Sick prickly pear:(

[hippyman]

I have had this plant in the ground for several years now, and I have never seen anything like this. We have had at least one winter worse than this one, and it held up through it, so I can't understand this. Does anyone know what could be causing this, and if my plant will come back? It's a sideways shot, sorry guys:

[Peterthecactusguy]

what type of Opuntia is it and what are the tempetures, and was it wet and then cold? I think it might just be cold and shriveled up sorta. However I can't really tell. If it just got cold and is fairly dry it might be ok. If it got really wet and then froze up ti still might be ok, it depends on the type. And of course if the temps were way lower in the worse winter it might be ok, but if it was dry then that might be a problem now..

around here where I live O. ficus indica is pretty much naturalized and every few years they lose huge chunks (sometimes many months after the cold) because they got too cold.

Also I assume that is snow in the picture...

[hippyman]

I think it is an O. Humifasa, can't be 100% sure though. That is snow, would moisture and temps be the problem?

[Peterthecactusguy]

possibly, although if that is an O. humifusa it should shrink when it's cold. Mine is shrunken now in AZ. It shrank from the cold temps we had in November. I suppose the best would be to watch it and see what happens, I know that isn't a good answer but it's the best thing I can think of to tell you to do now.

[hoteidoc]

If it is O. humifusa, Hippyman, I wouldn't worry. They're almost impossible to kill! I have 3 outdoors that I do nothing for to protect. Last Winter was as bad a weather cold-hardy's cacti could deal with -- 25 - 35F, precip in some form or another(rarely snow) every 3 or 4 days, & virtually no sun. All my CH's survived (the others - Echinoc's, Escob's, diff. Opuntia's -- were large pot covered with fair drainage @ best). Humifusa is like - bring it on!

[Peterthecactusguy]

only thing that kills them, and or makes them not bloom or grow much is AZ summer heat! And yeah.. I think that if they are O. humfusa they should be fine. I have three varieties. One is in ground, and it's fine, it's shriveled up. The other two are in pots. One shriveled to the best of it's ability and the other is still up right but turned sorta funky purplish color. I think it's happy tho. I just couldn't tell what type of Opuntia it is.

[hoteidoc]

Peter - the one with the purplish color is prob. not a humifusa. Any cutting I've made/have + the 3 original plants stay pretty close to original growing color, just flat & wrinkled. Wonder if any other humifusa growers have that coloration?

[Peterthecactusguy]

I dunno. Let me check my plants I got a copy of the cards at home, It was part of a large trade I made so it might not be an O. humifusa. if it is one it's from Florida.