Description (From Recipaedia)
Cacti are large plants very tolerant to dry conditions, and will often be found growing to large sizes in the desert. They are prickly and cause injury to the touch, so be careful. They will regrow up to 3 blocks high when only the top part is harvested. A cruel hunter may line their trap pit with these for a more effective kill.
Acquiring
Natural Generation
Cacti can be found in hot desert biomes with Sand.
Renewable Acquisition
Cacti farms can be created to have a limitless supply of cacti. See later in this article for more information.
Uses
- Cacti are useful as fuel for the furnace. It takes about 1.4 cacti to smelt one block.
- Cacti are often used in animal traps.
- They can be helpful if you are in the desert and being chased by an animal. Simply put one or two in the way of the animal and it will hesitate while you escape. Remember you do have to be on sand, though.
- If you place one on each side of your doorway, you can sleep without even closing in the space. Animals have a very hard time passing between two cacti. They almost never make it. Especially if the cacti are two deep.
- They make effective fences and animals will not pass between two cacti with only one block between them. You do have to place sand for them to grow on.
Notes
- A cactus farm can be made simply and be located nearly anywhere. It doesn't need water or even bright light. An effective cactus plot is shown here. You enter the plot from below, climb the ladder in the center and break the cacti in the middle, leaving the bottom piece to regrow. The slab beneath the wicker lamp prevents you from standing on the ladder and thus getting stung by the cacti.
- Cacti can only be placed on Sand blocks.
- Cacti cannot break items. It can only injure the player and animals.
- Cacti only grow up to 3 blocks maximum, although you can place more cacti on top of it.
- Cactus is a cheap fuel substitute but with a fuel value of only 5, compared to the coal chunk value of 80, it is extremely inefficient. It requires approximately 1.4 cacti blocks to cook one block of ore (versus about 7 leaf blocks.)
- The entire cactus plant is destroyed when breaking the bottom cactus block.
- Setting cactus on fire, according to the Recipedia, will spread the fire faster.
- If one stands on top of a cactus for about 5 seconds, the player will stop taking damage from the cactus for an infinite amount of time. But the player needs to stand COMPLETELY still, otherwise the damage will reset and the player will continue to receive damage. Even jumping triggers this effect. This may prove useful when one falls into their own cactus trap. Strangely enough, if an animal stands completely still on a cactus, it will keep receiving damage and it will eventually die if it doesn't flee. (Confirmed by SteppenwolfMLP, 17/06/2021).
- Cacti can be very useful when used as fuel when one is living in the desert and can't mine coal or plant trees to make coal.
- Throwing objects like Stone Chunks or Spears could make the Cactus break and drop the remaining Cactus above it.