SKU: 78040508839

Bunny Ear Cactus 'Opuntia microdasys'

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Description

Bunny Ear Cactus 'Opuntia microdasys'Introducing the bunny ear cactus, also known as Opuntia microdasys. A stunning member of the Opuntia genus, this bunny ear cactus is adored for its adorable appearance and distinctive flattened pads that resemble bunny ears. It's a favorite among cactus enthusiasts and beginners alike. The bunny ear cactus is relatively easy to care for and can thrive both indoors and outdoors. Native to northern Mexico, the bunny ear cactus Opuntia microdasys has

Introducing the bunny ear cactus, also known as Opuntia microdasys. A stunning member of the Opuntia genus, this bunny ear cactus is adored for its adorable appearance and distinctive flattened pads that resemble bunny ears. It's a favorite among cactus enthusiasts and beginners alike. The bunny ear cactus is relatively easy to care for and can thrive both indoors and outdoors.

Native to northern Mexico, the bunny ear cactus Opuntia microdasys has several other common names, such as angel's wings cactus, polka dot cactus, Cegador, and bunny cactus.  

This bunny-ear cactus is characterized by its flattened, oval-shaped small pads that are covered in fuzzy, white, or golden spines called glochids. These spines are actually modified hairs that serve as a protective mechanism against predators. While they may look soft, they can easily detach and cause irritation, so it's important to handle your bunny ears with care. This Opuntia microdasys can grow up to 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide. 

The bunny ear cactus flowers typically bloom in the spring or summer, and produce dense clusters of white or pure yellow flowers. The bunny ears cactus flowers have a unique shape and add a lovely touch to their overall appearance. 

When it comes to bunny ear cactus propagation, it can be done through stem cuttings. This cactus is relatively easy to propagate, making it a popular choice for plant enthusiasts.  

General Tips for Potting and Repotting Bunny Ear Cactus

  1. The bunny ears cactus should be repotted every two to three years.
  2. To ensure safety, use thick gardening or work gloves and tongs to protect yourself from sharp bristles.
  3. Gently remove the old soil around the roots and transfer the cactus to the new pot.
  4. Add fresh soil and firmly press it in place.
  5. You can also use tongs to avoid touching the cactus.

The fruits of the bunny ears, known as prickly pear fruit, are edible and are sweet, tangy fruit with antioxidants, vitamin C, and fiber, making them a healthy addition to your diet. 

Additionally, the Bunny Ear Cactus is friendly to both humans and pets. It does not have any sharp spines or thorns that can cause harm, making it a safe choice for households with children or curious pets. 

Watering Needs 

As a desert dweller, the Bunny Ears Cactus is adapted to dry conditions and has low water requirements. Overwatering can be detrimental to its health and can lead to root rot. It's better to wait until the soil is entirely dry between waterings. This entails waiting until the soil is entirely dry before watering again. It's better to underwater than to overwater your bunny cactus. 

In the spring and fall, during the active growing season, you can water your drought-tolerant cactus bunny ear about once every two to three weeks. However, it's important to adjust the watering frequency based on the specific conditions of your environment. Factors such as humidity, temperature, and the type of potting mix used can affect how quickly the soil dries out. Always check the soil's moisture content before watering.   

During the winter months, your Opuntia microdasys bunny ears goes into a dormant period and requires even less water. You can reduce the watering frequency to once a month or even less, depending on the conditions. Remember, it's always better to be underwater than overwater. Observe the mature bunny ear plant closely and adjust your watering routine accordingly. 

Light Requirements 

If growing indoors, south-facing windows are usually a great choice for your bunny ear cactus, as they provide ample sunlight. If you don't have access to a sunny window, you can also use an artificial grow light to supplement the light requirements. 

When grown outdoors, your bunny Ear Cacti love basking in the sun and thrive in full sun to partial shade. To keep your Opuntia microdasys happy, place it in a spot where it can receive at least 4-6 hours of bright, direct sunlight each day.

