During the summer you can put your prickly pear in the garden or on the balcony. Give it a sunny and dry place. Also, be careful not to get the spines too close if you want to make yourself comfortable near the plant. Touching it can be very painful and easily cause inflammation.
also read
- How to care for your prickly pear - tips and tricks
- Are opuntia hardy?
- Is Opuntia engelmannii hardy?
Since your prickly pear should move to winter quarters in autumn, planting it in a container makes sense. A planter with castors is highly recommended because the prickly pear can get quite large. In this way you can quickly and easily get the plant dry when it rains, because too much moisture could damage the prickly pear.
How do I care for my prickly pear in winter?
The prickly pear is particularly easy to care for in winter. Then it does not have to be poured or fertilized. Only if the soil seems very dry give your prickly pear a few drops of water. Although it does not tolerate frost over a long period of time, short-term sub-zero temperatures hardly harm the prickly pear.
However, the prickly pear prefers to winter at temperatures just above freezing point. Around 0 ° C to 6 ° C are ideal. If you have an unheated conservatory or a greenhouse, then these are ideal places to overwinter a prickly pear. It shouldn't be completely dark there, but the prickly pear needs significantly less light in winter than in summer.
If the days slowly get warmer again, the prickly pear is allowed to leave its winter quarters again. Slowly get him used to the changed temperatures. Now is the time to think about multiplication. Spring is ideal for cutting cuttings.
The essentials in brief:
- only partially hardy
- does not tolerate permafrost
- ideal temperature for wintering: between 0 ° C and 6 ° C
- neither water nor fertilize in winter
- needs little light in winter
Tips
Only water your prickly pear in winter when the soil is fairly dry.
