Cactus identitification (unfortunately)

Hi I got a cactus (an Opuntia) from a garden centre, but as all cacti are sold as houseplants, it's difficult to get an identification for what cacti it is as some are more cold and wet tolerant than others.

Unfortunately trying to identify Opuntia is like trying to identify a grain of sand on a beach.. but somewhere there might be someone who has an amazing knowledge of cacti who can help me identify from the photos below. First obviously it is an Opuntia spp.

Much appreciated!






I've taken photos from different angles to perhaps give a better clue.

 

Is this any help Stephen?

Easy Cactus - Growing Opuntia

 

You need Silver Surfer or Baloo the Bear to help with that one.

 

I also find the old gardencentre vague ID of plants they sell to be a bit annoying.
There are probably hundreds if not thousands of Opuntias, but probably only a hand full on general sale at garden centres.

I'd not like to guess which one you have.

If it was to flower it might help.

 

My Bet is on Opuntia Robusta or similar , but definitely
an edible opuntia , not one of the toughest , but cold hardy , usually the toughest have more spine .....
like the ficus indica the leaves are edible , so be very carfull ...the main problem I have with opuntia is not the wet or cold ......but snails love them.

 

If it helps it fires out spines as Ive been pulling them out all night !

Opuntia robusta seems a fair bet.

 

not really all the opuntia are firing spines .....If you planning to plant that outdoor , first make sure to create a drainable mix of sand compost and grit in a sunny position (of couse waiting for May) and to make sure , root one of the leave and keep it indoor as backup in case the frost will kill the plant, be carefull with the snail ........belive or not they almost eat one of my opuntia mycrodasy to the ground.

 

Never came across a cactus that fires out spines.

 

Lol .. : )....it a friendly way..to say that if you touch they will stuck in your finger and not stay on the plant........funny thing do you remember the one you sent me 2 month ago and carefull wraped in bubblewrap and wrote mind the spine!!!!!! still got one spine in my finger and can`t get that out.....ps thank you again for that.

 

Glochids, yes they do persist, but I find they work their way out, eventually.

 

Sal, I don't know whether I would be planting outside, it probably wouldn't cope with the rain, I already have an arid bed, but it's not very arid at the moment, although the plants in it seem to be fine - including one Opuntia which sailed through last winter despite being frozen for a long time. I'll probably stick it in a pot, and put outside in summer and bring it into an unheated dry greenhouse in the winter, sounds a safer bet.

It's more the wet and the cold that would kill it for sure.

As for shooting needles, I doubt it, although there is documentation of cacti shooting spines as a method of ovipositation, but it sounds very unlikely.

I probably brushed against something it had put needles in.

 

time ago I`ve posted a thread regarding frost hardy cactus , I`ve been read a lot about it and managed to collect couple of dozen frost hardy cactus , ready for spring to planted outdoor. Opuntia it`s the hardyest of all , some species can take -25 , about the rain it is true as we think about cactus are coming from desert areas , well we are wrong many cactus are coming from rainy snowy mountain ,some more even from the rain forest.....and even more shocking, some succulent plant from Syberia.
I would say 85% of cactus species will die outdoor , but the rest 15% actually need more cool to grow.
The opuntia in the picture is a 3/4 years old pear prickle the I`ve grown from commercial Italian fruit seed , even if it`s small it das look like your one .