It's important to note that while Opuntia cacti love sunlight, they can be sensitive to intense afternoon, direct sunlight. Too much direct sunlight can cause sunburn and damage the bunny ear plant. If you notice any signs of sunburn, such as yellowing or browning of the skin or leaves, it's a good idea to move your bunny ears cactus to a slightly shadier location. 

Remember to rotate your bunny cactus every few weeks to ensure even growth. This will prevent it from leaning towards the light source and becoming lopsided. 

Optimal Soil & Fertilizer Needs 

When it comes to choosing the right soil and fertilizers for your adorable bunny ear cacti, you need to be extra cautious and use the right kind of soil made for cacti in a pot with many drainage holes.  Moisture can be a real killer, leading to root and stem rot in no time flat. But fear not, my fellow green thumbs! Planet Desert has got your back with our specialized cactus potting mix that includes 5 natural substrates with organic mycorrhizae – perfect for promoting healthy roots and happy bunny ear plants. 

When it comes to fertilizing Opuntia microdasys bunny ears, less is more! These bunny cacti are not heavy feeders and can actually be harmed by excessive fertilization. It's best to use a balanced (5-10-5), water-soluble natural NPK fertilizer specifically formulated for cacti. Apply the fertilizer once a year during the active growing season, which is typically spring, and reduce or stop fertilizing during the winter months when the Opuntia microdasys bunny cactus is dormant. 

Remember, it's always better to underwater and under-fertilize Bunny Ears Cactus than to overdo it. These plants are adapted to survive in nutrient-poor desert soils, so they don't require frequent or heavy fertilization. 

Hardiness Zone & More 

If your are growing your Opuntia microdasys indoors, it thrive in temperatures between 70-90°F during the day and prefer cooler temperatures around 60-70°F at night. 

As for humidity, Bunny Ear Cacti prefer low humidity levels. They are adapted to arid environments and can suffer from fungal diseases if exposed to high humidity for extended periods. Aim for a humidity level below 50% to keep your Bunny Ear Cactus happy and healthy. 

If you are living in USDA zones 9-11, you can grow your bunny ear cactus outdoors year-round. These zones have mild winters and warm to hot summers, which mimic the cactus's natural habitat.  

The Bottom Line

Overall, the Bunny Ear cactus (Opuntia microdasys) is a delightful and low-maintenance plant to have in your collection. With its unique appearance, featuring flat, oval-shaped pads covered in fuzzy spines, it adds a touch of whimsy to any space. To care for your bunny ears cactus, provide it with bright, indirect sunlight and water it sparingly, allowing the soil to dry out between waterings. It prefers well-draining soil and can tolerate a range of temperatures; from warm indoor temperature to outdoor 9-11 USDA zones. With its charming and easygoing nature, the Bunny Ear cactus is sure to bring joy and beauty to your home or office. 

Be sure to add Opuntia microdasys bunny ears cactus for sale to your home or garden and enjoy its low maintenance care, while admiring its impressive display year after year. 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Does bunny ear cactus need full sun?

    Yes, the bunny ear cactus thrives in full sun. It requires at least six hours of direct sunlight daily to grow and maintain its attractive and vibrant appearance. Additionally, providing ample sunlight helps stimulate the cactus’ growth and promotes blooming during its flowering season.

  • How do you take care of a bunny ear cactus?

    To keep your bunny ear cactus happy, make sure it gets plenty of sunlight but not too much direct sunlight. Water your bunny cactus sparingly, allowing the soil to dry out completely between waterings. Use well-drained soil and fertilize it during the growing season. Keep it in a warm environment and trim it if it gets too leggy. Bunny ear cacti are pretty low maintenance, so just follow these tips and enjoy your cute little bunny cactus.

  • Why is my bunny ear cactus dying?

    There could be a few reasons why it's dying. It's possible that it's not getting enough sunlight or that you're overwatering it. Make sure to place it in a spot with bright sunlight for almost six hours a day and allow the soil to dry out completely between waterings. Also, check the roots for any signs of rot.

  • Is the fruit of the Bunny Ear Cactus edible?

    Yes, bunny ear cactus fruit, also known as prickly pear fruit, is edible. They have a sweet and tangy flavor and are commonly used in various culinary dishes such as jams, jellies, and salads. Additionally, they are rich in antioxidants and nutrients like vitamin C and fiber, making them a healthy addition to your diet.

