In the Garden: Prickly Pear Predicament

I’m on the warpath because some beast or human broke my prickly pear cactus! I had grown it from a single pad that I had snapped off somebody’s plant (with her permission).

I don’t usually actively acquire cacti and succulents unless they’re virtually free. I am fascinated by cacti, however. I think it started with a cartoon I saw of somebody sticking a spigot into a saguaro and getting water out of it. It might have been from a MAD Magazine, so I shouldn’t have regarded it as gospel.

No matter, I still looked up how viable that was and found out that you could indeed extract water from a cactus, but it’s not ideal for drinking. It’s too acidic and has lots of toxins to boot. So much for my solution for that man and little girl who were dying in the desert. They had no choice but to join a religious cult in order to be rescued. I was like, they could have avoided all the ensuing tragedy if only they had known to stab a cactus and drink from the water that flowed. Fans of Sherlock Holmes should know I’m talking about the back story in A Study in Scarlet. (Buying a copy through this affiliate link will reward me a small commission at no extra cost to you.✨)

The second time I got excited over cacti (nopales or prickly pear, in particular), I was visiting the cactus garden in Balboa Park, and it was my first time noticing fruits! I had seen cacti with flowers in the past, but that was my first time registering fruits. Since then, I’ve wanted a prickly pear plant.

Some twenty years later, I finally got my chance. I do understand that I need only go to a plant store, but I usually forget that there is a cactus I want and just stick to herbs, vegetables, and flowers when I’m plant shopping.

So, one day during lockdown, we were driving around, which was our compromise – we never got out of the car unless we went to an open area with no people – and I noticed copses of cacti lining the sides of a mountain road. I told my husband to stop the car and asked the lady from the nearby house if it was okay to break off a pad from a prickly pear cactus. She said the plants were hers and to go ahead.

I think I used a couple of wet wipes to protect my hands and then stored it in an empty fast food paper bag. I quickly planted it in a pot when I got home and crossed my fingers that it would root. Root it did, and when it had grown two more pads, I moved it to a bigger pot.

It seemed to be thriving, but then it broke, and I was in a panic to save it, so I snapped off the pads that seemed unscathed and quickly stuck them in an empty pot to root them.

For some reason, I thought it was okay to handle them bare-handed. You could tell where the spines were and they were pretty well-spaced. But it soon occurred to me how foolhardy that was.

Even while trying to consciously avoid them, I got pricked by the spines. Some of them were more visible than others. As soon as I’d embedded all the pads I had taken, I rushed inside to google how to properly remove cactus spines from skin.

My sources said my options were with tweezers, glue, and duct tape. I worked with the tweezers first and got most of them out. But then I’d still feel pain in some areas, so I knew there were spines lodged deeper in those spots. I put tape on them and then ripped the tape off. If that move didn’t pull out the spine, it at least got it to surface so I could attack it with the tweezers.

Every time, I’d think I’d finally gotten rid of all of them, but then I’d register more pain spots. I even found a spine embedded in my cuticle! I have no idea how it got there. After about an hour, they were all out. At least, I wasn’t feeling any more pain spots.

So, the moral of the story is to always wear gardening gloves. I certainly hope those pads I planted successfully root.

And if you’re wondering, my old plant had yet to fruit. I probably need to learn about propagating cacti more. So… where do you source your plants? 😁