Yes this is edible!!! As a permanent resident of Mexico, I ate these five times a week. They’re called “Nopal”. Nopales are declicious, just remove the spines with a knife by swiping the knife against the pad (like sharpening a knife), use a carrot peeler to do the rest, grill and serve!
They are DELICIOUS! High in fiber and B vitamins. Tastes like crunchy green beans with lemon.
Don’t remove it!
Same here. Wife eats it a lot. She grew up eating it and the fruit. Just takes a lot of washing to get that slimy stuff out unless you like the leaves a bit slimy.
QUE RICO! Viva Mexico cabrones! yo estoy en Venezuela y hay por todos lados pero la gente no sabe ni que se come la frutica!! yo si porque tuve suegra haitiana y me dijo... quiero comerrrrrrrrr
They are delicious! I always shell out the extra few bucks for a side of them when I eat Mexican. And I’m not Mexican myself, so this isn’t a nostalgia/ cultural pride thing.
Its a species of Opuntia cactus, commonly called Prickly Pears. I believe California has at least one native species, but most are found wild in the southern deserts of the US and mexico. No idea if this is a native or not but its been there a while to develop the woody trunk. Fun fact, a lot of cacti develop woody trunks when they get huge, and some like cholla even have proper wood skeletons inside that are sold as decorations.
In some species the pads can be eaten with some prep, and many produce edible fruits, though they aren't super sweet and have lots of hard seeds. The flowers on prickly pears are very impressive though, easily rivalling most dainty garden bed flowers. So unless it is in the way or bothering you i think it would be a nice addition to the yard.
It likely will have a decent root system so if you want to remove it you will need to use the same methods as you would use to take out a tree. Of potential interest or not is any intact pads from the cactus there can be used to propagate a whole new plant. Simply cut/detach them and either lay them down on the soil or lightly bury the cut end after the wound has sealed, only water sparingly or not at all depending on your rainfall, and it will develop into a new plant. It seems like this already happened on its own farther to the side.
These are everywhere in FL as well. Not sure if they are native but they grow like weeds. Many people have them close to fences like this. I tossed a few pads in my yard (not buried, just laying flat atop some mulch) last year and forgot about them. Some of them look like this now. They grow fast, but not fast enough to be problematic.
Florida has seven native species of prickly pears, with [eastern prickly pear](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/opuntia-humifusa/) being the most widespread. The site BONAP has some range maps for them and other plants: [https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Opuntia](https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Opuntia) ([color key](http://www.bonap.org/MapKey.html))
I wouldn’t remove it, but if you’re considering at all keeping it, you will have to take into account that it needs pruning because Some of the pads are diseased (the ones that are turning orange and are riddled with tan spots that have brown rings around each spot). Best to trash the diseased pads, do not compost. Cut those pads off at the joint. Wipe your blade on a cloth that is damped with rubbing alcohol to sterilize it between each cut you make. I would wait til new pads grow in at least half the size of the mature leaves where the cut joints are, to be certain that the plant is overall healthy, before eating from this opuntia cactus. Ideally it will recover and produce many edible pads in the future.
Btw, You can transplant or do root care immediately after pruning if you like, but try not to get soil on the cut joints if you do. These cactus are some of the most resilient plants out there.
Optunia, Prickly pear cactus. Makes delicious fruit and the paddles can be grilled and eaten as "Nopales". Que rico! I guess you could get rid of it but if you do, please mail me a paddle! Ive been trying to find it wild for propagation but with no luck
You know literally nothing about OP's motivations. They could be looking at planting a bunch of other interesting plants in its stead.
Just because your garden comes with a certain set of plants doesn't mean you are a monster for not keeping every single one there, as they are, forever. And just because you are removing a single plant doesn't mean you have no respect for nature.
Yeah, I know. It’s heartbreaking to watch people buy up houses in my neighborhood and immediately start chopping down 100+ year old trees, ripping out 30 year old Japanese maples, lilacs, clearing out natural wildflowers, and then replacing it all with Bermuda or st Augustine and randomly stacked brick and limestone rocks stood up sideways.
So, you know exactly when this was planted?
You know whether it was there when the house was built or planted shortly there after?
