The MGS Forum
Plants for mediterranean gardens => Cacti and succulents => Topic started by: gertrude on November 21, 2019, 06:23:10 AM
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We took two small pieces of this cacti which had fallen off the mother plant whilst on holiday in Sicily earlier this year and its grown enormously since then. Can someone please id it for us as we need to know its winter requirements. The original plant was growing wild, size approx 1.5 m h x 1m w.
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Try Opuntia subulata, or as I believe we are now supposed to call it, Austrocylindropuntia subulata! ???
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Many thanks, thats the fella, good job we checked it out, needs to dry out a little, (we just had a load of rain, most unusual, but very welcome) and be taken indoors for the winter.
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Opuntia memories
I once acquired a piece of Opuntia very similar to your piece, probably from an empty plot of land. When planted it grew tall, strong and put out lots of branches. Friends and neighbours gladly accepted pieces and theirs also grew apace. One day I saw my neighbour, a dress maker, with her hand bandaged, she had been pierced by one of the thorns from her plant. Then one of my friends decided that her plant had outgrown her tiny yard and she asked her husband to help her dig it out. The plant fell over and several thorns were imbedded in his shoulder.
I decided that my plant, on a narrow balcony, had to go. I threw some of it in the rubbish bin but got told off by the dustbin man. This must have been before they had special lorries to lift and tip the bins and they were emptying the bins by hand. What to do? In the end I cut it up into small pieces, wrapped them up in newspaper and added them every now and then to the rubbish bin.
So plant your Opuntia by all means but be sure it is well away from small children and accident prone adults and, as one article I have just read, ”far away from passageways”.