TJ,

Yes, you can, preferably above freezing and away from light, with no watering. It will set it back a little but Opuntias as a rule grow robustly, as you've found out, so it won't be long before it's full steam ahead.

Elmer's glue or duct tape for the glochids in you. They're irritating but not as much fun as a spine in a knuckle or knee. Wrap the pads in newspaper or carpet and you'll never have to touch them,

Thanks Cactusmcharris! I thought it would work. I wanted to be sure thought because I didn't want to lose such an interesting plant.

The cactus is cold hardy at my Aunt and Uncles house in Atlanta Georgia (Zone 7B maybe 8A) but I think it is too cold up here in Maryland. Theirs has a massive woody trunk that keeps the plant alive during the winter. The plant dies back to that trunk every winter.

Thanks for the glochid tip! I wonder who comes up with those ideas!

Thanks!

TJ

Desperation is the key to ingenuity and inspiration in this case.. Glue takes longer but more effective than duct tape . A heat gun or blow hair drier will speed things up. Maybe the guy was out of masking tape and went to duct tape and then when he ran out of that he tried his wood glue.

I use Salad Tongs or chopsticks (depending on the size) to hold my Cactus pads and plants. But, it doesn't seem to make a difference, I still end up getting glochids in my hands! I think I have a glochid magnet in my hands!

So, TJ, Got a Picture of your plant?

Here in Massachusetts I have had a couple of NOID Coastal Prickly Pear Oputias that are planted facing southwest on a rocky hillside. They shrivel up for the winter and come back healthy as ever when spring arrives.

We use rubber cement to remove glochids.
It dries very quickly, and rolls away nicely.
I don't know if it's "safe," but it works ;)

Josh

Hi all. Thanks for all the input! I found a place on top of a tall shelf. It doesn't get much sun but I guess it is better than getting none in storage. Is it better to place my plant on top of a dimly lit shelf or should I put it in storage?

I find it interesting that if I didn't find that spot, it would have survived 4 months of darkness and dryness. Similar to my plumerias and elephant ear bulbs I suppose.

Here are pictures of it. (I used photobucket and pasted the HTML Code)

The pictures show up on my computer after I preview. I hope it works!

TJ

TJ,

Be thankful for your winters - if you planted that outside and it was cold-hardy, you'd quickly be overrun with it. I have something like that and it's a beast.

In terms of not getting etiolated growth, it's better in storage - you don't want any of that stringy growth.

I got a massive dose of glochids from an O. microdasys some years back. Found that shaving my arms and hands helped.