THE ORNAMENTAL PRICKLY PEAR INDUSTRY IN THE SOUTHWESTERN UNITED STATES
Abstract
Several species of prickly pear cacti are grown as ornamental plants in public, private, residential, and commercial landscapes throughout the more arid areas of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Texas. Several commercial nurseries, ranging in size from small family-owned specialty operations to large diversified wholesale nurseries, produce and sell prickly pear cacti. The greatest nursery production occurs in Arizona, followed by southern California. In Arizona, there are over 40 small commercial operations in the Phoenix area alone. A survey of Arizona nurseries revealed an inventory of 550,000 prickly pear plants on hand with wholesale and retail values of $4.5 million and $9.5 million, respectively. If prickly pear cacti were lost as a viable nursery crop, small specialized nursery operations would be more likely to suffer than large diversified nurseries.Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright for any article published in Florida Entomologist is held by the author(s) of the article. Florida Entomologist is an open access journal. Florida Entomologist follows terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial License (cc by-nc). By submitting and publishing articles in Florida Entomologist, authors grant the FOJ and Florida Entomologist's host institutions permission to make the article available through Internet posting and electronic dissemination, and to otherwise archive the information contained both electronically and in a hard printed version. When used, information and images obtained from articles must be referenced and cited appropriately. Articles may be reproduced for personal, educational, or archival purposes, or any non-commercial use. Permission should be sought from the author(s) for multiple, non-commercial reproduction. Written permission from the author(s) is required for any commercial reproduction.