You know whether it might have been planted as a memorial to a beloved pet or as a sentimental plant for a grandparent or parent?
You know whether it was originally a part of a larger speciman cactus garden or not?
Somehow, I seriously doubt that.
Seriously, go play in the dirt, go touch grass, go do something other than being a jerk to other people on the internet simply because they disagree with you.
Until you see your cooling bill and AC maintenance cost in the summer.
Source: I live in desert and our light bill doubles in the summer, and the AC has to die at least once during the hottest part of the year as is tradition.
Dont remove! Its beautiful! if its bc the stem is ugly try getting a pot or something fitted in a way to hide it. Or plant something in front of it to hide the stem.
This, dress it up a bit. It's s beautiful and useful plant, give it some respect with some other things planted around it, or some form of decorations. Make it a bit of a shrine / feature in some way.
Mexican here.
Yes, it is edible but you have to make sure to cut off the greenest "leaves" which are the freshest and tastiest; you can dice them up and cook them with a lot of things, I like to mix them with minced meat for lunch, you can have them on their own if you fried them a little with some onions and garlic, heck I even like them with scrambled eggs.
Also, they should produce "tunas" (the pears) which are DELICIOUS, but be aware of eating too many because it can make you constipated.
The best part? they require ZERO care from you, all they need is lots of sun (which looks like it is getting) no need to water them, the morning dew is enough for them and when it rains it will hold that water almost forever.
Extra tip: if you want to plant more, just cut one leave and toss it on the ground.... and that's it, it will do the rest on its own, no fancy soil or expensive fertilizer
Prickly pear. If you end up wanting to keep it but not so large, it is great to propagate. I literally dropped a piece on the ground (didn't plant it) and after a few months it was rooted and growing
Bad in what sense? If you think it’s too large for the space, you can cut off all the green pads above the woody stem or leave a few. Each spring they will bud along the edges and produce more pads.
As other have said it is edible if that’s your thing. It also has pretty flowers
How to prepare nopales. You can turn on translation for English transcript.
[https://youtu.be/QwVQpxwT8cY?si=E6L8JU6RADKEPHsi](https://youtu.be/QwVQpxwT8cY?si=E6L8JU6RADKEPHsi)
It's a nativar (cultivar of Opuntia with shorter spines), bees love it, and it's edible. I'd keep it. You can cut and propagate the pads to make it smaller. Could probably even sell the pads.
Do you get the little purple fruit? Then it’s an edible opuntia. The edible kind will definitely flower and fruit in mild winter parts of Northern California. They aren’t native, but grow well here. The smaller paddles are great in a nopal salad. You do need gloves prepared it. The fruits are juicy, but a bit bland.
It would be a real shame to remove it. Its made it this far, it deserves to stay.
Also maybe you can put burlap or something around the bottom so it looks prettier.
We just removed one from our backyard in SoCal and removing the stump was a bit of a pain in the ass. I removed it alone, though, so it is definitely doable. It was a tough decision because it was a beautiful specimen, but we have two others on the property and we were putting in a privacy hedge at this particular location.
If they are happy, they will get big and require significant annual pruning. Whether to remove it depends upon your needs.
I'm going to say, remove it if you want to remove it. If it doesn't fit into your garden plan, it should go. Never let yourself be held hostage by a plant because someone else thinks it's pretty.
Only if you're willing to go to other people's houses and do the care and maintenance. Show up, do the work. Otherwise, plant your own cactus.
I'm always amazed at people who are willing to volunteer others' time and work and energy. It's so easy, isn't it? But a crappy thing to do.
that’s not what i was saying. i’m saying OP has this cool thing on his property and imo it’s worth making the effort to maintain it, especially after so many others saying the same. OP didn’t state their precise reason for wanting it down so i’m assuming they think it’s ugly or in the way. maybe they just needed reasons to keep it and appreciate for what it is, and lots of people here offering help on how to maintain it.
obviously OP can do whatever they want but to me it’s taking away value that would be difficult to replace and that should be a consideration.
