Cactus

Cactus plant

• 

Statistics

Type	Background object

• Internal Tile ID: 80

Cactus

• 
• 

Statistics

Type	BlockCrafting material
Placeable	✔️ (1 wide × 1 high)
Use time	15 (Very fast)
Rarity	00*
Sell	2 CC
Research	100 required

• Internal Item ID: 276
• Internal Tile ID: 188

This article is about the surface plant. For the circular cactus found in Underground Desert, see Rolling Cactus.

Cactus is a crafting material obtained by harvesting Cactus plants, using an axe or chainsaw just like with trees. In addition to crafting, Cactus can be used as a building material.

Crafting

Recipes

Result	Ingredients	Crafting station
Cactus	Cactus Platform2	By Hand
	Pumpkin	Shimmer Transmutation(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
	Cactus Wall4	Work Bench
only: Cactus	Cactus Platform2

Used in

Result	Ingredients	Crafting station
only: Cactus Platform2	Cactus	By Hand
Cactus Work Bench	Cactus10
Rolling Cactus(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)	Cactus6	Heavy Work Bench(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions) and Ecto Mist(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
only: Cactus Chandelier	Cactus4 Torch4 Chain	Iron Anvil or Lead Anvil
Swiftness Potion	Bottled Water Blinkroot Cactus	Placed Bottle or Alchemy Table(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
only: Thorns Potion	Bottled Water Deathweed Cactus
only: Thorns Potion	Bottled Water Deathweed Cactus Worm Tooth Stinger
only: Cactus Bathtub	Cactus14	Sawmill
only: Cactus Bed	Cactus15 Silk5
only: Cactus Bookcase	Cactus20 Book10
only: Cactus Clock	Any Iron Bar3 Glass6 Cactus10
only: Cactus Dresser	Cactus16
only: Cactus Piano	Bone4 Cactus15 Book
Cactus Sofa(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions)	Cactus5 Silk2
Cactus Toilet(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)	Cactus6
Pumpkin	Cactus	Shimmer Transmutation(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
only: Cactus Bathtub	Cactus14	Work Bench
only: Cactus Bed	Cactus15 Silk5
only: Cactus Bookcase	Cactus20 Book10
Cactus Breastplate	Cactus30
Cactus Candelabra	Cactus5 Torch3
Cactus Candle	Cactus4 Torch
Cactus Chair	Cactus4
only: Cactus Chandelier	Cactus4 Torch4 Chain
Cactus Chest	Cactus8 Any Iron Bar2
only: Cactus Clock	Any Iron Bar3 Glass6 Cactus10
Cactus Door	Cactus6
only: Cactus Dresser	Cactus16
Cactus Helmet	Cactus20
Cactus Lamp(Desktop, Console, Old-gen console and Mobile versions)	Torch Cactus3
Cactus Lantern	Cactus6 Torch
Cactus Leggings	Cactus25
only: Cactus Piano	Bone4 Cactus15 Book
Cactus Pickaxe	Cactus15
only: Cactus Platform2	Cactus
Cactus Sink(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)	Cactus6 Water Bucket
Cactus Sword	Cactus10
Cactus Table	Cactus8
Cactus Wall4	Cactus

Plant

Cacti growing on Sand, Ebonsand, Pearlsand, and Crimsand.

Pink Prickly Pear atop a Corrupted cactus prior 1.4.

The cactus plant grows in Desert biomes on all types of Sand. Cactus plants can be harvested using an axe or chainsaw, which causes Cactus items to drop. On the  Old-gen console version and Nintendo 3DS version, mining or hammering the Sand Block the cactus plant grows on will harvest the cactus, while on the  Desktop version,  Console version, and  Mobile version the Sand Block the cactus plant grows on is unbreakable and not affected by gravity. Putting a sand block up to one of the stems, right under it, and then cutting the main cactus body, will make the branch a new cactus. Corruption, Crimson, and Hallow cacti will all drop the same Cactus items when harvested.

Cacti will sometimes grow Pink Prickly Pears on their tops.

Conditions

Cactus plants cannot be planted and will only grow on a target Sand Block under the following conditions:

1. The target Sand Block is above 0 ft and is not actuated or sloped in any way.
2. The tiles above and to both sides of the target Sand Block (only the directly adjacent ones) are open space.
3. The tile above the target block is not filled with any liquid.
4. There are fewer than 50 full tiles of any liquid within a 100 tiles wide×50 tiles high rectangle centered on the Sand Block tile.
5. There are fewer than 4 Cactus tiles and more than 10 Sand Blocks of any type (including regular and all biome variants) within a 13×5 rectangle centered on the tile above the target Sand Block.

There is also an additional attempt to grow Cactus plants on Sand Blocks of any type. For this attempt, apart from the conditions above, the Sand Block also have to be at least 400 tiles away from the left and right true world border (i.e. not in the zone where the Ocean biome is usually located).

Cacti that are spawned after world generation will first always consist of a single stub and slowly extend over time.

Tips

• The most effective way of selling Cactus is to craft it into Cactus Swords.
• Because of how easy it is to get massive amounts of Cacti, crafting Cactus Swords until obtaining one with the Legendary modifier is easy, lucrative, and very useful in the early game.
• Unlike trees, new cacti appear not fully grown but as 1-block plants, and chopping a cactus not entirely but leaving a "stump" above the ground will let the plant regrow from it. This can be very helpful when farming cactus. Moreover, new plants will continue to appear among saved ones thus increasing farm's "production power" over time.
• Because of the -1 range attribute on the Copper Pickaxe, the Cactus Pickaxe becomes a viable early-game alternative since it does not have this drawback and, due to the availability of cacti, is also quick and easy to obtain.
• The naturally occurring cactus plant will begin to break at random intervals when submerged in liquid.

Trivia

• The Cactus plant is designed after the saguaro, a cactus species found in North America noted for its "arms" and exceptional overall size.
• Neither the plant nor the placed item deal contact damage to any entity, although it used to before 1.1.
  • However, the plant does deal contact damage in a Constant world.

History

 Desktop version

• Desktop 1.4.0.2: Fixed a bug where Cacti would spawn on rare configurations of adjacent Demon Altars, resulting in the world crashing if the Demon Altars were hit.

• Desktop 1.4.0.1:
  • Added Cactus Toilet and Rolling Cactus.
  • Sand Blocks underneath Cacti can no longer fall or be broken.

• Desktop 1.3.0.1: Added Cactus Sink.

• Desktop 1.2.4.1: Added Cactus Table and Platform.

• Desktop 1.2.4: Added Cactus Chest, Clock, Dresser, Piano, and Sofa.

• Desktop 1.2.3:
  • Added more cactus variations.
  • Added Cactus Bathtub, Bed, Bookcase, Candle, Candelabra, Chandelier, Lamp, and Lantern.

• Desktop 1.2:
  • Added Cactus armor, Pickaxe, Sword, Wall, Work Bench, Chair, and Door.
  • New Pink Prickly Pears will grow on the top of cacti.
  • Can now be placed and used as a building material.
  • Stack limit was increased from 250 to 999.

• Desktop 1.1: No longer damages players (used to cause 10 damage).

• Desktop 1.0.6: No longer causes knockback when damaging players and no longer destroys blocks above when growing.

• Desktop 1.0.5: Introduced with recipes for Swiftness and Thorns Potion.