Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle

in article , Steve Coyle at
wrote on 5/21/03 10:43 PM:

Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.

We noticed that, Steve. Is there a pooh-pooh thing from childhood or...?

Actually, one of the most interesting plane rides I ever had was sitting
next to two major Bio Mass initiators. They were telling me how they were
working with Russia or Poland or...

I have forgotten which country, and they want to get countries to change
from sewage treatment plants into Bio Mass Energy producing plants. They are
safer than nuclear energy (no more Chernobyl) they said, and think of using
people's pooh-pooh to run our electric lights and A/Cs.

Kewl, said I. Best to You Steve! -- LL


Steve Coyle

"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle

Googling got nothing on composting the suckers; just info on feeding compost
to them. (People *feed* prickly pears???)

Looks like a bumper crop this year. Has anybody made prickly pear jelly?
If so, is it worth the trouble?

Dale

"dt" wrote in message
...

Looks like a bumper crop this year. Has anybody made prickly pear jelly?
If so, is it worth the trouble?

Dale


Prickly Pear jelly is wonderful! We've been making it for about ten years
now. Beautiful color and excellent taste.

You can make compost out of anything in the plant kingdom (plus a few animal
products like eggshells), though plants vary widely with respect to how
quickly they decompose. I haven't tried composting prickly pears, as I like
mine and don't want to kill them, but I'm sure it would work. For best
results, I'd recommend chopping up the pads into very small pieces, say
about 1/2" x 1/2". Anyway, what have you got to lose by trying?

carol

"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle

When we lived in Corpus Christi, we went to the (I had to go read my t-shirt
to get the name right) Texas Prickly Pear Conference convention in
Kingsville. They had booths selling every kind of preserved prickly pear
you could think of -- and some you might rather not. They also had chefs
from various pricey restaurants in Kingsville, Corpus Christi, San Antonio
and border cities preparing various delicious recipes from salad to entree
to dessert. There were also recipe books for sale. You could probably find
them on the internet, if you persisted.

Nell S
"Robbin" wrote in message
...

"dt" wrote in message
...

Looks like a bumper crop this year. Has anybody made prickly pear
jelly?
If so, is it worth the trouble?

Dale


Prickly Pear jelly is wonderful! We've been making it for about ten years
now. Beautiful color and excellent taste.

I would be leery of this. The spines, particularly the longer, stiffer
ones, would take FOREVER to rot, while the "pears," being mostly water and
soft pulp, would rot quickly. While it might make very rich humus, that
humus would be loaded with the spines that would make working the soil,
i.e., planting seedlings in it, would be quite painful.
I knelt once upon an invisible spine, driving it clear to the kneecap. It
broke off, and my hubby had to work carefully to extract the broken spine
with tweezers. I hobbled for nearly a month, and have been fearful of
gardening around cactus ever since.

Nell S


"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle

"Nell Reynolds" wrote in message
. ..
I would be leery of this. The spines, particularly the longer, stiffer
ones, would take FOREVER to rot, while the "pears," being mostly water and
soft pulp, would rot quickly. While it might make very rich humus, that
humus would be loaded with the spines that would make working the soil,
i.e., planting seedlings in it, would be quite painful.
I knelt once upon an invisible spine, driving it clear to the kneecap. It
broke off, and my hubby had to work carefully to extract the broken spine
with tweezers. I hobbled for nearly a month, and have been fearful of
gardening around cactus ever since.

Nell S


"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle


All good advice,ranchers burn the spines off with a blowtorch,before feeding
to cattle.There is your ultimate composter-steer.


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"Nell Reynolds" wrote in message
. ..
I would be leery of this. The spines, particularly the longer, stiffer
ones, would take FOREVER to rot, while the "pears," being mostly water and
soft pulp, would rot quickly. While it might make very rich humus, that
humus would be loaded with the spines that would make working the soil,
i.e., planting seedlings in it, would be quite painful.
I knelt once upon an invisible spine, driving it clear to the kneecap. It
broke off, and my hubby had to work carefully to extract the broken spine
with tweezers. I hobbled for nearly a month, and have been fearful of
gardening around cactus ever since.

Nell S


"Steve Coyle" wrote in message
om...
Howdy folks,
I did a search on this in the group and saw a lot of interesting
postings on Prickly Pear Cactus ( By the way for many new folks
checking in, you can find out a lot in a hurry just by doing a search
within this news group on your question )

A question I had was can you compost Prickly Pear Cactus. I assume
that anything that grows and rots will eventually rot down to a usable
form, but I was wondering if anyone had actually tried it.
I was thinking of building a wood and wiremesh bin off the ground,
with a tarp under it, to prevent any from falling through and just
filling the sucker and letting it rot down.
Seems strange,but I just have this affection for bio mass.
Steve Coyle


All good advice,ranchers burn the spines off with a blowtorch,before feeding
to cattle.There is your ultimate composter-steer.


---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.484 / Virus Database: 282 - Release Date: 5/27/03