Author Topic: Another prickly pear selection  (Read 32860 times)

nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #50 on: August 29, 2014, 01:10:56 PM »
I have seeds of Cristalina, however I have not been able to find a pad source. If your interested in some seeds, I can send some your way.

Thanks for the offer, but I think I will wait for a pad source.

Keep me updated if you found a pad source. I should have a pad of Torrance PCH#1 available in 3 months. I recently gave 1 to a friend which has been waiting for a pad.
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LEOOEL

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #51 on: September 02, 2014, 12:26:39 AM »
The Torrance PCH#1 that I got from Nullzero is doing great and it looks really good and healthy. I suppose that after a year of planting, it now has developed a good root system. From one planted pad, it now has 3 multi-pad branches. It has a full sun location, and I'm not watering it at all, to induce fruiting. I'm just sporadically fertilizing it.

I hope that it will soon look like the giant multipad 'tree' picture that Nullzero posted on this Thread (before it was destroyed, suposedly, by the owners of the property; it was kinda sad to see that happen, that 'tree' was a real beauty) and with the same abundant fruit quantity/production.
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gunnar429

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #52 on: October 15, 2014, 11:18:30 AM »
Nullzero, how many selections of opuntia would you consider top-tier?

How long is your season, taking into account the different varieties you have, having different fruiting seasons?
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nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #53 on: October 15, 2014, 04:02:56 PM »
Nullzero, how many selections of opuntia would you consider top-tier?

How long is your season, taking into account the different varieties you have, having different fruiting seasons?

Season can start in June and last till late Winter, depends on the selections and the weather conditions. I would say there is about a 3 month gap around February to April. Flowering starts in spring and continues until early fall (at least in Southern, CA). Some selections show excellent holding of fruit on the plant, kind of like some avocado varieties that can be picked anytime within a 3-6 month period holding on the tree.

As for how many selections that are top tier, I do not have a complete idea yet from the ones I have. I have a bunch of PARL selections that I have not be able to taste the fruit yet, which are reported to have excellent sweet fruit. The only PARL selection I have tasted was PARL 244, the first fruit was seedless and excellent. I have 7 other PARL selections I need to taste. I also have sampled many wild prickly pears and selections I have made.

As for the criteria of what makes a prickly pear top tier fresh eating for me is the following; taste (unique flavor profile, extra sweetness, acid balance, intensities of flavor), color/texture (seed hardness, lack of seeds, dryness of flesh) and finally size.

Here are some examples from my experience of what I would call top tier;

Torrance PCH#1, Good watermelon flavor. What really made this a top tier in my eyes was the size of the fruit, the lower count of seeds and the softness of the seeds. Also the beautiful coloration of the fruit. Not to mention the other qualities of rot resistance and holding qualities.

Visalia Yellow, Nice refreshing melon flavor with floral notes, large fruit. (since its been a while since I had 2 fruits from the mother plant), but I have strange attachment to the fruit where it makes my body kind want to crave another one till this day. The seeds were on the harder side though, so a slight negative.

PARL 244, first fruit was a smaller one. I shared it with my GF and mother. Unfortunately the tasting did not last long enough! Very sweet seedless fruit (not sure if this will happen again or it was a random incidence due to lack of pollination) with a nice rich melon flavor.
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ricshaw

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #54 on: October 15, 2014, 04:40:33 PM »
Texas A&M University
Evaluation of Fruit Quality and Production of Cold-Hardy Opuntia Fruit Clones
http://www.jpacd.org/downloads/Proceedings/2_EGI12a-12e.pdf

nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #55 on: October 15, 2014, 04:52:53 PM »
Thanks Ricshaw, those accessions translate to some of the PARL selections?

Here is something interesting relating to the PARL selections;
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/40/4/1067.2.abstract

Also another interesting Opuntia sp. recently patented;

https://www.google.com/patents/USPP24052
« Last Edit: October 15, 2014, 04:54:56 PM by nullzero »
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LEOOEL

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #56 on: October 18, 2014, 12:11:27 AM »
Thanks Ricshaw, those accessions translate to some of the PARL selections?

