Stop worrying and don't overwater now in mid Winter! Opuntia pads that break off are easily propagated. If it bother you, remove and position the end on the surface of the soil and it WILL root, don't bury the pad or it will rot, just touching the soil is sufficient. Happy New Year!

Okay, thanks for the advice!

I’ve started removing the weak pads. Is there a reason this happens? Do prickly pears tend to drop old pads?

I have a few prickly pears in my yard. Most often this happens after generous watering followed by a rapid growth spurt. But sometimes I don't know why -- I just find a large pad on the ground, no idea what happened.

I let them dry out a bit, stick them in some moist potting mix, and after 3-4 weeks they have roots and are ready for planting in the ground. I'm going to end up with a prickly pear forest here!

Good to know. The user above mentions not actually putting them in the soil, just on. But I grew my original prickly pears from nopales pads from a grocery store stuck down in the soil a few inches and they did great. Different when propagating?

I don't stick them in the soil -- a few times I did that the bottom of the pad rotted (I tend to be too generous with water in my hot climate). Instead, I just cover the newly formed roots and prop the plant with some large pieces of wood I keep around just for that purpose.

It looks like your opuntia is potted in a mix that has lots of organics in it. Bark will retain more water. I would take care of it same as your other opuntia...

If you insert them into the soil, they will ROT, they're cacti, not philodendrons.

Rina, it was planted in cactus potting soil and has done very well in it. I guess I could repot and mix in more pearlite but I just repotted it in the fall and it seems unnecessary to do it again so soon.

I don't use cactus potting mix from the bag so I can't tell how good it is, just noticed some bark in your photos. Bark could be used, but maybe it makes your mix too organic for this particular plant? I make my own mix for all my succulents: approx. 50/50 sifted perlite and gravel. To that, I add small amount of turface, OR cocopeat OR potting soil, but just a bit (usually 10-20% of total). Many ppl use C&S soil, but mix in very generous amount of sifted perlite or pumice, up to 50/50 ratio. May I ask why did you repot in the fall? Maybe it is overpotted? Large pot hold more soil, and if it retains water, it takes long time to dry up. These plants could grow quite big and get top-heavy...that is main reason I don't grow them (and the glochids are another big reason, lol).

The one originally posted is definitely not O. humifusa, but not sure of the species. Yes, humifusa will spread in a zone 6b/7a climate, I love them but be prepared for those pesky thorns (and this species has a variety of prickly defenses).

Rina, I repotted both of my prickly pears - one because it fell off a wall in a big storm and the pot shattered (luckily almost no damage to plant) and the new pot I got was a tad bigger, and the other I think was either still in a plastic pot or seemed to be getting too top-heavy for the one it was in. I don't know why there is bark in that potting mix. It's kind of weird because usually the cactus potting mix I use doesn't have stuff like that in it. I think it's just random that that's what's sitting on top. I still don't understand why some pads are sagging and others are very rigid. My experience has usually been with cacti and succulents that either all of the pads are drooping or all of them are rigid/healthy.

Pagan, I'm not sure. How can I figure that out? I bought them as individual nopales pads in the produce section at our co-op and planted them! So I didn't get it from a plant store that would've had the official name on it. That plant you have is amazing! I'd love to plant one outside if you think it could survive in 7a.

I don't know if this helps discern what species it is, but this plant has very mild, small spines that have never bothered me. They're nothing compared with the glochids on my Santa Rita opuntia. That thing is brutal!

Yikes, I definitely have no clue how to differentiate, synonymgirl. Cacti are not my thing and the only reason I even have this one is because of the birds lol But if you want the kind I have for planting in your yard, come by this spring--we're probably neighbours. They really are glorious when in bloom and they typically do that all year.

Haha! Are you in North Jersey?

Synonymgirl, it looks like you have a variety of Opuntia ficus-indica (Indian fig prickly pear). They are grown for food (pads and fruit). I have a few growing "wild" in my yard, although are not native to Nevada and need additional water twice a month, or they end up wrinkled and droopy.

As you can see, some pads grow upwards and some spread low on the ground, but I've seen more upright varieties as well. The birds devour the fruit before I can get to it.

Your plant looks normal to me!

Hi everyone - I am picking this thread back up because now I'm kind of concerned about my prickly pears. After I initially got feedback on the thread, I pulled off all of the drooping pads to see if that would be the end of it and the robust pads would continue growing and looking good. Unfortunately, now some of the pads that I initially thought were fine are starting to look limp and anemic too. Any ideas as to what I can do? I cut back the watering dramatically when I bring them in at the end of the fall, maybe only watering every six weeks or so. Is this too infrequent? Is there anything else that could be going wrong? I don't want to lose any more pads.

In one photo you'll see how one pad that was looking great a few weeks ago now is starting to look kind of withered at the top.

Imo it’s time to unpot and check what’s going on below the surface and roots. I don’t think it’s normal winter dehydration, but just out of curiosity when was the last time you watered?

Thanks for the update and sorry it's not better news... I'm going to let someone else respond -- someone who grows them indoors. Mine are all outside, in their natural habitat. I wonder if prickly pears are good for indoor growing...

Kara, I'm pretty sure I watered one of the prickly pears the other day and didn't do the other one to see if I could tell a difference (very smart of me to not actually take note of it - ugh). It had been a very long time since the previous watering. But I had repotted both of them before I moved them inside so they've only been in these pots for like 3 months or so. Still worth taking them out?

I would unpot them, a lot can happen in three months. because the dehydrated pads don’t look right, they don’t look healthy. It’s weird how only a few of the pads are dehydrated.

If you want to make sure your Opuntia isn’t just thirsty, you could water it and see if it perks up in a few days. But of course keep your eye on it and I wouldn’t wait more then a week. If it hasn’t perked up in a week, then it’s time to unpot.

Definitely strange because the cactus looks healthy otherwise.

Okay! Thanks for the advice. I thought it was weird that the rest of it looks good too.

Any updates? im having the exact same problem/presentation with mine and dont know what to try

My best interpretation is that I was so worried about overwatering that I underwatered. It does look better now and has for a while. It was probably dried out and limp and I had lost track of when I had last watered it. I think one seemingly healthy pad ended up shriveling up and falling off this summer when it was outside but I think the rest of it has been fine. I'll try to take a pic of it now and post when it's not dark outside.

ah ok, I have been watering pretty heavily every 2 weeks throughout the summer so I don't think thats the problem for me?? Although It's pretty big for its pot so its possible.. it's frustrting that SOME seems really healthy but about just as much seems really droopy. I bought some antifungal last week so maybe that will magically cure it :(

thanks for responding, and good luck!

I only water mine when I see the pads showing signs of shriveling for at least a week. They're cactus after all and spend weeks in the wild baking under hot sun in gravely soil without rain.

So, when my entire plant looks to be uniformly shriveling overall, I thoroughly water the fast-draining, sandy soil inside the pot until water runs freely out the bottom. Then that's it. Cactus will suck up water and store it in their pads and use the water over the next several weeks as needed.

Cactus do not like to sit in moist soil and can develop rot around the base so make sure the media is coarse, sandy, gravely, low OM. Did I say they don't depend on moist soil? ;-)

This all happens about once a month or so here, inside with forced air heat in the house.

Summertime, outside, I just keep an eye on it and water as needed.

Opuntia Elisiana: Basking in our 23.2 d high sun through the patio door.

eta: new clay pot.

:-)