ok thanks!

I usually start putting it outside during the day so it gets real sun shine, early in the season. But it comes inside during the cold nights. By May, I can leave it on the deck most of the time. Our soil here is not ideal for cactus, plus we can get a lot of rain at times so I'm afraid planting it garden style would take some of the control I have over it. In the pot I can bring it in when rain threatens. I'll leave it out when it rains if it needs water but this year I had a little wet foot disease just because it rained so much, even when the forecast said no.

I just put it in this small pot after the wind knocked it off the deck last spring so it hasn't been established very long. It is still getting outside for sun but it's getting cold enough here I don't dare let it stay out overnight.

If you put it outside for the summer in very porous soil (or use a cache pot to plant it in, so that it's above ground) you will be blown away by the growth. It's a tropical Opuntia and would love MN summers.

Several years ago, I had the original in a pot made from a 5 gal pail. It grew tremendously that summer. It loves the hot, humid summers here.

But it always grew 'up' like a tree.

Also, the branches are always elliptical or enlongated, not round, I'm thinking our sun just isn't strong enough? Or long enough season?

No, that's how they grow. Brasilopuntia or something like that, where it grows in an arborescent fashion.

So this is a 'cultivar' of sorts (crossed with something).

I think I found it: Opuntia ellisiana Griffiths Spineless prickly pear, Tigertongue, South Texas pricklypear

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=OPEL3

Looks like a very pretty yellow flower.

Watch out! The Glochids will get you.

Definitely not O. cacanapa var ellisiana ( synonym). The pads are more glaucous and waxy. Larger and thicker than your picture. Never that small. The pads are un naturally small because they have so many rooted pads rooted in one pot. Opuntias develop a long and extensive root run. If this is O. cochinellafera or a similar tropical opuntia, it is normally a tall arboreal cactus. The pads are good eating. It won't get its true form unless it is allowed more dirt to grow in. I have seen people grow O .cochinellafera in a large 10 gallon pot with 2 or 3 plants growing densely. They keep them fairly short and grow them for the eating of pads. The plants never reach a a graceful arboreal form, but are shorn for their young pads. O cochinellafera is cold hardy to 20F - 16F.. The outside ones around me all died in a 2011 cold front. It could be one of the other tropical ones. I am only familiar with O, cochinellafera.

Thanks!

I hated to get rid of this plant entirely, sort of sentimental value. But didn't want to deal with the wild growth and huge pot. Remember, up here, I have to move this thing in and out of the house sometimes daily for several weeks in the spring and in the fall. I knew from experience that if you limit the roots, you limit the size. I put one piece of the original plant into this pot with the intent of keeping it's size limited. It still wanted to grow in an upward chain and quite rapidly, making it a pain to balance and move around. So, the only thing I could think of was to remove the 3rd and 4th tiers and stick them back in the dirt. So yes, it has created a sort of dwarf specimen but I'm fine with it. It's much easier to deal with and I like the fuller look much better. It makes a nice conversation piece sitting on our ornamental wood heater in the winter. ;^)

Start eating the pads. They are good blended up with aloe vera and some fruit in a smoothie. They are good in a salsa , good many ways. Napalitos . Check for recipes. sautéed with onions, poblanos and tomatoes. That will keep them small.

Cactus on the wood burning stove. That is one way to give them the desert atmosphere...LOL.

Thanks. I'll look into that.

The wood heater is electric, it just looks like fire. The top does not get hot at all. It will blow heat out the bottom if you turn the thermostat up and switch the heat 'on'.

wantonamara,

I should've asked this before.

What do you do about the glochids?

Isn't that an issue?

Peel them off. Some people burn them. Scrub them off with a designated scrubber.