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prickly pear

 
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I Plastered a farm house last spring . The owner was going to kill all of th prickly pear. So i took it home. I love it. Just want to know if anyone else grows it, or would like so. You can eat the pads and pears. I tried making wine from the pear this year. It tasted good , but was very thick like syrup so no one will drink it. cept me lol
 
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Location: northern california, 50 miles inland from Mendocino, zone 7
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My friends barbecue it,  we like it in scrambled eggs.
 
charles c. johnson
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the pads?
or the pear
 
gary gregory
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Location: northern california, 50 miles inland from Mendocino, zone 7
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charles johnson "carbonout" wrote:
the pads?
or the pear


The pads.  We get the pickled nopales at safeway, but are now growing some.
 
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How easy is this to grow indoors for the winter? I like cacti and my mom used to grow some, but I don't think she had any prickly pear when she still lived here in Indiana. I would love to add a cactus to my garden.
 
charles c. johnson
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I live in illinois and it winters fine leave it outside all year  speads like wild fire.its hearty like hen and chicks
 
                              
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Location: Inland Central Florida, USA
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We even have prickly pear growing around here in FL.  It's find so long as it is in a well drained location.

What is the easiest way to propagate it?  I think I might want to move a little of it before it gets smashed where it currently is (not a very big one growing in a location where it could get run over if people are not careful.)
 
jeremiah bailey
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Hens and chicks are something that I know about growing. Set and forget. We had some growing on a cypress stump covered in gravel. I love prickly pear fruits. Would you be willing to trade some plants? I currently only have seeds, and a limited selection:
From packets from past seed season from Jung Seed Co:
Tomato - Heirloom paste - Opalka 
Melon - Heirloom cantelope - Amish
Saved seed:
Pea - Snow Pea - Sandy
Tomato - Heirloom cherry - Koralik
Tomato - OP drying - Principe Borghese
Cowpea - Heirloom - Pink Eyed Purple Hull

I could also send post paid packaging, or other arrangement.
 
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      A freind of mines boy frind grew her one on her balcony because she wanted to have something she could forget about, never water . I think he just stuck half a leaf in a flower pot . I have a decorative one a purply edged one on a balcony, i have not tried to grow others, i am afraid of touching it it prickles so.
  What are the pads how do you eat them. rose
 
jeremiah bailey
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Rose: The pads are the "leaves" or green vegetative water storing parts of the cactus. Basically you peel them and cook them. Do a google search for "cooking prickly pear pads". You'll get some recipes and ideas from there.
TCLynx: From what I've been researching, you just cut off a pad and stick it in soil. Don't water, as it stores enough to root itself. Watering apparently can lead to rotting, instead of rooting.
 
                              
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Location: Inland Central Florida, USA
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I believe you can burn the spines off but prickly pear are some of the least prickly cactus out there.
 
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we have bunches of prickly pear growing all over our property. I havne't yet started experimenting so i am going to be watching this thread! I wonder why the wine turned out thick? does it taste OK?
 
gary gregory
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Location: northern california, 50 miles inland from Mendocino, zone 7
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Leah Sattler wrote:
we have bunches of prickly pear growing all over our property. I havne't yet started experimenting so i am going to be watching this thread! I wonder why the wine turned out thick? does it taste OK?



Do your goats eat them Leah?
 
jeremiah bailey
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Leah, from looking at a few recipes and their descriptions, some are more like a normal fruit wine, but most seem to be thicker, almost like a mead.
 
charles c. johnson
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i will send you a couple slips  just send me private msg
just make sure you can plant it in your state i don't want you to get in trouble


Prickly pear species were introduced into Australia in the late 1800s, causing major ecological damage in the eastern states (see www.northwestweeds.nsw.gov.au).
 
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