I have been trying to find some information on collecting seeds from the prickly pear. How long after the flower falls off it the fruit ready. Mine are still green and the seeds inside are tiny and white. I looked up some photos of the seeds on the internet and they were black so im assuming mine were not ready yet. Also most of the fruits they show are red. Mine have the yellow flowers. Will the fruit turn a different color when they are ready to be picked. Also what is the best way to germinate them and how long do they take to sprout? Thanks so much in advance.
aman, I don't grow prickly pears but the fruits make excellent ice. This person in AZ has an informative post.
I do not know exactly which Opuntia species you have. The fruits on the one used for commercial fruit production, O. ficus-india,are harvested after 2-5 months (according to a book I have), but the fruits are not fully ripe when harvested. Ripe fruits change color from green to something else, often red. Opuntia seeds are not black, they are bone white and about 3 mm in diameter. I have sown seeds from a Opuntia ficus-india fruit (from a grocery store) once, it took 8 weeks for them to germinate. There are many ways to sow cactus seeds, I put the seeds in sand, just below the surface, and keep the sand moist. They usually germinate without extra temperature control if kept indoors.
Well thats great to know. Im glad i didnt throw the seeds out. Do you dry them or soak in water before you sow them? These ones are bone white. I will try to post a picture today of the one i have. Thanks a million
No. Some people claim that it is advantageous to do that, or freeze/thaw the seeds, but I have not observed any difference in germination rate for the species I have tried. Others recommend nicking the seed at a certain spot. I have not tried that yet, but I believe more in it as a general method for germination of opuntioid seeds. But there is a good chance that they will come up without any pretreatment. Note that the time varies, some species germinates after a few weeks, other can take months. There are many species that look like the one in the pictures, relatively few cactus collectors are specialized enough to distinguish between them (and I am not one of them). There is also a lot of variation within each species, whick further complicates identification. O. phaecantha, polyacantha, and macrorhiza are a few names that come to my mind.
well thanks so much. I am new to this area and have not dealt with the plants and things that are native to this area. I am trying to learn as much as i can but sometimes it results in me needing to post here. I took them out of the fruit and sowed them on the surface. Then sprinkled a fine layer of soil on top. I hope this works. I know i can get many of the pads around here with no problem, but i enjoying seeing something grow from a seed i planted. Thanks again for the help.
From wild-growing plants? Are your seeds from plants native to Arizona? Could help with the identification.
I really dont know if they are native to the area but i know they are in almost every yard i see. Some of them with "needles" ans some with out. I think they are called thorns. Im not sure. Thats one of my problems with the "great" world of the web. Everyone say something different so its hard to learn sometimes. There was a lady here that wanted to dig up and dispose of her cactus garden so she let me come and take them. She only had one prickly pear. The rest were almost identical but without thorns. Some of the others are from the cholla family i believe. Everyone here cuts half of the top pad off and throws them away. I have noticed that the nursery here goes and gets them, plants them, then sells them. So i did the same when the woman was kind enough to let me take some of hers.
