Cold-Hardy Prickly Pear Cactus

Hello, all. I'm a cactus addict with a focus on growing from seed and testing the limits of cold-hardiness in my zone 7a. While my zone is less cold than maybe ideal for the project, one particular way I could help is by grafting seedlings to accelerate early growth. I have a couple years of cactus-grafting experience and get pretty good results with the techniques. I might be able to fast-forward the growth by a couple years' equivalent by grafting seedlings onto established, cold-hardy Opuntia rootstock or even Pereskiopsis (popular for pushing especially rapid growth to any cactus scion). It's also possible to graft small cuttings—as little as a single areole from one cactus pad—and get similar growth acceleration.

So: are there any seeds or pads available for me to work with?

I'd love to volunteer if folks from colder zones are still of interest! I've been growing the Ontario-native prickly pear for a few years now, it's been surviving but not thriving. Then again, it's planted in very poor soil and gets zero attention or winter protection, so I'm calling that a win... I would love to be part of this project.

I live between Zones 5 a/b. We planted three prickly pear plants about a decade ago. All but one perished. This summer it bloomed for the first time. The flowers are absolutely beautiful and they are abundant!

Hi there! I'd been looking into breeding my own cold-hardy pricklies before I found this project, and I'd like to offer my space for growing in Illinois Zone 6b.

I live in joliet illinois zone 5b and would love to try growing a taller cactus than eastern prickly pear. How do i proceed to be a part of this? Thank you.

Hey all, I'm joining from Detroit, MI (Zone 6) and would be interested in growing for this project. I recently learned opuntia humifusa grows in the state and would love to grow it, the pilot species for this project, or work on hybrids.

I would be happy to help with this project. I'm in zone 5a.

I'm in NW Iowa (on the edge of zones 4/5) and would love to participate if more volunteers are needed.

This is the only one I could grow from seed, so I rooted one pad and planted it outside early last summer. It grew very much, about tripled. It grows on old stone fence, I put some clayish sand for the roots, other than that it has to find it's nutrients from composted moss etc.
The winter has been mild, mostly just barely freezing, worst has been maybe -15 Celsius and not for a long. It seems to do quite all right, maybe a bit yellowing on some areas but I believe this will not be fatal by any means. Continuing to monitor it.

I am already growing Eastern Prickly Pear Cactus in two separate areas and would like to participate. Do you still have seeds for sale? Thanks!

I could not reply to your comment for some reason so decided to do a separate post:

Hello, I have Opuntia humifusa but they are shriveled and dormant. I don't mind helping you out this spring when they start growing again. I am in zone 6b.

I can tell everyone right now that Opuntia ficus-indica will not live outdoor in 6b. Unless, perhaps, you somehow provide shelter for it during the cold? Maybe bring it inside. Mine died the very first freeze we got in November I mean deader than a door knob. I was testing it in both pots and directly in the ground. The pads in the ground are south facing behind a barn in soil that is very well draining. It is a hot spot and the pads there look dead too. But maybe the roots are alive? We shall see this spring. The pads in the pots look dead, dead, dead.

I should mention that the killing temperature was within the temperatures for zone 8. I think I lost my Opuntia ficus- indica because they were first year cuttings. The killing temp was around 19 degrees. USDA zone 8 lows are 10-20 depending on if 8a or 8b.

I am not finished testing though. I am going to get more pads and try covering them next winter a frost cloth or similar and some green Christmas lights (not led and if I can find them) to bring up the temp a bit. My pads were first year babies. Maybe a little older, more established plant would fair a better chance? Should be a fun experiment.

The photo is what a Opuntia ficus-indica does in freezing temps while in a pot.

I'm up here in Maine, and have had terrible link with the seeds, if anyone has a good established zone 6 plant(s) going, I'll buy a pad(s) to treat the zone 5 hardiness! Please let me know!

Hey everyone! I specialize in growing cold-hardy cactus that are native to my are, but many of them don't have the best edible fruits. I'm in zone 7a. Are seeds and pads still available for participating in this research project? I'd love to help trial Opuntia stricta along with my Opuntia humifusa, Opuntia macrorhiza, Opuntia engelmannii var. lindheimeri, Opuntia ficus-indica, and many others!