Here is something interesting relating to the PARL selections;
http://hortsci.ashspublications.org/content/40/4/1067.2.abstract

Also another interesting Opuntia sp. recently patented;

https://www.google.com/patents/USPP24052

Good fruit size on the PARL selections, I sure would love to get some future updates on (1) the Brix (sugar) content, (2) Seed specs. (soft, med. or teeth breaking hard), and last but not least, (3) Fruit 'P R O D U C T I V I T Y' (Zone location always matters).

The 'Seleno-Red' (patented variety) Opuntia seems promising. It's reported to be 'spineless' when the tree gets a bit older.

I sure wish there were more Opuntia breeders at my S. Florida location.
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simon_grow

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #57 on: November 01, 2014, 07:56:04 PM »
After reading some of these threads on Opuntia, I have started to become really interested in these plants as a drought resistant source of quality fruit. Nullzero has inspired me, through his find of Torrance PCH, to actively seek out and taste test varieties I spot as I drive along the roads.

I've started to actively seek out prickly pear plants and on my drive to work alone, I have spotted about 40 different patches of various sizes. I spotted this patch today as I was dropping my daughter off at dance class. The cactus has spines and there are plenty of glochids. The size of the fruit is about the size of a small orange or medium to large Tangerine. I'll give it a taste test tomorrow and let everyone know how it tastes along with a Brix reading if it's a good quality fruit.

I have harvested wild prickly pear fruit before that weren't very good so I'm not expecting much from these fruit.

Simon




LEOOEL

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #58 on: November 02, 2014, 12:39:15 AM »
I wish those fruit turn out to be sweet. But, regardless, at the very least, I think you've stumbled onto something with potential.

From your great photos, it appears that the fruit are of substantial good size, they have an attracitve appearance, and seems to be a variety with better than good fruit productivity. I also appears that you have a nack for this kind of discovery/thing, nice find!
« Last Edit: November 02, 2014, 11:54:21 PM by LEOOEL »
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simon_grow

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #59 on: November 02, 2014, 01:07:58 AM »
Thanks for the encouraging words Leo! Well, I couldn't wait so I put on some gloves and washed the fruit to remove the glochids, I didn't want to mess with a blow torch. The fruit were good size and the inside of the fruit was a reddish burgundy color. The fruit had good acidity and tasted very strongly of Rasberries. Unfortunately, the fruit had very hard seeds and there were plenty of them. There were so many seeds, there was hardly any flesh between the seeds. The most disappointing thing about these fruit is the lack of sweetness. They had an average Brix of 11% but I could barely taste any sweetness at all.

Earlier this year at the Mira Mesa Farmers market, I purchased some green skinned fruit with a greenish interior and they were Extremely sweet but unfortunately they had very hard seeds as well. These green fruit were so sweet that I was able to overlook the hard seeds and actually purchased more the following week. I didn't have a Refractometer at that time but I would guess that the fruit were about 18-19% Brix.

All in all, it was a lot of fun collecting these fruit and I will continue sampling fruit from the fields of San Diego. These fruit did have dark colored flesh with excellent Rasberry flavor so I would assume there is at least some healthy antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. The thought crossed my mind that these fruit would be great if juiced and combined with some other juice like apple, grape or sugarcane. The only problem is that I'm afraid the hard seeds may quicky dull the blade of the average juicer. Perhaps an auger type juicer would be good for extracting the juice?

Simon


nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #60 on: November 02, 2014, 02:58:00 AM »
Simon,

From my experience the Red fruited type prickly pears from the rugged spiny type pads are usually the same description which you describe. These are native to CA I believe it may be Opuntia phaeacantha you can ID from link below. These types usually produce inferior fruit with hard seeds. Skip over any spiny type pads when you are making selections (there may be some gems out there, but narrowing down your selection will help find good ones faster).

Look only for small spines or spineless type prickly pear pads that look close to O. ficus-indica or a hybrid of it. There are plenty of naturalized O. ficus-indica to select from. Also fruits that have less fortified glochids usually are better.

