Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Wednesday Vignette, 25 Opuntia Pads

I was so excited to make my Opuntia Christmas tree that I may have jumped the gun. I built it on November 29th, which meant it spent a full 4 weeks indoors before being taken down.

Early on I replaced a couple of pads that showed signs of rot, but eventually more of them started to turn. Luckily they were mostly one side only, so I was able to hide them.

This was the worst, shriveling up and showing the wire frame work underneath.

Ick!

Here's the final count after deconstruction: 25 solid pads to plant up and try to root, then plant out somewhere (that means about 15 of them had gone bad). Since I have no idea if these pads are from a hardy Opuntia perhaps there's another project in my future. One that won't have these going in the ground. Hmmm....we'll see.

Weather Diary, Jan 2: Hi 44, Low 30/ Precip 0

Wednesday Vignettes are hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. All material © 2009-2018 by Loree Bohl for danger garden. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited and just plain rude.

20 comments:

  1. That was a great way to discover the life span of such a creation for next time you do it.

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  2. I never even thought when you built this that you planned to try and save them to root and grow on. I hope they root well, and I'll keep my fingers crossed that they're hardy. Now I'm trying to think if there's a way to keep them moist and perhaps rooting while they're on the framework, in case you decide to do this again.

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    1. Honestly I didn't have any plans when I built it. I just wanted to create the "tree"...but when it came time to take it down how could I just toss the good pads?

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  3. Even a Christmas tree starts dropping needles after 4 weeks.
    When you go "Hmmm....we'll see" I know there is something brewing :-D

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    1. Hey...that's a great point! It's been so long since I've had a "normal" Christmas tree that I'd forgotten.

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  4. What Linda said... live and learn! I'm torn between hoping they all root, and that it's a hardy one, and my curiosity to see what your next project would be. I guess I'll hang on and wait!

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    1. Honestly I have no plans, no project in mind. I'll be surprised to see what happens too!

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  5. Aw. The tree was still a brilliant idea. Hope you grow a successful forest!

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    1. Oh I have no regrets, I loved that tree!

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  6. we wait with bated breath to see what happens next on "As the Pad Turns."

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    1. Wouldn't have pegged you as a soaps kinda guy...

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  7. That's still a LOT of Opuntia pads to work with and a better investment than a traditional cut tree. Ours is now in pieces in the recycle bin - it didn't last much longer than 2 weeks this year.

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    1. Indeed. That's why I feel like I should do "something" with them. Maybe guerrilla garden all over town!

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  8. I guess I'm pretty surprised so many dried up in such a short amount of time. It sure was cool while it lasted though!

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    1. Me too, if they'd stayed outside I'm sure they'd have been fine. I've had broken pads lay around for months.

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  9. Impressive amount to make it through the season. I wonder how many will root? And where will they go? Time will tell!

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  10. This weekend I finally got around to listening to your piece on Cultivating Place. You did very well, and I just had to come see the O'puntiabaum you mentioned.

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  11. Most likely Opuntia ficus-indica, said to be hardy to 25 degrees. I have one in a pot (indoors in winter) also grown from supermarket-bought pads.

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