Opuntias from the "wild"

Just wonderning what the thoughts are about taking opuntia cuttings from the "wild" are?

I'd love to get my hands on some opuntias but I guess other than going to a proper cacus nursery it's just not something that I will find in gardening shops. I have however spotted a fair few wild growing ones out around the suburb that I live in, some growing wild alongside the road and one that's broken free of it's chains, ie grown taller than the colourbond fence it's planted inside and started new patches growing on the outside of the fence. That one and 2 other plants, judging by the growth pattern and size of pads they are different varieties, I spotted today has to be well in excess of 2.5 meters tall and growing like wildfire.

So, take a cartrip around the suburb one day with a knife or secateurs and grab some pads or leave them be to keep growing without any interference? Any real risk of introducing bugs or something else from these wild growing guys or should it be alright aslong as I make sure the pads are clean and healthy looking?

Hi SnowFella,

Probably a good chance that any Opuntias growing in the wild here in Oz will in fact be noxious weed varieties, so cultivating/posessing/growing them is actually illegal. Beyond that, they have to reach a pretty good size before they'll flower, so not too sure of their value to a collector/grower anyway ??

There are much better looking Opuntia's available that are more suited to pot/garden culture...

Hmmm, never really thoght along those lines. Guess it makes sence though that speices labeled as noxious weeds are regulated and could potentially be illegal to grow in the backyard.

Just planning ahead here and trying to get my hands on some reasonably mature speciments as come next spring I'm planning on turning a portion of the backyard into a desert garden and I don't really want to be planting out seedlings to start things off with.

Well, I can see now why O. stricta is classed as a weed. Guess against better judgement I went ahead and took some pads from the plant I found that had "broken it's chains" and propagated to the other side of a colourbond fence. The main plant was severely affected by Cactoblastis with large portions just about chewed up.
Popped the pads into some regular pottingmix just over a week ago without giving them more than an hours rest to callus over and I've already got 5 to 6 cm roots growing out of everyone of them.

Likely going to kill off these experiments and instead see if either Hamilton's has some Opuntias or get some O. cacanapa pads I've spotted on Ebay.
Just got to figure out how to reliably kill them though...guessing either pool chlorine or pool acid in a bucket ought to do the trick, and I have plenty of both around.

Quote :

Likely going to kill off these experiments and instead see if either Hamilton's has some Opuntias or get some O. cacanapa pads I've spotted on Ebay.

HI SNOW FELLAS , i thought you were more of an impulse buyer?

I am...but I also plan ahead to some extent I want to get a decent smallscale cactus garden going next spring so I'm actively looking for plants that will survive outdors and grow to reasonably big. So I'm keeping an eye out for columnars, opuntias and barrel cactuses that I can plant out...but at the same time can't go past a cute little one when I see it even if I know it's likely to perish if I plant it out.
Even picked up one of those metal storage shelves the other week to have somewhere to store the impulse buys on. lol

ol' mate has santa rita, and some others

As we're on the subject of Opuntia, rather than do my proper day job I've been trying to understand the status of Opuntia/Cylindropuntia spp. in relation to the Noxious Weeds Act 1993 (NSW). BTW sorry Snowfella if it looks as though I'm drifting slightly from your topic, but since you're keen to include some Opuntia spp. in your garden (as am I), I figure the following might be relevant.

Weed Control Order No 20 under the Act classifies all Cylindropuntia and Opuntia spp. (other than O. ficus-indica) as Class 4 noxious weeds and not to be sold in NSW. Yet of course plants like Opuntia microdasys are commercially cultivated and commonly sold by nurseries, including some of the big franchises.

Given the continued availability of O. microdasys in the NSW nursery trade, I had simply assumed up until now that it was not a declared noxious weed, unlike O. stricta and other prickly pear nasties and that there wasn't a blanket ban on the sale of Opuntia spp. in NSW -- but having now read the information provided by the Dept of Primary Industries, I wonder how it all works. Is O. microdasys on some kind of exception listing that I haven't seen, or is the DPI merely opting not to enforce the control order for this particular species? By comparison, water plants like Cabomba (except C. furcata) and Egeria densa are declared Class 5 and Class 4 respectively in all of NSW and are certainly no longer offered for sale.

Is there anyone on this forum active in the NSW nursery trade who could elaborate?

Not to worry about drifting slightly, it's all in the interest of Opuntias.

Think I might of seen a Opuntia microdasys when I picked up the last lot of waterlogged cactii yesterday. Passed on it though as I have a thing for wicked spines rather than just glochids.

Makes me wonder though what the cactus I had on my windowsill back in Sweden all those years ago could of been. Was a stem growing thing with short spines aswell as "leaves" looking just like Opuntia pads. Must of had it there for the better part of 10 years but it never grew more than a foot tall and the pads no more than an inch across.
If it's still in the old room when I go back home for holidays later on in the year I might just see if I can get myself a cutting or 2 of it. Strictly for use in pots then though and not to plant out, wouldn't want to introduce yet another speices of Opuntia.

You mean bring back a cutting from Sweden? Eeek -- I wouldn't if I were you ... even if you declare it at Customs back in Australia it'll be confiscated as a prohibited import. Not worth getting on the wrong side of those AQIS guys.

Drat...didn't really think of that. Still to darn used to the lax import regulations from back home, nothing exotic would ever grow there with our winters. Can't even count the amount of times my mum has brought home cuttings from holiday trips and grown them either indoors or in the small greenhouse she's got.

i got one pad i picked up near a mates house of mine,dint really worry about it and its done really well,had no problems with pests either,