I suspect natural hybrids exist in the zone 6-7 area.

I heard that some people in Cali are changing to some hybrids that produce big 'tuna' or prickly pears in drought conditions. I don't know if these would survive the cold though its worth looking into.

You might be interested in Nearly Native Nursery. They sell several varieties of prickly pear. I did a quick search of their website and I think they currently carry 5.

Here is a link that might be useful: Prickly pear varieties

It's a first-rate idea, but you're getting into some complex territory hereâ¦

First of all, the Opuntia genus is a very large one, but it sounds like you're talking about Opuntia ficus-indica on one hand, and possibly Opuntia humifusa on the other. Two very different members of the same genus, and not only in terms of edibility!

Ficus-indica is the only truly domesticated prickly pear that I am aware of, and my inclination is that if it could hybridize with more northern species it would have done so already, in places like Southern AZ.

Luther Burbank worked extensively on these plants, and did create a supposed hardy version, but it is clearly not related to ficus-indica, and I've not heard anything outstanding about it. There are many valuable clones of species native to NM and CO for example that produce very tasty fruit, though not anything like that of ficus-indica, which is the only truly domesticated cactus species that I am aware of.

To make a long story short, look around for something good for your zone, which could be much more promising than this hybrid idea!

Good luck

Thanks for the information, links, and advice I really appreciate that. I have been raising eastern prickly pear for a couple of years and they are pretty tasty stir fried but as mentioned not really valuable to anyone else. The fruit are pretty small and contain hard seeds. During the drought I learned to love them when other garden plants died they flourished.

My best hardy cactus for fruit has proven to be Opuntia Engelmanni collected from the foothills around Albuquerque, which is not bothered by the cold and would do fine in a semi arid zone 5.

It has thick 2-3 inch long fruit, approaching the size of cultivated ones. If left on the plant until perfectly ripe (mid October for me) they are really fantastic -- the only problem being the tiny spines called glochids. I only eat a few fresh, by scraping off the glochids and then peeling first. The rest I just process into syrup, jam, etcâ¦

From a dozen or so original pads I collected about 5 years ago, I now have many mature plants that produce a ton of fruit every year. I don't know exact amounts, but filling a 5 gallon bucket with them is not a problem. Not bad for a gorgeous no-care, tough as nails plant!

Maybe you can send me a petal sometime. I pick the fruit and petals with metal salad tongs and burn the gochilds off over my stove flame. Other people use a blow torch.

I have various opuntia in my garden and greenhouse. Some are from seeds I gathered from super tasty fruit while traveling. None of the seedlings produced fruit worth keeping. So, I suspect that in order to secure a top quality hybrid you are going to have to grow out a ton of seed because the plants will vary too much.

If you ever get to travel around in Mexico, Peru or Bolivia, they all have agricultural centers working on improved varieties of opuntia, some of which come from stock growing high in the mountains which might turn out to be zone 5 hardy.

Thanks trianglejohn. Cactus seem like an undervalued crop in Kansas. In Mexico and other places they seem to embrace them. Parts of Kansas and Colorado are semi arid and some cactus would be ann ideal crop there. Even in the wetter part of Kansas where I live cactus are a big bonus to me because the crop never appears to fail. I did lose some petals to varmints eating them last year.