CLIMATIC DATA OF SELECTED CACTUS PEAR (OPUNTIA FICUS–INDICA) GROWING AREAS IN SOUTH AFRICA

Climate diagrams are presented for representative localities in the different climatic zones across South Africa where spiny cactus pears have become naturalized or where spineless cactus pears are cultivated commercially.
The S.W. Cape is South Africa’s major deciduous fruit growing area.
It is characterized by a Mediterranean type of climate (predominantly winter rainfall) with a good potential for commercial cactus pear cultivation.
The Eastern Cape is where the naturalized cactus pear is most abundant, particularly in the vicinity of Uitenhage with its relatively low but evenly distributed (year-round) rainfall.
In most areas of the Eastern Cape, however, rainfall is lowest in winter.
Commercial cultivation of cactus pear is relatively unimportant except as a fodder crop for use in times of drought.
In the vast cooler interior plateau (or Highveld areas) there are isolated commercial plantings of spineless cactus for both fruit and fodder production.
Winters are cold and relatively dry.
Most recent expansion in commercial plantings has occurred in warm temperate to warm to hot sub-tropical climates (with predominantly summer rains) stretching from Gauteng Province to Mpumalanga and Northern Provinces, respectively.
The earliest fruit crops are produced in the sub-tropical areas situated near the Tropic of Capricorn.
Extreme winter cold can cause damage to plants in some years in the cold interior.
A few consecutive days of very high mid-summer temperatures (close to 40°C) can cause serious damage to mature fruits in the Eastern Cape midlands.
Research is in progress to better understand the response of spineless cactus to different climatic conditions and irrigation in South Africa.

III International Congress on Cactus Pear and Cochineal

M.O. Brutsch

Opuntia ficus–indica, climatic conditions

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1997.438.1