Hin When I joined this prickly pear project on the website it gave me a notification that the email server had goofed somehow so I thought I would check in here. I'm very interested in seeds or cuttings. Cold hardy prickly pear has been of interest to me for a while, seems like a great climate resilient crop. I would appreciate being able to solicit or buy from one of y'all, not sure how to solicit from anybody. I presently have a couple unidentified Opuntia specimens from Texas and Missouri that have been growing, budding, and overwintering well, no blooms yet, but would like to try some in the garden away from the heat of the house soon. I would like a suggestion as to how far apart to plant them so I can make room for a specimen from this project, or to ask generally if it messes up anybody's pollen goals if I have them near each other. Thank you for your time and I appreciate everybody's work on these Opuntia!

Hey guys, I’m happy to be here. I have a few prickly pear plants that I bring inside when temps drop, but recently I’ve been more interested in a cold hardy variety so I will definitely be looking to help.

Hi! Not sure how to reply to someone's update—is it possible? Just wanted to chip in responding to alexpyne that at least I germinated with the following steps:
1) scratched surface of each seed with sandpaper
2) soaked seeds overnight
3) planted seeds perhaps 1/4 inch under the soil in plastic seed starting trays; mix was some soil, some seed starting mix, and sand
4) first I just let the tray sit there, and then after no germination for a couple weeks I changed methods and used a heat mat and plastic cover and kept the environment very very humid. I then started to get germination in around a week. I think the seeds like heat and dampness/humidity.
5) I removed the heat mat and plastic cover once several seedlings started growing their first spines.
6) some seeds still took until four months (!) later to germinate. I'm sure that if I had let the other trays sit for another year I probably would have gotten even more germination.

Hello everybody,

I'm relatively new to experimental plant projects and was curious if over the years of breeding these new varieties of prickly pear anyone has any "best practices" for germination. When I recieved the vineland hardy and willoughby spit prickly pear seeds, I surface sowed them in well draining soil. I sowed about 40 seeds for each variety and I don't yet see any sprouts (it's been two weeks now). If I were to try again, should I sow in containers instead?

Thanks for any help!
- Alex

Hello everybody,

I'm relatively new to experimental plant projects and was curious if over the years of breeding these new varieties of prickly pear anyone has any "best practices" for germination. When I recieved the vineland hardy and willoughby spit prickly pear seeds, I surface sowed them in well draining soil. I sowed about 40 seeds for each variety and I don't yet see any sprouts (it's been two weeks now). If I were to try again, should I sow in containers instead?

Thanks for any help!
- Alex

This one germinated last winter, and now, after summer is a nice little thing with a clear pad already. Not going to propagate it just yet, better keep it as an "indoor plant" this winter, and maybe next summer I'll root one pad, and try its winter hardiness.

Hi everyone! I'm Nora and I live in NJ, zone 6b or 6a. After purchasing both NJ (Vineland Hardy) and VA (Willoughby Spit) prickly pear seeds from EFN earlier this year and taking care of the seedlings with all my might, I only just now found this project! So excited to be able to share in the cactus-growing journey with others.

I started my seedlings on May 5th of this year and they started sprouting toward the end of May/early June. I probably had around 35% germination. I started them in little seed-starting trays with an easily removable plastic cover next to a northeast-facing window. They were on a heat mat and they only started popping up once I kept the soil consistently moist. Every day I would take off the cover and let the accumulated water drip back into their cells or onto the floor of their tray, and added more water when they weren't moist enough to make condensation. Once they started growing their first paddle and spines I took off the cover and hung a grow light—I did it so late because some had a sunburnt appearance when they first came up. Now each one is in its own larger pot and I water more or less once a week. They started tipping over, though, and when I checked with people in the reddit cactus group I decided that the plants were etiolated/top heavy because the light wasn't strong enough, and now it's hung about 6 inches from the tops of the plants. We'll see how they do from here! Attached are a few photos. Currently there are 3 from NJ and 6 from VA