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I have a native prickly pear that is planted in my backyard. I have had it in the ground for several years. It gets plenty of direct afternoon sun, but it doesn't seem to be growing. Why could this be? Is there some kind of fertilizer that I should add to it or something? Please help me out.

Hello hippyman
A picture of the cactus and where it is planted would help. Was is it planted in potting soil before you planted it? Did you plant the whole root ball and soil in the ground? I ask because the riots could still be trapped in the old soil

I finally managed to get some pictures. I also have a sotol that's in the same situation, but did not take a picture of it.

My question is did you take them out of the pot and immediately placed them in the soil?

Not immediately. I left them in the pots for a day or two while I tested spots to plant them.

What i meant is when you removed them from their pots, you should have knocked the spil away to free the roots and allow them to run into the soil. See first post of this topic: http://cactiguide.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=9222

I'm pretty sure I did, I always do with plants. It's been a couple of years now so it's hard to remember.

Hmmm intrighing...
Give it some fertilizer now and water it weekly if the weather is right. If that doesn't do it, i would dig it out and chdck the roots, let it dry for a few days and plant it in a pot to be able to better control its environment. When it establishes again put it in the ground.
You can try to take cuttings too. They root quite easily

Is there any specific fertilizer you'd recommend?

Something balanced with 1:1:1 ratio like 5-5-5 or 7s or 10s preferably with microelements.

Opuntia is more like trees and needs more water and fertilizer than other cactuses, actually if you live in a dry region you can give them as much as possible water, add some organic fertilizer like peat or vermicompost etc to the soil, and if you like, use a balanced npk fertilizer like 10-10-10, 20-20-20,



For me humic acid is like a magic drug to cure cactuses that do not growing On good condition and are in shock

Well, you do have a problem I wish I had, because my prickly pear cacti were growing way too much and displacing the smaller plants. I could barely cut off enough top growth every year for quite some time to keep them in check and finally decided to remove the biggest of them. They found a new home with a fellow cactus club member, who sells succulents and cacti and planted them around his property boundary.
If you want more top growth and flowering, I suggest using Miracle Grow Bloom Booster Flower Food. It does have the NPK formula 15-30-15 and provides also micronutrients. Only use it at 1/3 to 1/2 of the recommended strength. It dissolves very easily and even makes the water slightly acidic, which is good for the plants. You can apply this fertilizer with the watering can several times a year during the growing season.

To make things even better, you should try to apply nitrogen in the form of ammonium sulfate. According to an article I have read, this form of nitrogen is way more effective than either urea or nitrate. It is pretty cheap and available at any place that sells gardening supplies. The formula for that nitrogen source is 21-0-0. Sulfur, which is one of the micronutrients required for plant growth, is an additional benefit for the use of this fertilizer, because it does have an acidifying effect. I do use 2 tablespoons of ammonium sulfate, place them in a small container with a screw top lid and add water. Then I shake the container vigorously a few times, in order to dissolve the ammonium sulfate and then add that to the 2 1/2 gallon watering can I use. I have only recently started to incorporate ammonium sulfate and I am not sure, if that brought about the first time flowering of a very small cactus (Turbinicarpus alonsoi), which I had even thought had perished!

Harald

I had two potted Eastern Prickly Pears that grew a lot and flowered when I watered and fertilized them often and just survived when I neglected them. I think I fertilized them with a 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of Jack's Classic every other watering, the same as the Ghost Peppers they were next to.