New cactus - Opuntia sp.

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Opuntia sp.

It looks like the supplier we get our hardy cactus from grows them from seed or something. We got two flats in sometime over the last two days and there was some big variation between the plants! A lot of them looked very similar to the one I already have but I did find one with nice big spines (some in excess of an inch) and some fantastic purple winter colour. Of course I have nowhere to put it. So? It's joining my succulent bowl until I can figure something out. Also joining the group was a tiny bit of Delosperma nubigenum that I'm not sure if I want to unleash on my garden.

I'll be finding somewhere to plant most of these well before winter. Cutting of most of them but the cactus in full. Unless there's some easy way to winter them like "toss the whole thing dry in an unheated garage and forget about it until the temperatures rise." That would be nice.

Opuntia macrorhiza glochids & Rooted cutting

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When I posted pictures of my Opuntia macrorhiza flowers the question of glochids came up (as always when Opuntia are being discussed).



Opuntia macrorhiza, closeup.

The answer is yes. It has a lot of glochids.

While I was cleaning up around it last week I found a pad that had I guess mostly rotted off the main plant. Well I'd been planning to root a cutting and replant behind my barbecue to see if I could get it to grow there, so I cut off and picked up the cutting to find it had already rooted. Awesome. Though I doubt it'll get enough sun.

I'm pretty sure the rot was because of Lamb's Ears (Stachys byzantina) which was outgrowing its place. It was moved but it left behind some leaves on the pads of the cactus (I guess it was spring at the time?). Well, see the glochids above. So I guess I left the leaves and one thing (rotting leaves) lead to another (rooted cutting) and here we are. Yay!



Opuntia macrorhiza still looking a little deflated but otherwise in good shape.

So I've cleared up everything from around the Opuntia so it's got a lot more airflow (note to self do that in the fall in the future) and all's good.

Opuntia macrorhiza

All Andrew's Plants has moved to AllAndrewsPlants.wordpress.com

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This is my favourite cactus ever (of the two that I grow). It grows without protection in Toronto no problem. My drainage isn't even that good where I have it and it doesn't seem to care.


Opuntia macrorhiza


Opuntia macrorhiza

Pictures were taken in 2008 when it looked its best (It's really interesting to look through old pictures. Now I've got content for a few more posts as well!). Only a few flowers last year, with any luck we'll get a good show this year.