Wholesale lot
I a filling a medium flat rate box full of Cacti
Winter Hardy Prickly Pear Cactus
Opuntia Humifusa
PLEASE note: These are actual Cactus Pads, (Not seeds)
You will have many lush full cactus growing in just 1 year
Since they vary in size from 1 inch to up to 8 " I can not give the amount or weight
Hardy to almost all of USA..
In Pennsylvania they have survived to -20 below.
Thats the coldest I've seen. Not sure how much lower they can take.
They just keep growing and spreading They have hundreds of beautiful large yellow flowers each year, with a red fruit
You are buying nice healthy cactus pads (unrooted). They root extremely easily and almost anywhere
I live in approx. 35 miles East of Pittsburgh, PA, we get a lot of snow, and temperatures down to -15 degrees.
The cactus shrivel up each winter and come back to life in the spring. I cover mine with leaves for added winter protection.
.Prickly Pear cactus plants are very hardy plants and need little care.
Grows to a Height: 10 inches Spread: 18 - 36 inches
Type: herbaceous perennial with a yellow flower.
This hardy cactus is one of the only cactus I know of that will survive Eastern Us.
General tips:
(1) Handle them with care each of the dots on the pad are actually filled with hundreds of very small stickers that will get into your skin at the slightest touch. They don't hurt much, but do itch and can cause skin irritation. I use adjustable plyers to handle and plant them.
please email me with questions .
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just some general tips I get from questions:
(2) Plant them in the Driest worst possible soil you have in direct sun.. I recommend adding sand or some mulch to clay.
They do not do well in top soil unless you add rocks, sand, mulch or some garbage soil..
(3) The reason you do not see this native cactus to every state .(except Maine) is because Weeds kill them... I find the best way is to lay black plastic down and add 1 inch of sand, mulch even a lot of rocks on top and they do well.. Weeds are easily removed this way.. I also add all my old Coffee grains and tea bags to the sand on all my plants.. Great fertilizer .. Plants will grow new 2 to 3 pads in a month and each pad grows 2 to 3 pads. But you can not cut them off and plant them until they are a decent size .At least 2 to 5 inches .. baby 1 inch pads only have a 50/50 success rate.
(4) Plants get a yellow flower in May.. ( but I am told they flower in June and July in Montana and the Dakotas) In Alaska I'm told they flower for only a week in august..
(5) Seed pods usually only get 1 or 2 babys if you are lucky.. I am told Native Americans made jelly from the pods.. I have 2 recipes from happy customers listed at the bottom of the page. Use rocks around them;; Rocks hold solar heat from the sun and keep the soil warm.. (this tip is for most plants)
(6) Just remember : They love poor soil that nothing grows in..
I have even found cuttings from the lawn mower growing in cracks in my blacktop driveway.
(7) Cactus go dormant and shrivel up to a red color around first freeze (freeze not frost) ..The reason they shrivel is they shed most of the water and wont freeze this way.. Sorta like dehydrating itself. Nature is wonderful.. :)
(8) here is one recipe, Prickly Pear Jelly
Ingredients: Ripe tunas
1 Box Sure Jell
5 cups Juice
7 cups sugar
2 lemons
Pick ripe tunas with tongs (ripe
when they turn dark and have a
patent leather look) They need to
be deep purple in color. Remove
spines by rolling around in sand, or
with water pressure from a hose in
a bucket. Many times I scape them
with a sharp knife to make sure I
get them as clean as possible.
Cut the tuna in half, place in a pot
and add water, just enough to
cover the top of the tuna. Allow the
tuna to simmer covered until they
become soft enough to crush.
Remove the cover and mash, then
simmer uncovered for ten more
minutes.
Put through jelly bag, or muslin
cloth.
After straining through the cloth,
take 5 cups of the juice, add the
juice of two lemons and the Sure
Jell, and bring to a boil, then add
sugar slowly. Continue cooking at
a rolling boil until it reached
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(9) Another suggestion from a happy customer in California:
you can make jelly with the ripe fruit. clean and chop the fruit. place in a pot with a little water and cook slowly till soft, use a potato masher to mash them up and finish cooking, adding a little more water. then strain the batch though cheese cloth. should product a clear yellow juice. then you would treat it as you would any jelly making adding some lemon juice, sugar, and fruit pectin... it makes a beautiful jelly and great tasting...