Opuntia is a type of cactus native to South America, Central America and the southern part of North America; in English it is also called Indian fig or prickly pear. Although this plant prefers desert climates, it can also be grown in a wide variety of soils, with varying levels of humidity and temperatures. The leaves and fruits are edible, but the plant can also be grown simply as an ornamental shrub due to its beautiful flowers that range from orange to yellow and white. To grow it, you can start with an already established opuntia, germinate the seeds from the fruit, or propagate a new one from an existing specimen.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Growing from Seeds
Step 1. Get the seeds
You can buy them at garden centers, nurseries or you can extract them directly from the fruits of the opuntia; they look like red eggs and grow on the top of the plant. To remove the seeds from the fruit:
- Wear gloves to protect your hands from the thorns, slice the ends of the fruit and place it on one of the two.
- Create a thin slice by moving the blade vertically from top to bottom, removing part of the peel; put your finger under it carefully. Peel the fruit as if it were an orange.
- Use your fingers to break up the pulp and find the seeds found throughout the fruit.
Step 2. Prepare the vase
Take a small one that has a hole in the bottom and cover the base with a light layer of pebbles, which improve drainage.
- Fill the jar with an equal parts mixture of earth and sand, raw pumice or silt; this type of soil drains better than that which has a high clay content and is more similar to the natural one of the desert, therefore preferred by this cactus.
- If you wish, you can purchase a potting soil for succulent plants or a pre-mixed one specifically for cacti.
- If you don't have plant pots, you can use plastic containers; make several holes in the bottom to allow the water to drain.
- If you want to grow more opuntia, prepare several pots following these criteria.
Step 3. Plant the seeds
Place one or two on the top of the soil and gently press them inside, covering them with a light layer of soil.
Add a small amount of water to keep the soil moist but not too soggy
Step 4. Keep the pots in a warm but shady place
In order for the plant to stabilize, the seeds of the cactus must not remain in direct sunlight; therefore, the pots must stand in a shaded area surrounded by sunlight to create a warm climate.
- Keep the soil moist while the seeds develop, until they begin to germinate; wet the ground when it starts to be dry to the touch.
- The opuntia that grows from seeds tends to take longer than the one that is propagated by adult plants, so it can take up to three or four years before it begins to produce flowers and fruits; however, seed cultivation is important to ensure genetic diversity.
Part 2 of 3: Propagating the Plant
Step 1. Find an already established opuntia to propagate it
Another way to grow this cactus is to use a cutting taken from an already established plant. If you don't have any opuntias, you can ask friends and neighbors to give you a fragment of one of their plants.
- To propagate it from an existing plant, you can take a cutting from a flat "leaf", which is nothing more than a stem or stem of the plant itself.
- These stems, called cladodes, represent the fleshy, flat and green part that makes up most of the cactus.
Step 2. Cut a barrel
Choose a healthy one that is medium or large in size and is between one and three years old; ideally, you should look for one with no damage, blemishes, or other noticeable deformities.
- To cut it, grab the end with a gloved hand and sever over the joint with the rest of the plant.
- Be careful not to cut below the joint, otherwise you could induce an infection and the plant could rot.
Step 3. Let the cut stem form a callus
To avoid rot and infections, you must wait for the cut to "heal" before planting it. Keep the cladodium on sandy soil or sowing soil for a week or two, until the wound has healed.
Keep it in a shaded area until callus has formed
Step 4. Prepare the vase
Cover the bottom of a medium-sized pot with stones to allow for drainage and fill the rest with sand or clay, both of which are useful for ensuring good water flow.
The ideal soil should consist of a mixture of loam and sand or pumice in equal parts
Step 5. Bury the stem where the cut has healed
Dig a hole about 3 to 5 cm deep in the soil using your fingers and place the cladodium upright in the soil, so that the calloused part remains underground, but no more than 3 to 5 cm deep, otherwise it could rot.
If the stem cannot stand upright, surround it with some stones to support it
Step 6. Wet the plant
Water it only when the soil seems dry, on average once or twice a week.
Step 7. Bring the cladodium to the sun
Unlike seeds, the stem needs a lot of sunlight to grow; however, if it's too hot, it could also burn, so it's important to protect it from direct sunlight between 11am and 1pm when the rays are at their most intense.
- To avoid constantly transferring it, you can position the stem so that the wider sides face east and west, while the thinner sides face the sun in moments of greatest heat.
- This solution prevents it from burning and you don't have to constantly move it to keep it in the shade every afternoon.
- Once the roots of the cutting are well established, the plant can safely remain in the sun.
Part 3 of 3: Caring for Opuntia
Step 1. Choose a permanent location for the cactus
You can keep growing it in a pot or you can transplant it into the garden; in the latter case, you have to choose an outdoor area with many hours of direct sunlight.
- Even if you decide to keep it in a vase, it still needs to be kept in a sunny area.
- If you live in a location with cold winters and temperatures that drop below -10 ° C, you should keep the plant in a pot so you can move it indoors during the winter season.
Step 2. Transplant the opuntia
The best time is late spring, when the risk of frost and excessive rain has passed.
- Dig a hole that is similar in size to the pot the plant is now in; bring the container as close as possible to the hole and carefully turn it over to grab the plant with one hand protected by a glove.
- Insert the roots into the hole and cover them with earth; compact the soil with your hands and wet it abundantly.
- During the first week you need to water every three to four days. After that period, it is sufficient to wet the cactus every three or four weeks. After the first year in which the plant has stabilized well, it is no longer necessary to water it, the rains alone are more than enough.
Step 3. You can reap the fruits when the plant has settled well in the ground
Let it develop its roots properly for several months before harvesting the "leaves" or fruit; wait until it has developed a second or third stem before thinking about picking them and also wait until at least eight flowers have sprouted before harvesting their fruit.
- Cut the stems with a sharp knife in the late morning or early afternoon, as these are the times when the acid content is minimal; remember to cut just above the joint.
- To take the fruits, twist them and gently detach them from the stem; you can understand that they are ripe when the glochids, or thorns, fall from the dark or light colored projections of the fruits themselves.
- Remember to wear gloves to protect your hands from thorns when you want to reap the rewards of opuntia.
Step 4. Cover the soil with mulch during the winter
Even if you live in a temperate region, you need to cover the surrounding soil with mulch during the fall to avoid damage from the cold.
If the climate in your area is cold and you have grown the cactus in a pot, bring it indoors in the fall to prevent it from freezing
Warnings
- Wear gloves when handling opuntia as it is very pungent. The best are probably the gardening ones, but all the thick and protective ones are fine; eventually, you can also use kitchen tongs.
- Opuntia is considered a weed in some areas where it is not native; in these regions, as in Australia, it is not allowed to grow it.
