is, and the other two(also in pots) were planted in the ground until about a week ago, I got them local and knew they would survive our wet cold winters.

Here's a picture of the one I picked up. It's hard to tell from the picture but the pads are a little larger than hand size so they are not small pads at all.

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Sorry forgot to post the picture lol. Here you go