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Kitty Bryant
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
Inspiring analysis of economic history
Format: Paperback
Polanyi presents economic history through an analysis of the "utopian" catastrophy of the self-regulating market economy. Polanyi argues that the free market economy treats the most essential elements of human society - labor, nature, and money - as if they should be exploited like commodities. When liberalism (free marketeerism) rules, then the economy dictates what is possible in human society, and these rules are intolerable because they create conditions under which humans are impoverished and disempowered. In his final chapter he lays out the battle ground between liberalism and its alternatives, which when he was writing (1945) were socialism and fascism. Fascism refuses the dictates of economic liberalism but substitutes in its place the dictates of a state that denies individual freedom. Socialism, alternatively, holds the only promise of true freedom for the individual where economic and political rules are developed and enforced democratically for the protection of society. While this is not an easy read because it demands a background in history, he is a fluent and persuasive writer.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2023
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Freh
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
This 1944 classic recounts the fatal flaws of market liberalism that led to the Great Depression and World Wars I & II
Format: Paperback
The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time. Karl Polanyi. 1944. In 1944, the opposing monumental classics, The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek and The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi, were published. From the right, Hayek argued that market liberalism led to prosperity, political liberty, and prevention of authoritarian governance. From the left, Polanyi argued that the rise of market liberalism during the industrial revolution led to intolerable hardship, inevitable unsustainable countermeasures, and finally collapse into fascism, the Great Depression, and World Wars I and II. Since their publication during World War II, these markedly opposed ideas have now been tested by seventy years of history. For the first thirty years after the war, policies reflecting Polanyi’s ideas led to a mixed economy of government policies and regulated markets in the US, northern Europe, and elsewhere that produced robustly increased prosperity broadly shared at all income levels. For the next forty years, ascendency of Hayek’s ideas led to reduction of the role of government with attendant economic instability, rising inequality (with all economic gains going to the rich in the US), and coercive imposition of market liberalism by authoritarian governments with disastrous results throughout Latin America and the former Soviet Union. Given the adverse consequences of resurgent market liberalism, the rebuttal of its ideas in The Great Transformation is as important today as ever. In The Great Transformation, Polanyi maintains that before the industrial revolution, markets did not play an important role in human society—they were embedded in society rather than the other way around. Goods and services were generally distributed without the motive for profit by the non-market mechanisms of reciprocity according to social relations, centralized storage with redistribution, and production for one’s own use known as householding. When present, the role of markets was peripheral and subordinate to politics, religion, and social relations. The industrial revolution brought about an almost miraculous improvement in the tools of production accompanied by catastrophic dislocations of the lives of the common people, of which poverty was merely the economic aspect. During this time, English thinkers created the theory of market liberalism, which radically reversed the previous subordination of markets to society by removing the role for government so that society was instead subordinated to self-regulating markets (without government interference). This change required that human labor, nature, and money be turned into commodities that could be bought and sold without regard to human and social considerations. Efficient functioning of markets also required callous indifference to the social dislocation, poverty, and damage to nature that resulted and even to hunger as a motivating factor for the working class. This change from regulated to self-regulating markets that organized the whole of society on the principle of gain and profit marked a great transformation of the nature of society by the removal of democratic control of markets. The goals of this transformation were unrealistically utopian and could never be achieved without annihilating the human and natural substance of society. Even during its installation, laissez-faire proved to be a myth. Government action was mandatory to adjust the supply of money and credit, to enforce provisions for labor and land, and to prevent political disruption. Even with this level of government activity, market liberalism still imposed unsustainable hardships on ordinary people from speculative excess, growing inequality, competition from imports, depressions, unemployment, poverty, and reduced entitlement to assistance. By the late 1800s, these impossible pressures of the self-regulating market necessarily led to a countermovement in industrialized nations to protect their societies from the market. This countermovement included protectionism for national markets and competition for colonies to take resources from other societies. In exotic and colonial regions with the absence of protective measures unspeakable suffering resulted. Thus Polanyi characterizes market societies