Texas prickly-pear

Texas prickly-pear Care

Opuntia engelmannii

What is the plant

Opuntia engelmannii (Engelmann Prickly Pear) is a bushy succulent shrub with light green or bluish green, egg-shaped, fleshy pads, up to 12 in. across (30 cm). It forms sizeable clusters and grows either upright or spreading.

The overall form of Opuntia engelmannii is generally shrubby, with dense clumps up to 3.5 metres (11 ft) high, usually with no apparent trunk. The pads are green (rarely blue-green), obovate to round, about 15–30 cm long and 12–20 cm wide. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant, for use in drought tolerant gardens, container plantings, and natural landscaping projects. It goes by a variety of common names, including cow's tongue cactus, cow tongue prickly pear, desert prickly pear, discus prickly pear, Engelmann's prickly pear, and Texas prickly pear in the US, and nopal, abrojo, joconostle, and vela de coyote in Mexico.

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Humidity

Dry

Lighting

Full Sun

Temperature

10°C - 20°C

Hardiness zone

min 9a

Difficulty

Easy

How to Care for the Plant

Water
Prickly pears are extremely drought tolerant. Don’t water newly propagated pads for the first month. After that, water every two to four weeks for the first year - twice a month in summer and once a month other times of the year. In most areas, rainfall will be enough to sustain established plants.
Fertilizer
Fertilize young plants with a balanced 10-10-10 fertilizer. For established plants, a 5-10-10 or even 0-10-10 water-soluble fertilizer will promote more flowers and fruit. If you are growing for the pads, use a fertilizer that is high in nitrogen.
Sunlight
The plant performs best in full sun or light shade.

Disease diagnosis

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Soil
This plant tolerates a wide variety of soils as long as they are well-draining.
Temperature
The plant can be grown in the areas with the lowest temperatures between 10°F and 20°F or -12.2°C and -6.7°C.
Popularity
361 people already have this plant 54 people have added this plant to their wishlists