Growing Opuntia (Prickly Pear) Cactus In Arkansas

Long as I can remember, there was a huge Prickly Pear Cactus plant in town, growing beside the small engine repair shop next to the post office.

The electric meter on the building is about eye level to me so it's easy to see the tallest pads are around 6' tall.

I saw this cactus every day. It sported beautiful yellow flowers in Spring and I often wondered what the large purple fruits, ripening in Fall were like to eat.

So it turned out there were a few more of this particular cactus growing around here. Somebody brought it in, got it started and shared cuttings or seedlings. This is not the usual Opuntia humifusa which is the only species of native Prickly Pear to Arkansas and can be seen in fields and along fence rows, never getting over a foot tall and producing small, red fruit that's usually dry or eaten by wildlife before you can get to it.

I didn't know much of anything about any kind of cactus up to this point in 2017, only that I wanted to taste its fruit. My neighbor Glen, just down the road has a fairly large plant and allowed me to sample when they started turning from green to purple.

After watching a few video's to see how it's done to avoid the few larger spines on this variety and remove tiny spines known as glochids, I finally got to taste. They were picked and samples a week apart were gathered as soon as they started to turn color. The earliest sample was very tart, still mostly green inside, to dark magenta and not nearly as tart, somewhat a mix of melon and kiwi a few weeks later as shown in the following photo's...

Somehow neglected to get a photo saved of that last one inside but once they begin to soften a bit on the outside, good bet they're ready. The longer you leave them on the plant, the more sweet they become but I hear you don't want to let them freeze on the plant and that last one was picked close to night freezes. I would probably describe this variety fruit as always a bit on the tart side but its flavor makes for delicious recipes where sugar may be added or juiced and mixed with other fruits like figs for dehydrating into fruit leathers.

The owner of the small engine shop informed me back in April 2017, the huge cactus bush was going to be removed and gave permission to get cuttings, as many as I wanted. Here we go, growing Opuntia (Prickly Pear) Cactus in Arkansas!

Really I didn't intend on filling fourteen 3-gallon buckets with pads but that's what somehow happened. I just couldn't stop!

A typical pad on this cactus as shown above. After joining a few Facebook cacti identification groups and showing these around, it was pretty much agreed this was Opuntia lindheimeri var. subarmata or Opuntia stricta. I may never know for sure which or neither but the consensus leans towards subarmata .

Many pads were planted in buckets and other experiments happened with various propagation techniques but Opuntia is so easy to root, nothing much is left to discover so I eventually just did what works...

These do not work. I have yet to find a glove that stops glochids.

They root easily either vertical or laying horizontal on the surface. Arkansas folks wanting to grow Opuntia will be glad to know these stayed out on the driveway through Winters and rains. They have been in wet conditions that would rot most cactus. Just make sure the mix is well draining.

In six months...

In the process I read about eating the young green pads. As with fruits, I hit these with a propane torch to singe off the glochids and a light scrub-off under the kitchen faucet. These taste very good raw and are used in cooking. You will find recipes and techniques on YouTube searching "Nopales". Delicious and very good for us.

To shorten what would be a very long blog post if I wrote about every little thing, since the beginning I have researched quite a bit and have successfully grown this and several other Opuntia varieties, all given the same treatment and conditions. Many have not survived our Winters, mainly those in the Opuntia ficus indica group. Others obtained this year continue to be tested. Those which have survived down to 1F for at least one night last Winter and several single digit nights the past two Winters listed below.

All varieties purchased from various online sources are reported to produce sweet fruit, some more than others. The very best sweet pear cacti in the O ficus indica group are not cold hardy to grow openly in Arkansas but may survive and fruit within a temperature controlled greenhouse situation.

A few donated pads from R Oliver from Arkansas and B Williams from Mississippi look to be very similar to if not the same as our original O lindheimeri var. subarmata. Fruit will tell.

Cactus List Community Orchard

West to East, As Of 3/9/19... All multiple winter survivors.

1.O lindheimeri var. subarmata

2.R Oliver (Arkansas) Unknown

3.R Oliver Unknown

4.C Akers (Nevada) Unknown

5.C Akers- O violacea "Santa Rita"

6.O lindheimeri var. subarmata

7.R Oliver Unknown

8.O lindheimeri var. subarmata

9.O lindheimeri var. subarmata

10.D Arbour (Arkansas) Spineless Unknown

11.D Arbour Spineless Unknown

12.O phaeacantha Hybrid "Plum"

13.O engelmannii From "Pink" Seed

14.O phaeacantha "Mesa Sky"

15.O engelmannii "Cyclodes"

16.O lindheimeri "Hybrid" Unknown

17.O phaeacantha "Kaibab Red"

18.Opuntia X Woodsii "Wildfire"

19.R Oliver Unknown

20.R Oliver Unknown

21.B Williams (Mississippi) Unknown

22-43.O lindheimeri var. subarmata

Row 2 ... These need more testing except for Opuntia X Woodsii "Wildfire" and O engelmannii From "Pink" Seed

1.O robusta guerrana (from seed)- survived one winter

2.O gilvescens "Veyo" ...purchased in spring 2019

3.Opuntia X Woodsii "Sandstone Sunrise" ...purchased in spring 2019

4.O dulcis ...purchased in spring 2019

5-6.Opuntia X Woodsii "Wildfire"

7-19.O engelmannii From "Pink" Seed

Received new pads in July 2019 and now rooting...

Opuntia dulcis

Opuntia cacanapa 'Ellisiana' × 9 pads, one rooted.

Opuntia aurea 'Kanab Blue' x 1 pad

Opuntia aurea 'Winter Glow' x 1 pad

Opuntia basilaris 'Oregon Giant' x 1pad

Below photo shows I got tired of digging in the rocky ground and opted to experiment by removing many O lindheimeri var. subarmata from their buckets, roughing up the ground surface and just setting them on the surface. They all sent roots into the ground and are doing fine.

All the in-ground cacti are at the Coop Prairie Community Orchard, next to Coop Prairie Church in Mansfield, planted on top of a gentle South slope and doing well. Many more reside at home and will spend Winter on the porch and driveway in gallon size Root Pouch Grow Bags as did many before them. I find it's much easier to transplant cacti grown in grow bags vs pots or buckets. Just set the bag into the ground.

Some of our cacti flowering...