A few weeks ago I acquired what was being sold as an "unprickly pear".
The price was right and the plants were being tortured, but they were in good shape considering their state of neglect.
I've been collecting a few Opuntias lately and I'd never heard of an unprickly pear before so I did a web search and turned up some interesting facts that I'd never encountered before.
I've put this in the ID section because I'm not 100% certain on the ID but from what I've been reading I'm almost sure. Maybe some U.S. members could know more about them than I do. If anyone knows what cultivar I have please let me know.
Anyway from what I've read it turns out that the U.S. plant wizard Luther Burbank devoted over 15 years of his life to developing spineless Opuntias. He achieved this remarkable feat on his own where the U.S. dept of agriculture could not, even with all their manpower and resources.
From what I can gather he developed 7 different cultivars, some of which were intended for the pads to be used as feed and others that produce some of what is said to be amongst the finest fruits known to man.
I've read about Burbank and his remarkable work with plants in The Secret Life of Plants and I've eaten a few of his creations but I've never seen a cactus that could well be a cutting from the originals bred by the great man himself. I really feel honoured to have a piece of historical (and agricultural) importance such as this in my possession.
Obviously there was a lot of hype and salesmanship included in Burbanks' work but from what I'm looking at I must admit there is certainly a lot of truth to his claims.
Here's a few pics of one of the younger pads that I've removed to start new plants. They are incredibly dense and each one weighs well over a kilo. The larger of the two plants has a pad that was used to start the plant and it is over 12 inches across and more than two inches thick.
A few weeks ago I acquired what was being sold as an "unprickly pear".
The price was right and the plants were being tortured, but they were in good shape considering their state of neglect.
I've been collecting a few Opuntias lately and I'd never heard of an unprickly pear before so I did a web search and turned up some interesting facts that I'd never encountered before.
I've put this in the ID section because I'm not 100% certain on the ID but from what I've been reading I'm almost sure. Maybe some U.S. members could know more about them than I do. If anyone knows what cultivar I have please let me know.
Anyway from what I've read it turns out that the U.S. plant wizard Luther Burbank devoted over 15 years of his life to developing spineless Opuntias. He achieved this remarkable feat on his own where the U.S. dept of agriculture could not, even with all their manpower and resources.
From what I can gather he developed 7 different cultivars, some of which were intended for the pads to be used as feed and others that produce some of what is said to be amongst the finest fruits known to man.
I've read about Burbank and his remarkable work with plants in The Secret Life of Plants and I've eaten a few of his creations but I've never seen a cactus that could well be a cutting from the originals bred by the great man himself. I really feel honoured to have a piece of historical (and agricultural) importance such as this in my possession.
Obviously there was a lot of hype and salesmanship included in Burbanks' work but from what I'm looking at I must admit there is certainly a lot of truth to his claims.
Here's a few pics of one of the younger pads that I've removed to start new plants. They are incredibly dense and each one weighs well over a kilo. The larger of the two plants has a pad that was used to start the plant and it is over 12 inches across and more than two inches thick.
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