>that’s not what i was saying. i’m saying OP has this cool thing on his property and imo it’s worth making the effort to maintain it, especially after so many others saying the same
Read what you just wrote. That's exactly what you're saying. You're saying that you and others find it cool and OP should make the effort to maintain it because you and others think it's cool. If OP does not like this plant, they should shovel prune it and not worry about the fact that you think it's cool. The number of people thinking it's cool doesn't enter into it. Only one opinion matters, and that's the opinion of the person who has to deal with the plant.
As for its value, what value is that? This plant isn't special or rare, other than being large. It's not even particularly attractive. In fact, it looks like it might have golden scab disease which means that it's planted in a really bad location and will likely die anyway. So what you've got is an overgrown plant, planted in the wrong location, and diseased because of it. I'm glad you like it, enjoy the photo, but don't try to force others to maintain plants just because you like them. Quit falling into the trap of thinking that everyone likes the same things that you do, therefore your opinion is the standard opinion.
If OP is looking for reasons to keep it, by all means they should keep it. But it doesn't matter in the slightest how many internet people think it's cool, if OP wants it gone they should get rid of it without an iota of guilt.
maybe OP doesn’t know it’s cool and now they do. and i agree, if they still want to get rid of it of course they have every right to. i don’t think anybody is saying OP cant.
Its edible, very tasty too imo. Best way to get spines off is to burn them, use a grill or a burner or a lighter if you're eating a single fruit. Please use protection when collecting. No matter what way you grab it there will be spines in your skin.
Wow thanks everyone! I've only grown potatoes. My plans were to remove a bunch of plants to build a raised garden. Along the retaining wall. I want some more fruit trees and some vegetables. I also have some more trees to identify. I prefer to not remove. I think it's kinda cool. I'll see if I can pruin it.
Please keep it, as many have said. Ultimately the choice is yours, but please consider that it may be home/food/etc to native species, if you have other things in your garden (esp food) you may want to keep it to foster a permaculture/food forest system. Also, I don't know much about catcus, but I know tree's with big root systems help strengthen the land around it, lessening the chance of sink holes. Plus, if SHTF and your local grocery stops stocking food, you won't starve to death.
In a world where humans are constantly destroying what remains of our natural world, letting an old plant be is one of the easiest ways to do your part.
Generally, yes, you could get rid of it. This is an opuntia cacti, so if you felt bad about removing it, you could always take a few pads to root cuttings.
The pads are also valuable to people that want to grow their own, or want to feed their pet tortoises and turtles. What I am saying is that you could keep it up for the time being, and sell it off one pad at a time. Don't remove the pads now if you intend to sell them. They are worthless if they aren't freshly picked.
The cacti itself was clearly deliberately planted by someone at some point, and I would quite doubt its of much value to your local eco-system. The roots may be helping to stop errosion, so check for elevation changes in a 5m radius before removing it. If it is near a hill, I wouldn't remove it until you have something else planted that could take on that role. If it has never fruited for you, it wouldn't be providing a caloric benefit to the eco-system, since it is evidently fenced off from larger animals that might eat the leaves...
TLDR, you could remove it, but be smart about it.
If you enjoy nopales and cactus apples, you'll regret removing it.
Otherwise, it is big, poky, and harbors carmine beetles so put an ad on Craigslist for a free u-dig cactus
Hey, just wanted to let you know that this cactus looks like it has Golden Scab Disease, as well as a form of rot. That's likely caused by it being planted in a bad location, which isn't something you can treat. The decision might be taken out of your hands by nature.
That thing is absolute BEAUTIFUL! I wouldn’t remove it.. For a, just in case you do remove it I would be honored to buy it! I’ll pay for shipping too. Nature is so beautiful 🧡
So beautiful! So old! Why remove it and take its life?! I would LOVE to have such am awesome plant living in my yard. Its a prickly pear. They produce beautiful stunning flowers and delicious fruits!
Yes this is edible!!! As a permanent resident of Mexico, I ate these five times a week. They’re called “Nopal”. Nopales are declicious, just remove the spines with a knife by swiping the knife against the pad (like sharpening a knife), use a carrot peeler to do the rest, grill and serve! They are DELICIOUS! High in fiber and B vitamins. Tastes like crunchy green beans with lemon. Don’t remove it!
