How to Grow a Cutting From Prickly Pear Cactus

Select a healthy pad from a mature and established prickly pear cactus in late spring when temperatures reach 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and stay above 40 degrees Fahrenheit at night. Choose a pad with no blemishes, wounds or obvious sign of disease.

Clean the blades of a pair of sharp bypass pruners before using them on the prickly pear cactus to avoid infecting the pad with harmful bacteria. Rub the blades of the bypass pruners with 1 tbsp. bleach mixed with 8 tbsp. water. Allow the bleach water to sit on the blades for 30 seconds then wipe them dry.

Put on leather work gloves before working with the prickly pear cactus to protect your skin from spines. Hold the pad steady with a pair of tongs while taking the cutting. Detach it from the lower pad right at the interconnecting node using the sanitized bypass pruners. Set the cutting aside.

Place the prickly pear cuttings in an out of the way place for a week to allow the cut to heal and callous. Check the cutting to see if the end has hardened before potting it.

Combine equal parts perlite and coir or milled peat moss to create a sterile rooting mix. Fill a 1-gallon plastic pot with the perlite and coir mixture. Saturate it with water, and press it to extract the excess moisture.

Dig a narrow hole in the center of the rooting mixture. Make the hole wide enough and deep enough to bury the bottom one-third of the prickly pear cutting.

Insert the prickly pear cutting into the hole, and carefully press the soil around its base. Drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of water around the base.

Place the prickly pear indoors near a well-lit window or outdoors where it will receive dappled light for the first 30 days. Slowly acclimate the prickly pear to stronger sunlight until it can withstand full sun.

Water the prickly pear cacti sparingly during the summer, using just enough water to moisten the top 1/4 inch of soil every seven days. Decrease water in winter to 1/4 inch every 14 days.

Keep the prickly pear cacti in the pot for one year or until the tops of the cuttings show signs of growth and the flesh has plumped significantly.

Plant the prickly pear cacti outdoors in late spring the following year in a sunny, sandy bed.