Prickly Pear Experience

I’ve received comments from several readers regarding the white crud that can appear on prickly pear pads. (see previous posts for info)   A plant at one of our housewatch customers was heavily infested and we could see that it started to spread to a healthy plant in front of the house so we notified them and volunteered (at $20) to clear the plant of its parasitic pests.  We took the advice given by one of our readers, sprayed the plant with a mixture of water and dish detergent, let it sit for 15 minutes, and hosed it off.  We didn’t hear the little bugs coughing or swearing, but we could see the white stuff discoloring so knew something was at work.  As you can see from the photos below….it was a successful operation!  Thanks for your reader input to save this plant.
Don and I learned several lessons. 1)  Prickly pears may look harmless, but do not touch.  2) When stepping between a prickly pear and its neighboring century plant…..BEWARE!  Don’t brush against either plant!   3) The AZ sun gets hot fast these mornings so start early on any outdoor work.  4) Don’t volunteer to hose down any more plants cause it ain’t as easy as it looks.  Now that I’m back in my cool air conditioning and get to look at the pictures…..it was kinda fun.  I chalk it up to another Arizona experience.