Prickly pear damage

[Nickz]

Hi,
One of the pads of my prickly pear got damaged during this winter:

Also on the same pad there's a stain of a slightly lighter green color. I wouldn't have worried about that if it wasn't for the fact that there's one also exactly at the other side. Here are two photos of the sides:

The spot is not soft.
Can you tell what could have caused it? Should i remove the pad? The plant was outside all winter but sheltered from rain and most of the time also from wind.

Thanks

 

[Marck]

Greetings, welcome to the Forums.

If the blemishes are dry, they may heal without rot, but that discolored spot could be rotting from the inside. To protect against the possibility of rot traveling to other pads, remove the damaged pad.

If you want to try propagation, keep the removed pad in cool dry area. After a month or so if it still looks firm an not decaying, pot it up separately to try to grow another plant from it.