Plant name: Opuntia Ficus-Indica Burbank Spineless (Nopal)
Ready to plant leaf - 10-12 inches long
Weight of each pad - 1+ lbs
Uses: pet food and ready to plant.
Quantity: 2-4 pads ( Whatever fits in Medium USPS flat rate box, 2 pcs large ones or 3 - 4 pcs smaller ones)
This spineless prickly pear is organically grown in Arizona. This variety of prickly pear is edible and human superfood.
This prickly pear is nearly spineless variety of shrubby cactus that grows to 6 feet tall with branches bearing many oblong 1 foot long thick pads. It blooms orange-yellow flowers along the edges at the tips of the pads in spring and summer. The flowers produce edible pear-shaped fleshy reddish-purple fruits (tunas). The pads are grilled or cooked and eaten as well and called "nopales" or "nopalitos". The plant needs full sun. It is a very drought tolerant plant and is hardy to below 20° F.
How to handle a prickly pear
pads : Use tongs to hold them while cleaning
and planting them. Wear gloves and long sleeves while handling the cacti,
because while they don't have sharp spines, they may still have small glochids
that can be a nuisance. (Glochids are tiny hair-like bristles that grow on the
plant.)
Spineless Prickly Pear Care:
Pick a soil that is both well-drained and rich. Gritty or sandy soil is just
fine. Irrigation is a part of spineless prickly pear care, but you don't have
to invest much water here. The cactus prefers evenly moist soil in summer, but
it is drought tolerant.