How to Grow Cactus Fruit

Locate a good cutting on a healthy, thriving Opuntia cactus in early summer. Look for a pad measuring at least 6 inches in length with thick flesh and a healthy green color. Try to find one with small offshoots near the tip.

Put on leather work gloves. Hold the Opuntia pad steady with a pair of long-handled tongs. Sever the pad at the connecting node using a pruning saw. Cut directly through the node.

Move the pad to a cool, dry spot with indirect light. Leave the pad to dry for a week or two. Check the cut-end of the pad every few days to see if the cut has healed or calloused over. Plant the pad once the cut end is dried out and pale with small filament roots emerging.

Choose a sunny planting site with sandy, draining soil. Dig a planting hole for the Opuntia pad using a garden trowel. Make the hole approximately 1/3 the depth of the pad. Insert the pad into the hole and fill in around it.

Place a large stone on either side of the Opuntia pad to hold it upright. Water the cactus to a depth of 1 inch every five days for three weeks to prompt root production.

Check for rooting in 20 days. Grasp the Opuntia pad with the tongs and gently try to lift it. Resistance to the movement means roots have begun to grow.

Decrease watering to 1 inch every 10 days during its first summer. Cease watering once the cactus is putting on noticeable growth.

Watch the Opuntia cactus for signs of flowering in one to two years after rooting. Look for the formation of fruit in two weeks after the flowers fade. Harvest the cactus fruit once they ripen to an even reddish-purple color.