Minecraft Cactus Guide: Cactus Flower, Biomes, & More

Cacti have received new features giving them more uses than ever before, so much so that there is an entire guide’s worth of information to explore! So, today, we showcase the wonders of cacti and cactus flowers in our Minecraft cactus guide.

Minecraft Cactus Guide: Cactus

Cacti generate as part of both desert and badlands biomes at one, two, or three blocks in height. As of Minecraft 1.21.5, cacti of any height can also generate with a cactus flower on top. While cacti are not used in any crafting recipes, they can be smelted into green dye or serve as trash cans since they destroy items upon being touched. Cacti can grow no higher than three blocks, with the sole intended exception being when a cactus flower grows as a fourth block on top. Players searching for cacti will have the best luck in desert biomes as they generate significantly more cacti than badlands. However, it is important to note cacti can only be placed on sand and can have no other block touching its sides.

Minecraft Cactus Guide: Cactus Flowers

Minecraft’s newly added pink cactus flower has three chances to appear on a cactus as it grows. The first 10% chance occurs when the cactus attempts to grow to two blocks in height, a second 10% chance occurs when the cactus attempts to grow to two blocks in height, and a 25% chance occurs at three blocks in height when the cactus attempts to grow the flower one final time. Should that final chance fail, the cactus remains three blocks tall, and no further chances for cactus flowers will occur at all. Once gathered, cactus flowers can be placed anywhere or crafted into pink dye.

Manually Farming Cacti

The design of manual cacti farms has remained pretty consistent despite the introduction of cactus flowers. The farm in the image above, for example, uses a chessboard-like pattern to grow as many cacti as possible in a small area to increase the odds of getting cacti flowers. Once fully grown, destroying the cacti without cactus flowers first helps ensure cactus flowers are not accidentally destroyed when harvested while also gathering plenty of cacti blocks along the way. Alternatively, a manual farm can be more spread out if space and a slight loss of efficiency are not issues. The broader style better ensures no cacti or cactus flowers are accidentally destroyed by falling into other cacti.

Auto Farming Cacti & Cactus Flowers

Required Items:

• 64 Cobblestone (Or Preferred Stone Block)
• 76 Cobblestone Slabs (Or Preferred Stone Slab)
• 32 Sand
• 32 Cacti
• 24 Wooden Fence
• 4 Glowstone
• 216 Glass
• 2 Chests
• 2 Hoppers
• 1 Bucket of Water

For the more building inclined, cacti have an abundance of automated farm styles to choose from, but many no longer function as of Minecraft 1.21.5. Thankfully, the video above showcases an example that should still work for both cacti and cactus flowers as of the latest snapshot.

Cactus XP Farming

Cacti have a passive use that is often overlooked in the form of XP farming, assuming one has an abundance of coal. When smelted in a furnace, cacti provide the highest XP of any crop, and it requires nothing more than going about your day as it cooks. While this method will never beat out an actual XP farm, the passive style of simply placing cacti in furnaces and forgetting can be quite appealing, especially as the XP builds up over time.