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Species library › Cylindropuntia › Cylindropuntia echinocarpa
Succulents Well documented

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa

The silver or golden cholla, a densely spined shrubby cholla of the Mojave and Sonoran deserts. It is easy if given full sun, hot dry summers, very sharp drainage and a cool dry winter, but its barbed spines demand careful handling.

Cylindropuntia echinocarpa
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, 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

Desert flats, washes and rocky bajadas in creosote-bush and Joshua tree scrub.

Recorded from near sea level to about 2,000 m, mostly around 500-1,300 m.

ArizonaCaliforniaMexico NorthwestNevadaUtah

🔒 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 echinocarpa? 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 CC BY-SA 3.0 licence, unmodified.