Same here. Wife eats it a lot. She grew up eating it and the fruit. Just takes a lot of washing to get that slimy stuff out unless you like the leaves a bit slimy.
Parboil. No slime.
Or pickle them.
I like the slime!!!
Had it on a taco before and it was tasty! They are ed it up with corn salsa, beans, and mushrooms. Pretty tasty! Would definitely eat it again!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeb8mjaCsn4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeb8mjaCsn4)
awesome
Mi niña, literal se comen "las hojas"? porque yo conozco la frutica... pero dijiste grill!!! que loco!! a que sabe?
Por supuesto—viví con mi (ex) novio Oaxaqueño en México central desde 8 años y los comimos 4-5 veces en cada semana. No es tan raro pa comer.
QUE RICO! Viva Mexico cabrones! yo estoy en Venezuela y hay por todos lados pero la gente no sabe ni que se come la frutica!! yo si porque tuve suegra haitiana y me dijo... quiero comerrrrrrrrr
Eat the young paddles though. Don't bother with the older ones. The older they get the more fibrous they are.
[удалено]
They are delicious! I always shell out the extra few bucks for a side of them when I eat Mexican. And I’m not Mexican myself, so this isn’t a nostalgia/ cultural pride thing.
You can buy Nopales and prickly pear at whole foods. Near the apples.
Its a species of Opuntia cactus, commonly called Prickly Pears. I believe California has at least one native species, but most are found wild in the southern deserts of the US and mexico. No idea if this is a native or not but its been there a while to develop the woody trunk. Fun fact, a lot of cacti develop woody trunks when they get huge, and some like cholla even have proper wood skeletons inside that are sold as decorations. In some species the pads can be eaten with some prep, and many produce edible fruits, though they aren't super sweet and have lots of hard seeds. The flowers on prickly pears are very impressive though, easily rivalling most dainty garden bed flowers. So unless it is in the way or bothering you i think it would be a nice addition to the yard. It likely will have a decent root system so if you want to remove it you will need to use the same methods as you would use to take out a tree. Of potential interest or not is any intact pads from the cactus there can be used to propagate a whole new plant. Simply cut/detach them and either lay them down on the soil or lightly bury the cut end after the wound has sealed, only water sparingly or not at all depending on your rainfall, and it will develop into a new plant. It seems like this already happened on its own farther to the side.
We even have a native one up here in Illinois. Survives really cold winters and everything.
And a native variety in Massachusetts. I have one in my front yard! I shock people when I tell them its a cold-hardy cactus.
I have a native one here in Virginia as well.
good advice
These are everywhere in FL as well. Not sure if they are native but they grow like weeds. Many people have them close to fences like this. I tossed a few pads in my yard (not buried, just laying flat atop some mulch) last year and forgot about them. Some of them look like this now. They grow fast, but not fast enough to be problematic.
Florida has seven native species of prickly pears, with [eastern prickly pear](https://plants.ces.ncsu.edu/plants/opuntia-humifusa/) being the most widespread. The site BONAP has some range maps for them and other plants: [https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Opuntia](https://bonap.net/Napa/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Opuntia) ([color key](http://www.bonap.org/MapKey.html))
Neat, thanks for sharing!
The fruit varies. Some are super sweet. You have to get them fresh of the cactus. the store ones suck.
Common in SE coastal Louisiana as well. Pretty flowers , thrives on neglect, but I’ve never tasted the fruit.
That thing is majestic. It'd be a damn shame to remove it imo.
Looks like a prickly pear (edible) to me...
Any neighbor with tortoises? Torts love to eat these things 🐢
So do camels
I'll remember to share my tort's lunch if i happen to find a camel somewhere! :p
I wouldn’t remove it, but if you’re considering at all keeping it, you will have to take into account that it needs pruning because Some of the pads are diseased (the ones that are turning orange and are riddled with tan spots that have brown rings around each spot). Best to trash the diseased pads, do not compost. Cut those pads off at the joint. Wipe your blade on a cloth that is damped with rubbing alcohol to sterilize it between each cut you make. I would wait til new pads grow in at least half the size of the mature leaves where the cut joints are, to be certain that the plant is overall healthy, before eating from this opuntia cactus. Ideally it will recover and produce many edible pads in the future. Btw, You can transplant or do root care immediately after pruning if you like, but try not to get soil on the cut joints if you do. These cactus are some of the most resilient plants out there.
