Prickly Pear cactus is a perfect native homestead plant for Arizona
If you live in Arizona then one of the things you should definitely have on your homestead is prickly pear cactus. The prickly pear will grow with no assistance and is a source of both fruit and nopales (the pads) for food. If you do not have prickly pear on your homestead then plant some! Prickly pear is easy to grow. Those of you who are not in the right climate can grow this in a greenhouse if you wish. It is a great food source for half of the year!
Choose the right prickly pear plant
There are many species of prickly pear. Some have fewer spines than others. Spineless prickly pear has been developed in labs, but as soon as you introduce it outdoors the spines return. This is because the spines actually protect the cactus from our hot sun. Every little spine casts a shadow and helps protect the plant. I still like the prickly pear with fewer spines for harvesting because it makes it a lot easier. That said, my “spineless” prickly pear gets eaten down a lot quicker by rabbits, ground squirrels, and other desert animals looking for food, compared to the ones with lots of spines.
Growing a Prickly Pear Cactus
Growing a prickly pear is simple. You can get a started cactus from a nursery or you can grow one from the cuttings of another prickly pear cactus. Prickly pear pads will root into the ground with very little help. If you choose to do it this way then start by cutting the pad about an inch higher than where it started growing. Leave it to dry in the sun for a day or two (if you put it straight into the ground it may rot). Then plant it. You can plant it in a pot to give it a little time to grow before you transfer it or you can put it straight in the ground (although this way might make it easier for desert animals to get to it while it is small). Rooting hormone can help it root faster, but is not necessary. Prickly pear grows very quickly, although I like to give it a year or so before I start harvesting the nopales.
Prickly Pear Cactus Spines
The spines on a prickly pear cactus are easy to avoid. They are large and easy to see. The ouch factor comes from the prickly pear glochids. Glochids are a lot harder to see. They are tiny and detach from the plant as soon as you touch them. They are so tiny that they get under your skin and are hard to get out. I like to burn the glochids off after harvesting, but when doing that make sure you are downwind. Even the wind can blow these hairlike spines into your skin and clothing. If you use a rag or washcloth to wipe the nopales/tunas then plan on gettting rid of it afterwords. Those little glochids are impossible to get rid of once they are in fabric.
Food from the Prickly Pear Cactus
The prickly pear plant starts new growth on the tops and sides of its pads. Depending on the time of year, this growth will either become a fruit (called tuna) or another pad (a young pad is called a nopales). Prickly Pear Fruit, or tuna, generally grows from July-September and it makes great lemonade, juice, jellies, candies, drinks, and more. Nopales are usually ready to harvest beginning in April and should be harvested when they are about the size of an adult hand. Nopales can be fried, grilled, boiled, or turned into salsa.
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In Sprindale, Utah there is a house with prickly pear cactus plants along one of it’s property lines and the cacti have no needles on them, none! I assume they are pulled out as the plant grows but close inspection doesn’t even show any place where a needle once was.