I don't know if it is a hardy variety of opuntia, but when I was in Santa
Rosa recently I visited the home of Luther Burbank, and on the grounds were
several massive specimens of a thornless opuntia he developed. It might be
worth researching for those who like the flowers and fruit but hate the
thorns.
"Pat Kiewicz" wrote in message
...
Den said:

Group:

I've just pruned back a rather large prickly pear! Given my experience,
this will be the only time I do this!

I've discovered that I've now got hundreds of tiny hair like micro-spines
in
my hands. These are painful, but nothing more. I'm working away with a
pair of tweezers, but many of the micros-spines are nigh on invisible.
Any
ideas how to remove them, or to stop them hurting?

Love the flowers, hate having to weed or prune them. When I get a lot of
stickers in me I use either packaging tape or duct tape. Lay a piece on,
pull it
off and toss it. Lay on a fresh piece and repeat.

A sharp tweezer with a built in magnifying lens is useful in hunting down
stray
prickles.

But I always get a few spines that get in beyond either remedy and I have
to
wait for these to fester out.
--
Pat in Plymouth MI ('someplace.net' is comcast)

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)