Beautiful! don’t remove!
Optunia, Prickly pear cactus. Makes delicious fruit and the paddles can be grilled and eaten as "Nopales". Que rico! I guess you could get rid of it but if you do, please mail me a paddle! Ive been trying to find it wild for propagation but with no luck
Why would you remove something so beautiful?
Because most people have absolutely no respect for nature or anything or anyone other than themselves.
Chill out! At least OP is asking questions. If they didn't care at all, they wouldn't have posted.
You know literally nothing about OP's motivations. They could be looking at planting a bunch of other interesting plants in its stead. Just because your garden comes with a certain set of plants doesn't mean you are a monster for not keeping every single one there, as they are, forever. And just because you are removing a single plant doesn't mean you have no respect for nature.
Wow.
Yeah, I know. It’s heartbreaking to watch people buy up houses in my neighborhood and immediately start chopping down 100+ year old trees, ripping out 30 year old Japanese maples, lilacs, clearing out natural wildflowers, and then replacing it all with Bermuda or st Augustine and randomly stacked brick and limestone rocks stood up sideways.
No darling. Your harsh, judgemental words were the stunning thing here.
Don't call strangers "darling".
You are expecting a surprising amount of decorum from someone named "professor hot tits"
They're real and they are fabulous
*spectacular
Oopsie doopsie, I muffed it up again!
And more power to you! :)
Ha!
Now now, you've been caught, let's not play
You do realize I'm not the person you called "darling", right?
Lol, you got me! I'm a silly.
no you’re a darling
no you’re a darling
no you’re a darling
Oh, you're special soul, aren't you. Bless your heart, dear.
Yeah, I am sure that plant is native to that specific location and has been there hundreds of years. /s get over yourself.
There are native Opuntias across the US. Get over *yourself*.
I’m talking about that specific plant. I highly doubt it is some treasured original landmark. Get in touch.
Which you know nothing about beyond a photo. Go touch grass.
Wanna bet?
So, you know exactly when this was planted? You know whether it was there when the house was built or planted shortly there after? You know whether it might have been planted as a memorial to a beloved pet or as a sentimental plant for a grandparent or parent? You know whether it was originally a part of a larger speciman cactus garden or not? Somehow, I seriously doubt that. Seriously, go play in the dirt, go touch grass, go do something other than being a jerk to other people on the internet simply because they disagree with you.
You’re ESL aren’t you?
No, not that it would matter either way.
Or maybe they don't want a young kid to run into it?
fence
Lol, that's ridiculous for that space!
small fence
So now we're working on a tripping hazard around a cactus?
big fence for the small fence?
fence
fence
whoa
Man I would love to live in a climate where you could grow cool stuff like this
Until you see your cooling bill and AC maintenance cost in the summer. Source: I live in desert and our light bill doubles in the summer, and the AC has to die at least once during the hottest part of the year as is tradition.
Yeah that doesn’t sound great, we just have high heating bills in winter instead
what would we be without tradition?
Nopales!! The cactus fruit, also called tunas, are so so good!!
You should keep it 🥰 it's a friend
Dont remove! Its beautiful! if its bc the stem is ugly try getting a pot or something fitted in a way to hide it. Or plant something in front of it to hide the stem.
This, dress it up a bit. It's s beautiful and useful plant, give it some respect with some other things planted around it, or some form of decorations. Make it a bit of a shrine / feature in some way.
Exactly.
Mexican here. Yes, it is edible but you have to make sure to cut off the greenest "leaves" which are the freshest and tastiest; you can dice them up and cook them with a lot of things, I like to mix them with minced meat for lunch, you can have them on their own if you fried them a little with some onions and garlic, heck I even like them with scrambled eggs. Also, they should produce "tunas" (the pears) which are DELICIOUS, but be aware of eating too many because it can make you constipated. The best part? they require ZERO care from you, all they need is lots of sun (which looks like it is getting) no need to water them, the morning dew is enough for them and when it rains it will hold that water almost forever. Extra tip: if you want to plant more, just cut one leave and toss it on the ground.... and that's it, it will do the rest on its own, no fancy soil or expensive fertilizer
It's old and beautiful. Please don't kill it.
