Desert Cactus

We can name the following desert cactus species: ariocarpus, carnegiea, cephalocereus, cephaloceus, echinocactus, ferocactus, opuntia, and some others.

When we hear the word ‘desert' we usually imagine the Sahara with its scorching sand-dunes devoid of any vegetation. But the soil of stony deserts in Central and South America is very rich in all the necessary salts for cacti.

But if rains are extremely rare here, where does the water comes from? The answer is there are plentiful dews, falling at night.

Roots of many cacti living in these places are radish-shaped and are capable of saving water within. To reduce moisture evaporation, cacti aspire to curtail the area of the stalk surface. That's why they have either spherical or a short cylindrical form.

Desert cactus types are not afraid of the burning sun.

For their correct development desert types of cactus require much sun, and careful watering. They can easily die because of water stagnation in the ground even during summer heat.

Savanna Cactus

The word savanna usually means vast territories of grass plains. Its distinctive features are a long dry period without rain in the winter and spring, and plentiful rain and thunderstorms in the summertime. Fluctuations in temperature reach 20°C and more.

Such climate is considered to be the most favorable for cactus types growing on these plains. The most popular of them are coryphanta and mammillaria. These types of cactus excellently bear the dry and cool winter and need a lot of warmth, sun and watering in the summer, but they are afraid of water stagnation near their roots.

Mountain Cactus

Have you ever been to or have you ever seen the pictures of the Andes or the Cordilleras? These are the places of such cactus types as astrophytum, cleistocactus, echinopsis, lobivia, notocactus, oreocereus, rebutia and others. Forbidding rocks rise above stony gorges. It seems incredible how they survive: during the daytime they are scorched by the bright and merciless sun and at night they freeze in the cold mountain air. These types of cactus would die, if they had no means of protection as attire of fuzz, prickles and setae. The dense woolly cover protects the green stalk from sunburns and supercooling.

If you keep these cactus types dry and cold (3-5°С) in winter and give them enough sunlight in summer, they will grow excellently and blossom even at a young age.

Seashore Cactus

Here belongs species such as melocactus, copiapoa and some others.

Growing just by the sea, very close to the surfs, such types of cactus as melocacti are sometimes washed and taken away by the water.

The roots of seashore cacti extend far under the surface of sand ground to gather more fresh rainwater. All year long these cacti need warmth (about 20°C) and humid air; therefore it's extremely difficult to grow them as houseplants. They prefer mainly sand soil with an admixture of loam and humus, and they can't bear alkali soil.

Rainforest Cactus

Have you ever heard about such cactus types as epiphyllum, rhipsalis or schlumbergera? Sure, you have. These epiphytic cacti of rainforests grow in moist and sultry woods on forks of branches, in hollows and on stubs. They settle on leaf humus, so their roots are short, but very branchy and clutch at any crack or a ledge on a tree bark. These cactus plants grow all year long, because there are no seasons of droughts and colds in the rainforests.

Thick leaves always cover these types of cactus from the sun, causing shading, that's why they don't need to have such means of protection against overheat of the stalk like a thick skin, a wax bloom or fuzz.

Epiphytic cactus types grow in damp atmosphere and they have no need at all to save water. They absorb it from the moist air around thanks to a bulk of stomae on their wide stalks. They are bare and unprotected and need warmth and moisture the whole year round.