FREE: Hybrid Prickly Pear Needle-Free Cactus

The listing, Hybrid Prickly Pear Needle-Free Cactus has ended.

This auction is for one pad of a Spineless Hybrid Opunta Cactus (Prickly Pear). This plant makes a nice, no care required, bluish green addition to your landscape! This Opunta hybrid (aka Prickly Pear) has been developed by Texas A & M to have zero large spines.

There are large lemon yellow blooms in the Spring, followed by ruby red fruit. Both the fruit and the plant are edible! The fruit makes an excellent jelly or jam and the pads (nopales) are organic and can be prepared in a number of ways. Long a food staple in Mexico, they are used both raw or cooked. Recently, they have been found to be a super food in lowering cholesterol, and lowering blood sugar in diabetes. (See recent study at the Mayo Clinic. " Consuming 100-500 mg. may decrease blood sugar levels in some. Loaded with antioxidants, high in minerals and fiber and delicious when prepared properly.)"

Plant your cutting (which will be a large pad, approx. 7" long) in full sun.
It can withstand an occasional freeze but nothing prolonged.

I would like to share my Prickly Pear Cacti. I started mine from one Prickly Pear Pad .They told me to let the raw surface where they had cut it with a knife DRY UNTIL IT FEELS HARD LIKE WOOD. Then you can plant it. You can just stick that dried end into the ground and tamp down the direct dirt around it..AND THEN WAIT..Believe it or not it doesn't take long. It took mine somewhere around 3 weeks to get a little tiny pad and it grew so quickly that I was surprised..

I will send a PayPal invoice to cover shipping it to you.