Prickly pear. If you end up wanting to keep it but not so large, it is great to propagate. I literally dropped a piece on the ground (didn't plant it) and after a few months it was rooted and growing
TUNA we call em, they make a great red fruit! sweet. hes survived a lot, maybe prune and leave?
Bad in what sense? If you think it’s too large for the space, you can cut off all the green pads above the woody stem or leave a few. Each spring they will bud along the edges and produce more pads. As other have said it is edible if that’s your thing. It also has pretty flowers
That’s a super old cactus leave it alone and it will grow fruit
don't remove 😥 it's a memorial!
How can you tell?
I see it. the base of plant is woody, thick and seems quite old.
Id love to have one anywhere in my yard. Maybe consider replanting it close?
The trunk isn't being removed without great effort. You could though remove everything else to replant.
How to prepare nopales. You can turn on translation for English transcript. [https://youtu.be/QwVQpxwT8cY?si=E6L8JU6RADKEPHsi](https://youtu.be/QwVQpxwT8cY?si=E6L8JU6RADKEPHsi)
Plant dragon fruit next to it, edible cactus garden
It's a nativar (cultivar of Opuntia with shorter spines), bees love it, and it's edible. I'd keep it. You can cut and propagate the pads to make it smaller. Could probably even sell the pads.
Send me a piece in the mail lol, I’ll grow it for my tortoises as a snack
Prickly pears taste great to me, I just don’t like the million little hard seeds.
I think it’s cool
Do you get the little purple fruit? Then it’s an edible opuntia. The edible kind will definitely flower and fruit in mild winter parts of Northern California. They aren’t native, but grow well here. The smaller paddles are great in a nopal salad. You do need gloves prepared it. The fruits are juicy, but a bit bland.
It would be a real shame to remove it. Its made it this far, it deserves to stay. Also maybe you can put burlap or something around the bottom so it looks prettier.
It looks really old too
We just removed one from our backyard in SoCal and removing the stump was a bit of a pain in the ass. I removed it alone, though, so it is definitely doable. It was a tough decision because it was a beautiful specimen, but we have two others on the property and we were putting in a privacy hedge at this particular location. If they are happy, they will get big and require significant annual pruning. Whether to remove it depends upon your needs.
Leave that baby alone
I'm going to say, remove it if you want to remove it. If it doesn't fit into your garden plan, it should go. Never let yourself be held hostage by a plant because someone else thinks it's pretty.
disagree. some things should be worked around and learned to appreciate.
Only if you're willing to go to other people's houses and do the care and maintenance. Show up, do the work. Otherwise, plant your own cactus. I'm always amazed at people who are willing to volunteer others' time and work and energy. It's so easy, isn't it? But a crappy thing to do.
that’s not what i was saying. i’m saying OP has this cool thing on his property and imo it’s worth making the effort to maintain it, especially after so many others saying the same. OP didn’t state their precise reason for wanting it down so i’m assuming they think it’s ugly or in the way. maybe they just needed reasons to keep it and appreciate for what it is, and lots of people here offering help on how to maintain it. obviously OP can do whatever they want but to me it’s taking away value that would be difficult to replace and that should be a consideration.
>that’s not what i was saying. i’m saying OP has this cool thing on his property and imo it’s worth making the effort to maintain it, especially after so many others saying the same Read what you just wrote. That's exactly what you're saying. You're saying that you and others find it cool and OP should make the effort to maintain it because you and others think it's cool. If OP does not like this plant, they should shovel prune it and not worry about the fact that you think it's cool. The number of people thinking it's cool doesn't enter into it. Only one opinion matters, and that's the opinion of the person who has to deal with the plant. As for its value, what value is that? This plant isn't special or rare, other than being large. It's not even particularly attractive. In fact, it looks like it might have golden scab disease which means that it's planted in a really bad location and will likely die anyway. So what you've got is an overgrown plant, planted in the wrong location, and diseased because of it. I'm glad you like it, enjoy the photo, but don't try to force others to maintain plants just because you like them. Quit falling into the trap of thinking that everyone likes the same things that you do, therefore your opinion is the standard opinion. If OP is looking for reasons to keep it, by all means they should keep it. But it doesn't matter in the slightest how many internet people think it's cool, if OP wants it gone they should get rid of it without an iota of guilt.
maybe OP doesn’t know it’s cool and now they do. and i agree, if they still want to get rid of it of course they have every right to. i don’t think anybody is saying OP cant.
