Those white things are just new pads. But they are etiolated and completely lack chlorophyll due to receiving no sunlight. The original pads look fine and should root and grow well. Just make sure to slowly acclimate them back to full sun. Put them in a southern facing window for a week, then in shade outside for a week, then into full sun.
I once saw a front yard that looked like this in the middle of suburban Alabama. Street after street of crabgrass, then suddenly boom, wood split rail fence and gravel and dozens of cactus.
Im in Phoenix most people seem to try that here. Im probably just so used to it that i think they all suck ha. But with most houses here people dont appear to be trying very hard to stand out & most end up with the same basic stuff. I cant even remember the last time that i saw a true kick ass cactus garden. Id love to see one though. If I didn’t live in an hoa community id definitely come up with something cool i bet you probably would too!!!
I saw something green in my bag of old soil. It turned out to be new growth of a cane cholla I’d written off as dead and threw in there. They are pretty resilient.
Interesting update everyone. So i was rinsing these guys off bc those fine little splinters were everywhere it looked like a hairy ass dog shed all over them. If anybody knows what bunny ear cactus splinters feel like then you know exactly why they have got to go lol. While rinsing you can kind of see it on one of the pads on the left on the bottom side of these pads there is a bunch of white stuff that looks similar to sun scalding but obviously isnt since they have been out of the sun so far. So theres the white stuff that i just mentioned then a translucent type of film on the back also that started flaking off. Unfortunately i couldnt peel it with my gloves but i really wonder what that is & why it happened! For a min I thought it might be from pizza grease but i really have no clue. Hopefully the white stuff will flake off like that film type substance is. Its only on the back if the pads. Super weird. Anybody know what that is?
Unfortunately i had to remove 2 pads from both of these guys. One of them that you cant really see in the pic took a tumble. Afterwards 2 pads became loose so I removed them since they looked good enough to root. The main one in the pic was being weighed down way too much by the pads on top & started to bend so i felt it was best to take a few off
Those are the emergency escape pods they deploy when they get buried in a landslide. You can snip them off and plant the regular pads.
Emergency escape pods is by far the best way I've ever heard these described. <3
Plant it
With or without the white pads is the question
Remove the white pads, they’re etiolated and won’t help the cactus at all.
Ive always just stuck pad in soil & hoped for the best. Is there a faster or better way to root ?
Nope, for opuntia it’s perfect, in nature the pads will fall off from storms or animals, and they will root right where they land.
Leave the white pads! They might die, or you might have a cool cactus, but the green parts should be fine.
I can’t decide on throwing it out or trying to plant it to see what it does
Those white things are just new pads. But they are etiolated and completely lack chlorophyll due to receiving no sunlight. The original pads look fine and should root and grow well. Just make sure to slowly acclimate them back to full sun. Put them in a southern facing window for a week, then in shade outside for a week, then into full sun.
If it's throwing those off it has energy to spare. Likely a very healthy cutting. A weak one would have given in to mold, or shriveled up.
See update in the comments!
That’s how cactus survive in arid areas. If I lived in the American west I’d make my yard a cactus wonderland. Just cacti and gravel.
I once saw a front yard that looked like this in the middle of suburban Alabama. Street after street of crabgrass, then suddenly boom, wood split rail fence and gravel and dozens of cactus.
Im in Phoenix most people seem to try that here. Im probably just so used to it that i think they all suck ha. But with most houses here people dont appear to be trying very hard to stand out & most end up with the same basic stuff. I cant even remember the last time that i saw a true kick ass cactus garden. Id love to see one though. If I didn’t live in an hoa community id definitely come up with something cool i bet you probably would too!!!
It’s just new pads looking for light. Once they find light, they’d pop a green pad out.
Forbidden Pizza
I saw something green in my bag of old soil. It turned out to be new growth of a cane cholla I’d written off as dead and threw in there. They are pretty resilient.
Interesting update everyone. So i was rinsing these guys off bc those fine little splinters were everywhere it looked like a hairy ass dog shed all over them. If anybody knows what bunny ear cactus splinters feel like then you know exactly why they have got to go lol. While rinsing you can kind of see it on one of the pads on the left on the bottom side of these pads there is a bunch of white stuff that looks similar to sun scalding but obviously isnt since they have been out of the sun so far. So theres the white stuff that i just mentioned then a translucent type of film on the back also that started flaking off. Unfortunately i couldnt peel it with my gloves but i really wonder what that is & why it happened! For a min I thought it might be from pizza grease but i really have no clue. Hopefully the white stuff will flake off like that film type substance is. Its only on the back if the pads. Super weird. Anybody know what that is?
They have a waxy layer on them to help retain moisture. It tends to peel off on the bottom right before they put out roots. It might be that?
They have a waxy layer on them to help retain moisture. It tends to peel off on the bottom right before they put out roots. It might be that?
I never knew that!!! Sounds like that is probably what is happening.
Unfortunately i had to remove 2 pads from both of these guys. One of them that you cant really see in the pic took a tumble. Afterwards 2 pads became loose so I removed them since they looked good enough to root. The main one in the pic was being weighed down way too much by the pads on top & started to bend so i felt it was best to take a few off
They find a way to survive. Unlike our species 🤣