Help identifying this cacti

[coks22]

Bought this at a sale in Phoenix the other day, not sure what it is, searched all over the web but couldn't find anything out, so I would really appreciate any help on this.

[ElieEstephane]

That's an opuntia monocantha monstrose. If you plan on keeping it as a center piece, don't water at all.
If you plan do grow it, put it on a sunny windowsill and water only when dry or wait till spring and grow it naturally

[coks22]

That's an opuntia monocantha monstrose. If you plan on keeping it as a center piece, don't water at all.
If you plan do grow it, put it on a sunny windowsill and water only when dry or wait till spring and grow it naturally

If I do keep it as a centerpiece will it need direct sunlight?

[ElieEstephane]

You can only keep it till spring

[Grimm]

It's a tropical cactus, so yes it will need quite a lot of direct light, although the Arizona sun may actually be too much. If it is getting too much light it will start to "bronze".
It may also need a lot of water if your air is too dry.

The non-monstrous/mutant version will grow into a decent sized bush in a few short years, I guess the monstrous/mutant one will do the same if given the chance but I'm not certain. If you can make it happy it has lovely flowers and edible fruit.

[greenknight]

Needs some direct sun, but not as much as most prickly pears, hot afternoon sun in Arizona could burn it. The monstose form tends to be a bit more compact than the normal ones.

[ElieEstephane]

Iguess the monstrous/mutant one will do the same if given the chance but I'm not certain.

the monstrose is not the fastest or biggest. I guess it's dwarfed same as Austocylindropuntia subulata monstrose.
Time between the 2 photos is in years but i can't remember how many years exactly.

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