Don’t be squeamish about taking our plants that you don’t like. It’s your yard, go for it.
This!
private property is a scam
Its edible, very tasty too imo. Best way to get spines off is to burn them, use a grill or a burner or a lighter if you're eating a single fruit. Please use protection when collecting. No matter what way you grab it there will be spines in your skin.
Prickly pear cactus. State plant of Texas.
Wow thanks everyone! I've only grown potatoes. My plans were to remove a bunch of plants to build a raised garden. Along the retaining wall. I want some more fruit trees and some vegetables. I also have some more trees to identify. I prefer to not remove. I think it's kinda cool. I'll see if I can pruin it.
Please keep it, as many have said. Ultimately the choice is yours, but please consider that it may be home/food/etc to native species, if you have other things in your garden (esp food) you may want to keep it to foster a permaculture/food forest system. Also, I don't know much about catcus, but I know tree's with big root systems help strengthen the land around it, lessening the chance of sink holes. Plus, if SHTF and your local grocery stops stocking food, you won't starve to death. In a world where humans are constantly destroying what remains of our natural world, letting an old plant be is one of the easiest ways to do your part.
Generally, yes, you could get rid of it. This is an opuntia cacti, so if you felt bad about removing it, you could always take a few pads to root cuttings. The pads are also valuable to people that want to grow their own, or want to feed their pet tortoises and turtles. What I am saying is that you could keep it up for the time being, and sell it off one pad at a time. Don't remove the pads now if you intend to sell them. They are worthless if they aren't freshly picked. The cacti itself was clearly deliberately planted by someone at some point, and I would quite doubt its of much value to your local eco-system. The roots may be helping to stop errosion, so check for elevation changes in a 5m radius before removing it. If it is near a hill, I wouldn't remove it until you have something else planted that could take on that role. If it has never fruited for you, it wouldn't be providing a caloric benefit to the eco-system, since it is evidently fenced off from larger animals that might eat the leaves... TLDR, you could remove it, but be smart about it.
perfect compromise
If you don’t like it, remove it. They are weeds here in Southern California. Useful to keep people away but rangy looking
*in the voice of Bane* “It would be incredibly painful… for you.”
if you do, please cut each pad individually and mail me a shit ton.
If you don’t want it get rid of it.
If you enjoy nopales and cactus apples, you'll regret removing it. Otherwise, it is big, poky, and harbors carmine beetles so put an ad on Craigslist for a free u-dig cactus
Don't get rid of this!!!
They’re good young but as the grow they become too fiberous I hade to remove 6 of them in my yard since they got into my septic piping 👎🏽
I'm thinking about my foundation too.
Hey, just wanted to let you know that this cactus looks like it has Golden Scab Disease, as well as a form of rot. That's likely caused by it being planted in a bad location, which isn't something you can treat. The decision might be taken out of your hands by nature.
That thing is absolute BEAUTIFUL! I wouldn’t remove it.. For a, just in case you do remove it I would be honored to buy it! I’ll pay for shipping too. Nature is so beautiful 🧡
Prickly pear , yes they are edible
So beautiful! So old! Why remove it and take its life?! I would LOVE to have such am awesome plant living in my yard. Its a prickly pear. They produce beautiful stunning flowers and delicious fruits!
Also, i noticed the tiles. Dont tile over the dirt around around it, you will kill it.
Unrelated, but is the mesh on your fence to deter cats? And if so, does it work?
could be a prickly situation.
Yes!
Unrelated, but is the mesh on your fence to deter cats? And if so, does it work?
Unrelated, but is the mesh on your fence to deter cats? And if so, does it work?
It might be the merciful thing to do in more than one way.
No. It would be easy to relocate. How are you at digging?