as having two opposing movements, referred to as a “double movement.” These two contradictory movements resulted in simultaneous struggles to expand the scope of the market because of the opportunities for some and to limit the scope of the market because of the adverse consequences for many. These internal contradictions led to disruptive stresses and strains that were unsustainable for market societies. In the domestic economy, class conflict resulted from issues like the choice between inflation for stability of workers incomes and employment and deflation for stability of currency for investors. Market liberals from Spencer to Mises held that popular democracy was a danger to capitalism and that workers should not have the right to vote. In the international economy, relentless shocks imposed by the gold standard forced nations to consolidate around heightened national and imperial boundaries. In international politics, intensified political, military, and economic rivalries finally culminated in World War I. By this time, the class struggle over market liberalism was at an impasse. For a critical decade, economic liberals supported authoritarian intervention in service of their deflationary policy to protect currency exchange and investment. This merely weakened the democratic forces that might otherwise have averted the fascist catastrophe. During the Great Depression, the gold standard finally collapsed, foreign debts were repudiated, capital markets and world trade dwindled away, and the global political and economic system disintegrated. In a second great transformation of society that followed, the replacements of market society by fascism, socialism, and the New Deal were similar only in discarding laissez-faire principles. The conflict between the market and the elementary requirements of an organized social life had ultimately destroyed society. World Wars I and II merely hastened its destruction. In 1944, Polanyi appears to have regarded the utopia of market liberalism as utterly discredited. He expressed the hope that the passing of market economy could become the beginning of an era of unprecedented freedom. He noted that freedom as the absence of power and compulsion as claimed by market liberals is not possible in a complex society. The function of power is to ensure the measure of conformity which is needed for the survival of the group: its ultimate source is opinion. Regulation both extends and restricts freedom; only the balance of freedoms lost and won is significant. The comfortable classes enjoy the freedom provided by leisure in security. They resent the suggestion to spread out income, leisure, and security to extend to others the freedom they enjoy. Obviously, those who lack security cannot enjoy the same freedom as the comfortable classes. Those who want more freedom for all need not fear that either power or planning will undermine their freedom. Regulation and control in a complex society strive to give us all the security we need to achieve freedom not only for the few, but for all.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2017
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Usman A. Ghani
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
Must read for contemporary (and all) times.
Format: Paperback
This is a great book. I wonder why we were not taught this in the freshman year, or at least as a counterpoint to Econ101. It opens up the perspective to seeing culture, economics, politics, and technology in an integrated way with an emphasis on social choesion as a unifying fabric for humanity and, looking for the right rate of economic reform. Much of what we do as "development" can in fact be harmful in the long (also short) run if we are not sensitive to the premises Polanyi is alerting us to. This is not counterpoint or counterfactual thesis per se. I am a strong proponent of the market system and also realize that this system is subsumed and must be complementary to the larger, complex social system where things are interconnected. An effective policy can only result from the collective consideration of these together. Polanyi's writing style is clear, direct, and simple and, unlike deeply nomenclature-intense economics write-ups, this book is rather an easy read. When we prescribe/teach The Industrial Revolution as an essential or secondary reading, The Great Transformation should also be a companion reading.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2013
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Tanthallas
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Read!
Format: Paperback
Well, I was going to review this wonderful work. However, Robert Moore's review is so spot on that there is really no need to take up more space. Also I need a nap. Anyway, this book is truly fascinating. If you are at all interested in Political Economy, this is perhaps one of the most important books you will ever read. There is no school which has the authors name attached to it, nor is there a political movement dedicated to the realization of his ideas. In most cases this is because the author did not contribute original thought or make an adequate connection of his thought process with reality. In Polanyi's case, this is because the originality of his thought cuts through the specialized form in which science and social studies is presented today and cannot possible be claimed to belong to 'economics' any more than it can of 'sociology', 'anthropology', 'history', 'international relations', etc.. Read this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2009
J
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James Lockley
Charlottesville, US
★★★★★ 5
Understanding the Market vs Government influence
Format: Paperback
A must read.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 13, 2025

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