Prickly Pear Cactus Tree (Lubbock, Mesquite: to buy, university, living in)

[awecelot]

Originally Posted by edubya

Thanks for the tip. I think I like the idea of having it there, only significantly smaller. Prickly Pear will remind my out-of-state visitors that they're in the southwest. (Don't worry. I'll give them smoked brisket and Shiner Bock to remind them they're in Texas.)

Good plan!

[mare0987]

hello
would you be willing to send me a piece of this gorgeous cactus? I will send you postage if you would like.

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by mare0987

hello
would you be willing to send me a piece of this gorgeous cactus? I will send you postage if you would like.

LOL You can come to my place and haul off all the cacti and mesquite you care to load up. Crap plants and crap trees that suck precious water and nutrients from the ground. Mesquites are good to cook with or make a hot fire, but I sure as heck don't want them on my place. As to the prickly pear, IMO, it's good for nothing. I guess it serves a purpose in the arid, poor land areas to help hold down blowing sand.

[winkosmosis]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

LOL You can come to my place and haul off all the cacti and mesquite you care to load up. Crap plants and crap trees that suck precious water and nutrients from the ground. Mesquites are good to cook with or make a hot fire, but I sure as heck don't want them on my place. As to the prickly pear, IMO, it's good for nothing. I guess it serves a purpose in the arid, poor land areas to help hold down blowing sand.

You're completely wrong about both these plants. This is just what you've been told, so you believe it--- part of the Texas anti-tree cultural phenomenon. Mesquite and cactuses are very water efficient plants. I mean, a cactus is specifically "designed" to use as little water as possible.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

LOL You can come to my place and haul off all the cacti and mesquite you care to load up. Crap plants and crap trees that suck precious water and nutrients from the ground. Mesquites are good to cook with or make a hot fire, but I sure as heck don't want them on my place. As to the prickly pear, IMO, it's good for nothing. I guess it serves a purpose in the arid, poor land areas to help hold down blowing sand.

Oooh....certain types of prickly pear are eaten as nopalitos--just yummmy! Really. I love them with scrambled eggs, in salads and soups!

[lonestar2007]

Originally Posted by winkosmosis

You're completely wrong about both these plants. This is just what you've been told, so you believe it--- part of the Texas anti-tree cultural phenomenon. Mesquite and cactuses are very water efficient plants. I mean, a cactus is specifically "designed" to use as little water as possible.

LOL How funny! Any idiot can tell that by just looking at where they thrive.

I swear, mesquite roots reach to China. I realize I am speaking to an expert here, so I'm sure to be corrected, but when you're running cows on pastureland with no irrigation and depending on rainfall for any grass growth, any amount of water used for these two species is frowned upon, no matter how small the amount. To make it more simple for you, a drop of water is not to be wasted.

Some people mow mesquites in order to control them (or so they think). All that does is create an underground root system that is totally unbelievable. So it is a constant fight with them and a constant effort keeping your tires up on your tractor. People have to keep them filled with slime and that rots the interior of the tire and the rims and you still have to contend with flats.

People say they 'look like Texas'. Whatever. I say they look like poor soil to me and a battle waiting to be waged.

With the continued drought, a lot of the land further north that has never had any cactus on it, is now seeing it sprouting.


BTW Bud, I'm not some part "of the Texas anti-tree cultural phenomenon" or whatever other silly thing you might come up with and I also don't believe everything I get told. So, for you to even say something like that to a person you know absolutely squat about, is just ludicrous.

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Oooh....certain types of prickly pear are eaten as nopalitos--just yummmy! Really. I love them with scrambled eggs, in salads and soups!

I have heard that, although I have never eaten any.

I wouldn't want to deal with cleaning the things no matter how good they tasted. Old timers used to burn the stickers off of them and feed them to their cows back in harder times.

Continued lack of rain, price of hay and feed, who knows, maybe I'll be doing the same thing before long!

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by Cathy4017

Oooh....certain types of prickly pear are eaten as nopalitos--just yummmy! Really. I love them with scrambled eggs, in salads and soups!

I don't think the U.S. exports prickly pear fruit but when I was in Chile many years ago they were exporting them but not to the U.S. The fruit is delicious.

[High_Plains_Retired]

I doubt there is a county in Texas that doesn't have prickly pear (Opuntia). We had them at Lufkin when I was growing up there in the 1960s and I've got two or three of them out here in my pastures. I mow them down when I see them.

Luckily I do not have mesquite and only a few yuccas.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by lonestar2007

.....
I have heard that, although I have never eaten any.

I wouldn't want to deal with cleaning the things no matter how good they tasted. Old timers used to burn the stickers off of them and feed them to their cows back in harder times.

Continued lack of rain, price of hay and feed, who knows, maybe I'll be doing the same thing before long!

Yep, cleaning isn't fun, which is why it's nice to find them already processed--chopped/sliced fresh in plastic bags in the produce section. Jelly is also made from the red pears, too, but I've never had that.

I have a favorite soup (origin, Mexico, where it's common) I make with nopalitos.

Hasn't been that long ago since ranchers burned them for cattle. Why not? With a little labor, free food and water for your stock!

Cacti is very water-efficient, but the same cannot be said for mesquite or juniper (commonly called cedar)--both really water suckers.

[losttechnician]

Grew up around mesquites and prickly pear cactus. Mom made jelly out of the mesquite beans and out of the prickly pears. Liked both jellies, but was really fond of the prickly pear. Just held that little fruit over the gas stove burner for a second and burned the tiny spines off it then boiled 'em. Less work on the mesquite beans, and still quite the yummy!

In United stores you can buy pickled cactus leaves, which come off small prickly pear cactus. I have eaten them on salads, but don't really care for it much. There are folks who actually cultivate it for eating.

Had a rancher buddy that chained onto those mesquites with a bulldozer and pulled them up. The roots were LONG, but invariably broken at the end. No way to get the whole thing.

Even though I live in the Panhandle, I can still walk from my home to places with prickly pears and mesquites. They are quite the hardy plants that live everywhere.

I think the city dwelling respondent above is confusing how efficient those plants are at living in low water conditions, with how much water those plants are capable of using.

They can survive on very little water, but they will TAKE all the water they can get.

And HighPlains?? I have plenty of yucca in all over my yard. You are welcome to drive up and get some if you want.

I dig a few up every now and then, but will be allergically puffed up for a few days afterward. Secret is the root is not below the plant. It crawls a little bit over and you gotta yank around some to find it. Then short work with a shovel. Eventually I will get them all taken out, but until then.... yech..