How to Grow a Cutting From Prickly Pear Cactus
- 1). Select a healthy pad from a mature and established prickly pear cactus in late spring when temperatures reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Choose a pad with no blemishes, wounds or obvious sign of disease.
- 2). Clean the blades of a pair of sharp bypass pruners before using them on the prickly pear cactus to avoid infecting the pad with harmful bacteria. Rub the blades of the bypass pruners with 1 tbsp. bleach mixed with 8 tbsp. water. Allow the bleach water to sit on the blades for 30 seconds then wipe them dry.
- 3). Put on leather work gloves before working with the prickly pear cactus to protect your skin from spines. Hold the pad steady with a pair of tongs while taking the cutting. Detach it from the lower pad right at the interconnecting node using the sanitized bypass pruners. Set the cutting aside.
- 4). Place the prickly pear cuttings in an out of the way place for a week to allow the cut to heal and callous. Check the cutting to see if the end has hardened before potting it.
- 5). Combine equal parts perlite and coir or milled peat moss to create a sterile rooting mix. Fill a 1-gallon plastic pot with the perlite and coir mixture. Saturate it with water, and press it to extract the excess moisture.
- 6). Dig a narrow hole in the center of the rooting mixture. Make the hole wide enough and deep enough to bury the bottom one-third of the prickly pear cutting.
- 7). Insert the prickly pear cutting into the hole, and carefully press the soil around its base. Drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of water around the base.
- 8). Place the prickly pear indoors near a well-lit window or outdoors where it will receive dappled light for the first 30 days. Slowly acclimate the prickly pear to stronger sunlight until it can withstand full sun.
- 9). Water the prickly pear cacti sparingly during the summer, using just enough water to moisten the top 1/4 inch of soil every seven days. Decrease water in winter to 1/4 inch every 14 days.
- 10
Keep the prickly pear cacti in the pot for one year or until the tops of the cuttings show signs of growth and the flesh has plumped significantly. - 11
Plant the prickly pear cacti outdoors in late spring the following year in a sunny, sandy bed.
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