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Species library › Cylindropuntia › Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa
Succulents Well documented

Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa

Buckhorn cholla, a branching, jointed cactus of the Sonoran and Mojave deserts that takes extreme heat and blazing sun. It wants maximum light, hot dry summers, a cool dry winter and a fast-draining gritty soil; the barbed spines make handling with tongs essential.

Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa
Photo: Andrew Cattoir (Lake Mead National Recreation Area), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
At home, aim for
Day IntermediateTargets in Plantistry
Night Close to the dayTargets in Plantistry
Humidity Dry airBand in Plantistry
Light Full sunDLI and PPFD in Plantistry
Expects a seasonal restGrows in the ground

Where it grows wild

Open desert flats, bajadas and rocky hillsides in creosote and palo verde scrub, fully exposed to the sun.

Recorded from about 130 to 1,500 m, median about 630 m.

ArizonaCaliforniaNevadaUtahMexico Northwest

🔒 Growing it like that

The wild conditions above, turned into targets for a shelf, a tent or a greenhouse. The full profile has:

✓ Day and night temperature targets, and the limits it tolerates
✓ Humidity band, and how to hold it
✓ Light as DLI and PPFD for a grow light
✓ Wet and dry seasons, and whether to rest it
✓ Substrate and airflow
✓ A step-by-step setup to grow it like the wild

Grow Cylindropuntia acanthocarpa? Add it to a free garden and its full profile opens. Pro opens all 38,374 profiles in the library, plants and fungi.

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Profiles are drafts built from measured range and climate and from published sources; each section carries its own confidence in the app. Photo from Wikimedia Commons, used under its Public domain licence, unmodified.