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New England Gardening

Winterizing Prickly Pear (Opuntias)

14 years ago

I have four different types of prickly pears planted on a rocky hillside that face west and gets a good blast of wind throughout the winter. This is my first experience with these. They grew just great all summer and now I was wondering if anyone, maybe bill in Rhode Island, could advise me if I should mulch them or just let nature take her course. I was amazed that you could grow these in our zone Thanks for your help.

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dlpplants

8 years ago

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Comments (9)

bill_ri_z6b
14 years ago
Donald,

As long as you are positive that you have the hardy types, you should do nothing. Mulching would be the worst thing to do. These plants HATE being wet and damp in the cold weather. Good thing is that you have them on a hillside that will ensure that water doesn't puddle near them. The west winds which prevail here in winter will also serve to keep them dry. As the weather gets colder you will start to see the pads shrivel and wrinkle. This is normal so don't panic. It's the way they survive the winter. They may shrink a lot and shrivel to get close to the ground. Come spring they start to plump up again.

I will attempt to post a photo or two of mine if I can figure out how to do it. Claire (Thank you!) has given me some direction but I haven't tried it yet. Maybe this weekend.
donaldb
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the info Bill. They are the hardy variety so I should be OK.
Donald
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Where are you located Annamaria? This will dictate everything. If you are in a mild climate, you won't want to bother with one of the wild species, but should definitely get a cultivar of Opuntia ficus-indica. These should be readily available from warm-climate nurseries. If you're in a colder zone, you could try Opuntia engelmannii or related wild types. Many of these are available through mail order nurseries specializing in cacti and succulents as well as unusual edibles. I see that Edible Landscaping sells one that is hardy to zone 7. Of course, anywhere in the arid but not-too-cold western part of the country you are likely to see some growing wild or as part of landscaping. Just collect some pads from a variety of plants and wait a year or two to taste the fruit!
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Do you have any of there left? please e-mail me at jolly_rancherscream@hotmail.com
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At one time I had hardy opuntia in my garden, and mine didn't look like that at all. The spines were larger, thicker and dark, I don't recall any white tufts. They were short and tended to lay down, not stand up at all. When it stops raining (40 days or so) I'll check and see if I have any stragglers. They were difficult to get rid of, and impossible to weed around them, but pretty yellow flowers. Lennie in Michigan
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The issue I have is whether or not I can use Opuntia pads in place of other low pH ingredients and test the pH of the finished product a couple days later for accuracy and make it using a BWB. Can you? Sure, in theory it should work and obviously commercial canners do it.. But it would be more like making ripe tomato salsa than making green tomato salsa since they at least have a higher pH. Still it would contain no low acid ingredients except the added acid. Should you? That's up to you. As you say, no known tested recipes so it will be a do at your own risk thing. Not recommended, just your personal experiment. I do know that you have to get it below 4.6 and that using bottled lime juice will work better than vinegar for doing that as well as compliment the taste more. You can also use citric acid. But testing just the once a couple of days later probably won't be enough (NCHFP tests repeatedly to plot out when the pH begins to rise and how much) so I'd test again before consuming. Proportions of the ingredients is the real problem. If I were to try it I might be tempted to start with the Choice Salsa recipe on NCHFP and see where that gets you pH wise. Dave PS: of xourse freezing rather than canning would be the best option Here is a link that might be useful: Choice Salsa
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sedum37
14 years ago
One thing to note the plants will look horrible (dead) in spring time. At least in my garden they look this way. Resist cutting them back before you give them a chance to wake up in the spring.
bill_ri_z6b
14 years ago
These are some photos of my Opuntia and Yucca recurvifolia.

Prickly Pear Patch

Prickly Pear flower

Yucca recurvifolia

Another view (Easier to see the trunk.)

Closeup of Yucca blossom

I hope the links work as this is my first attempt.
donaldb
Original Author
14 years ago
WOW! Nice prickly pear patch. The four I have cover about the size of a dinner plate. They have a long way to go. Love your Yuccas. Mine are nowhere near that size. Happy Fall.
bill_ri_z6b
14 years ago
This is a trunk-forming Yucca (Y. recurvifolia). The trunks are about three feet high and the leaves add maybe another two feet. When it bloomed in 2008, the flower spikes were about four or five feet more. You said your yuccas aren't so big, but it depends on which ones you have. As I recall you have the variegated types of Y. filamentosa, which doesn't form a trunk at all. Those form clumps over time but stay low to the ground. It's nice if you have some of both the low growing ones and the trunked types. There are some that have narrow leaves and others with various colorations in the foliage, so it's possible to have quite a display made up of nothing but yuccas. I personally like to mix their spikiness with softer growing plants too. However you use yuccas, I think they're great plants.
dlpplants
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
Opuntia Polyacantha Var Pink Plateau, zones 4-8
dlpplants
8 years ago
Does anyone know who the person is that went by the name of Blackadder on this forum, who had a hardy cactus collection and last posted back in 2007?

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