Cacti troubles

Hey! So I bought a prickly pear a few years back. At first everything seemed fine. Lots of sun, gave it water maybe once every week or two, yadda yadda. But after a year, I noticed that it had dropped it's flower bud and hadn't even tried to flower again in the spring. Then after a while, no matter how often I gave it water it always had that starved look succulents get after weeks without being watered. You know the look? Where it's like veins are sticking out and it's wrinkly kinda? Finally, I just gave it away to a friend who had massive prickly pear bushes and said if you can get it to grow, it's all yours for free. Because I'm pretty sure I'm killing it somehow. So...where was I going wrong here? I don't get it. Did I just buy a bad one? Was i stressing it? Was it sick? It did start to develop this sort of...brown stuff on the pads. Almost like sun scorch marks. This is what I posted in a cactus growers group on Facebook but I never got a response.

"So I can't get my prickly pear to bloom.

I have a year old prickly pear. When I bought it, it looked like it had fruit growing on it. But the fruit dropped without ripening and ever since... nothing.

It grows pads. It's got a healthy green color. I water it maybe once every week to two weeks, or when I happen to be outside and remember, and the soil looks dry.

It sits on my patio which gets about six hours of full sun, and bright indirect like for another six. It's sheltered from most things like bad wind and I didn't water it once all winter. It went dormant ish like a champ. Like it's supposed to.

But now it's almost August, and nothing. I noticed the prickly pear in a nearby parking lot also isn't Blooming. So...what is it?

Any ideas?"

Hi Rebecca,
I'm no expert, but one thing to think about is the pot it is in. If the roots get too hot, this could easily kill it. Also, if it's in a pot, too much water can certainly be a problem. Prickly pears, I believe, bloom just in the spring. Are you in AZ?
Nancy

Okay, so, I'll see if this can help.

How is it planted? It may not have enough room, potentially.

For prickly pear, in the dirt, they have a wide but shallow root spread, so they need a lot of room. The prickly pear around me tend to have roots spreading at least 8-15 feet from the base stem. So for watering, they do better if they have a lot of room in ground that is getting water over a large area. You'll see some prickly pear planted in the middle of an area where there is plastic covered ground around them, or with cement or other barriers around them fairly close, and that tends to be a problem for them. so if the pot is too small for the size of prickly pear, that could be one issue. Also, in a pot, I don't know how well prickly pear bloom and fruit, compared to in the dirt?  There might be some differences there, but I am ignorant about that.

Sun - if it's getting mostly fully sun, that's likely good. My cactus in my yard gets full day sun, in a desert, and as long as it gets enough water, it's okay.  Cactus roots are typically shallow, and in my desert, the dirt is VERY heated down about 2 feet, deeper than the roots typically go, so cactus roots are able to withstand some pretty hot temps. But there could be a chance that the pot is getting too hot, depending one what it's made of - might be worth exploring that, just in case.

water - I am just not sure - I have all of mine in the ground, which has a very different set of watering needs, you know? They need to dry out between waterings, and are comfortable staying dry for a while, though, so watering it every time it feels dry may be too much - would need some research for that, though.

but, in case you end up putting it in the dirt at all - for cactus, this is the watering pattern that is recommended by one of my desert plant groups that has worked well for me so far.

For new plants that have just been put into the ground:
(times vary depending on the time of year - more frequently during hotter months)
weeks 1-2 - water very 1-4 days (
weeks 3-4 - water the cactus every 3-7 days
weeks 5-6 - water ever 4- 10 days
weeks 7 to 1 year, give or take - gradually increase time between watering until  you've reached the mature watering schedule

The mature watering schedule for established, desert adapted cactus like prickly pear is watering every 14-30 days during hot months with no rain, and watering every 21-45 days during spring and fall, and not at all during the winter. So basically, about twice a month in the summers, and once a month the rest of the time.


That said...I don't water my prickly pear once it's established. Heck, I don't really water any cactus I plant past about 6 months, honestly, unless there is an unusually long heat spell (like over 115 F for 7 days straight).  I live in an area that receives 11-13 inches of rain a year, with very hot summers and mild winters. And like 3/4 of the rain comes during a three month period, so there is almost no rain at all the rest of the year. Now, I get less fruit that way, but it does perfectly fine and does provide a fair amount of fruit still with no extra water.

Good luck, and I hope your cactus does okay!  You can grow a new one from dead looking, dried cactus pads if you just leave one on its side in dirt it can grow in, so you may be able to use your dead looking pads, still.