Here is a good reference to the native and naturalized Opuntia of CA; http://www.calflora.org/cgi-bin/specieslist.cgi?tmpfile=cf467699&num-matches=66&max=50&prevwhere=&button_flag=&prevselect=&table=nspecies&dump=&backlink=&row-to-start=50&page=previous+50

Since O. ficus-indica was cultivated at majority of missions, any mission areas from Northern CA down to SoCal are possible genetic hotspots for previous semi cultivated prickly pears that went wild. Also many generations of families from Mexico have introduced new genetics in and around SoCal. You can spot O. ficus indica everywhere if you tune in your selection and keep a eye out for them. Just scanning google earth you can find amazingly large amount O. ficus-indica just in a 1 mi radius from your home. Check vacant areas, public areas, sides of freeways, ravines, hiking trails, Latino majority neighborhoods, and parks.

« Last Edit: November 02, 2014, 03:18:03 AM by nullzero »
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ricshaw

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #61 on: November 02, 2014, 01:36:48 PM »
Look only for small spines or spineless type prickly pear pads that look close to O. ficus-indica or a hybrid of it. There are plenty of naturalized O. ficus-indica to select from. Also fruits that have less fortified glochids usually are better.

I agree...  my logic is that the early humans who selected cacti for good tasting fruit, would have also selected for small or spineless varieties.

nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #62 on: November 02, 2014, 02:03:53 PM »
Look only for small spines or spineless type prickly pear pads that look close to O. ficus-indica or a hybrid of it. There are plenty of naturalized O. ficus-indica to select from. Also fruits that have less fortified glochids usually are better.

I agree...  my logic is that the early humans who selected cacti for good tasting fruit, would have also selected for small or spineless varieties.

There are a few exceptions like PARL 342 http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1652725. This is probably some hybrid or just has reverted to a spiny form.
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ricshaw

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #63 on: November 02, 2014, 02:22:36 PM »

I agree...  my logic is that the early humans who selected cacti for good tasting fruit, would have also selected for small or spineless varieties.

There are a few exceptions like PARL 342 http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/acc/display.pl?1652725. This is probably some hybrid or just has reverted to a spiny form.

Yes, there is a difference between a cactus collected along a Mexican highway and one from active human cultivation.


simon_grow

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #65 on: November 02, 2014, 02:53:56 PM »
Thanks for the info Nullzero! I just googled images for O ficus Indica and they look very similar to the cactus I harvested from, i don't really know what to look for between a cactus with good vs poor fruit. The only thing I can look for now as you recommended is a cactus with less or no spines?

Also I noticed from the pictures that the o ficus indica may have larger and thicker pads?

Simon


nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #67 on: November 02, 2014, 03:38:57 PM »
Thanks for the info Nullzero! I just googled images for O ficus Indica and they look very similar to the cactus I harvested from, i don't really know what to look for between a cactus with good vs poor fruit. The only thing I can look for now as you recommended is a cactus with less or no spines?

Also I noticed from the pictures that the o ficus indica may have larger and thicker pads?

Simon

Yeah usually thicker pads with less spines. Btw, that Mission San Juan Capistrano prickly pear looks interesting... may need to get a future collection of it.

Quote
Camarillo, CA
What is so special about this one?

It looks like a good one for pads as well as fruit. We have really no idea on the potential of good prickly pears until we start having test testings and ratings to sort the junk from the excellent. We can start by selection of size, amount of seeds, and hardness of seeds.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2014, 03:41:13 PM by nullzero »
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fyliu

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #68 on: November 02, 2014, 09:02:14 PM »
Thanks for the tips on collecting O. ficus-indica. What's a good time of year for fruits? Is there and early and late season as well?

I have around 3 pads of Torrance PCH and Geronimo available if anyone wants to try them. I guess it's the PCH #1 that was on a fence next to the freeway. I had 2 fruits form it the first year but they disappeared. My neighbor's plumeria grew very tall and dense this year and shaded out both plants and they didn't flower anymore.

fyliu

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #69 on: November 02, 2014, 09:58:03 PM »
Nullzero, what shipping method do you use to ship pads? I think the place I normally go to always gives me the higher cost method which I don't think helps for shipping cactus.

nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #70 on: November 02, 2014, 11:02:45 PM »
Nullzero, what shipping method do you use to ship pads? I think the place I normally go to always gives me the higher cost method which I don't think helps for shipping cactus.

