1. Trim prickly pear.
2. Leave in box in parkway.
3. Success! Someone took it.
4. More food for neighborhood.
Correction: In my haste to put up this blog post I failed to mention that I put these pads out for people to propagate them. They are too mature to eat.
Yikes – sorry to hear about that. This isn’t the first time someone has stolen something from your yard. Wasn’t there a cactus thief a year or two ago?
can you propagate from these cuttings?
In my haste to put up this blog post I failed to mention that I put these pads out for people to propagate them. They are too old to eat.
I just looked up preparing prickly pear leaves- I hope they’re tasty, that’s a lot of effort!
Those look like nopales, not prickly pears as I know them??
The common names for this plant can be confusing. The English common name for the whole plant is “prickly pear cactus” I should have included “cactus” in the title. In Spanish the common name is Nopal and the pads are called nopales (I think–someone correct me if I’m wrong!). The Spanish word for the fruit is tuna.
Awesome! Don’t ya just love it when you leave something for others’ benefit and it’s gone within a few minutes!?! I do this also and it lifts my spirit. I’m guilty of ‘leaving behind’ clothing, pecans, books to name a few.
You’re correct, Mr. Homegrown, and wrongfully I assumed everyone besides myself would know prickly pear IS cacti. Thank you for posting this. I’m just learning how to incorporate several things that aren’t mainstream, yet are nutritious AND healthy.
Glad I wasn’t hallucinating Mr Homegrown. Apparently I only know the Spanish name, and when “in season” they are delicious!!
Do you get good fruit on your cactus? There are so many different varieties of prickly pear and not all are good for eating out of hand and others seem to rarely fruit. I want to plant some but would like to find pads from a good plant.
They are super easy to propagate from cuttings. Just stick them in the ground and they will root. The right soil and a lot of sun seem to be necessary for them to thrive.
Great fruit–orange flesh. There’s a lot of seeds, which is the acquired taste part of eating this fruit. And, yes, very easy to propagate.
I just found one to propagate. It was a bit beat up. I cut the bottom end off about 1/2 inch to expose fresh plant and stuck it is potting soil. Do you think that will work or was cutting the end a mistake?