These Prickly Pear pads are sitting in a tray of gravel to prompt them to grow roots. They were harvested last fall and have spent the winter in an unheated room under artificial plant lights. Opuntia pads can live a very long time without roots and if kept cool and dry they will last over a year in this condition. Setting them outdoors in the sun and rain on a bed of gravel will get them to root especially in the spring. I have several other Opuntia pads - not in this photo - which were cut off of their plants this spring sitting on beds of gravel to root. I think the pads can be cut off of their parent plants any time of the year, but spring is the best time to try and root them.

Labels: spring