I try to always fit them in the USPS flat rate box medium # 2

Outside:
14" x 12" x 3 1/2"
Inside:
13 5/8" x 11 7/8" x 3 3/8"

Any gaps are filled with scrunched up trader joes bags. If they wont fit the box because they are to tall, I try to cut an inch or so off the bottom then cure them for a couple days so the cut drys out a bit.

Quote
Thanks for the tips on collecting O. ficus-indica. What's a good time of year for fruits? Is there and early and late season as well?

Prime season starts around late August into late September. However there is so much diversity you can find ripe fruit from from May until February (if the fruit holds well on the plant).
« Last Edit: November 02, 2014, 11:06:13 PM by nullzero »
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LEOOEL

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #71 on: November 03, 2014, 12:08:37 AM »

Camarillo, CA
What is so special about this one?



The owner said it is from Mexico AND he is growing it for the fruit.

Wow, this is a Prickly Pear cactus fruit hedge, beautiful, amazing and exotic, all at the same time, thank you for the picture.
« Last Edit: November 09, 2014, 02:02:03 AM by LEOOEL »
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simon_grow

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #72 on: November 11, 2014, 09:58:45 PM »
I was driving around town looking for Opuntias with thicker pads and fewer spines and came across these beauties. They both look very similar but one has larger pads and larger fruit. These fruit felt soft to the touch so I washed off the glochids and gave them a Brix and taste test. The smaller fruit had a Brix reading of 15 and the larger fruit had a Brix reading of 17%. These fruit were overripe as they were a bit mushy. I think they will taste much better if they were picked more firm but this will likely decrease the sugar content. I still have a few fruit to try so hopefully they will be a little more firm.

The taste was that of melon and the flesh was pleasantly sweet. One of them, I forget which one, had a hint of banana flavor. The seeds were much softer than the other Opuntia I picked last week but I would still classify the seeds as hard. There were much fewer seeds in these fruit, I did not count how many.

Simon








ricshaw

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #73 on: November 11, 2014, 10:45:38 PM »
I was driving around town looking for Opuntias with thicker pads and fewer spines and came across these beauties. They both look very similar but one has larger pads and larger fruit. These fruit felt soft to the touch so I washed off the glochids and gave them a Brix and taste test. The smaller fruit had a Brix reading of 15 and the larger fruit had a Brix reading of 17%. These fruit were overripe as they were a bit mushy. I think they will taste much better if they were picked more firm but this will likely decrease the sugar content. I still have a few fruit to try so hopefully they will be a little more firm.

The taste was that of melon and the flesh was pleasantly sweet. One of them, I forget which one, had a hint of banana flavor. The seeds were much softer than the other Opuntia I picked last week but I would still classify the seeds as hard. There were much fewer seeds in these fruit, I did not count how many.

Simon

It sounds like you found a couple of winners!

nullzero

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Re: Another prickly pear selection
« Reply #74 on: November 11, 2014, 11:03:18 PM »
I was driving around town looking for Opuntias with thicker pads and fewer spines and came across these beauties. They both look very similar but one has larger pads and larger fruit. These fruit felt soft to the touch so I washed off the glochids and gave them a Brix and taste test. The smaller fruit had a Brix reading of 15 and the larger fruit had a Brix reading of 17%. These fruit were overripe as they were a bit mushy. I think they will taste much better if they were picked more firm but this will likely decrease the sugar content. I still have a few fruit to try so hopefully they will be a little more firm.

The taste was that of melon and the flesh was pleasantly sweet. One of them, I forget which one, had a hint of banana flavor. The seeds were much softer than the other Opuntia I picked last week but I would still classify the seeds as hard. There were much fewer seeds in these fruit, I did not count how many.

Simon,

Nice selection, I like the red on red look to it. Looks like a keeper, so many possibilities for good selections around CA. I think we should plan a prickly pear taste testing sometime in the future. So we can sort out the BRIX, taste, texture, and presentation. Then the top 10 selections can be shared among fruit enthusiast, crfg members, etc. This way can promote tasty fruit, a tasty vegetable, an excellent landscape plant, and especially drought tolerant and water wise.
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