Minecraft Cactus - Sticking It To Creepers (and other monsters)

Minecraft is filled with arctic, temperate and desert bio-zones. They are often intermingled, and I've even seen snow on top of sand.

Anyway, each block also carries certain characteristics, sand in particular being the only block that a cactus will grow on. As a result, when looking for cacti, look for sand.

Cacti grow at random throughout sandy blocks, and when you find one, congratulations! You've found an endless supply of more cactus.

From one simple cactus block, you can build a cactus empire!

When you find fullsize cactus (3 blocks tall), destroy the bottom block and you will be able to pick up 3 cactus blocks. If you plant all three on a separate sand block, they will eventually grow to become 3 fullsize cacti, and you can destroy them to make 9 cactus blocks (and so on).

As mentioned before, you can only place a cactus block on a sand block, so be sure to bring some sand blocks with you in order to place your cacti.

A cactus block cannot grow if there is another block next to it (including another cactus block) or above it. To grow to full size, a cactus block needs to be untouched in every direction, but you can grow cactus diagonally next to another cactus. In this way, you can build diagonal walls of cacti that will keep out anything that tries to get past them.

To build a cactus wall, figure out where you want to build your wall, and account for the fact that each cactus block will be diagonally placed from the cactus block next to it. You can stagger two rows of cacti with a block in row 1, then row 2, then row 1 and so on. If you want to be able to walk behind this wall, make sure you leave yourself enough room, since you can't build a straight wall like you would with stone or other blocks.

Keep in mind that you cannot touch cacti once it is placed, or you will take damage (although you can destroy them with your bare hands). You can't walk along the tops of cacti either, for the same reason.

If you want a walkway along the top of your cactus wall, you'll need to build a platform or parapet out of some other material. Stone works great. This allows you build on top of the cacti so you can walk along the top of your cactus wall, and you won't need to build it out to deter spiders, because they won't be able to climb the cactus.

Note: You can't attach the stone to the top of the cactus, so you'll have to build a column to anchor a stone block above the cactus, and then build off of that.

In other words, let your cacti grow 3 high, then build a column (out of dirt, say), anchor a stone block to that above a cactus (4th level) and add stone blocks to that anchor block. Then remove the dirt column. The stone will appear to be attached to he top of the cactus.

If cacti can't grow naturally, they will grow as high as they can and then break off new blocks that float around when they try to grow higher.

If you have a cactus that is 1 or 2 blocks tall, hover a stone block, for example, in the 2nd or 3rd space above the cactus. Every day, when the cactus tries to grow, it will break off a new block that you can collect and use to plant more cacti.

Frankly, I think it's faster to break down mature cacti and replant them, then break them down and so on, but if you have multiple cactus block generators, you can farm them for additional cactus blocks for defense, dyes and decoration, and all you have to do is pick up the loose blocks. Easy!

Since you're making a stone walkway on the top, make sure you put in two stone pillars where you want your door to go. Since cacti can't be next to anything else, they can't hold a door. Stagger your stone (or whatever material) pillars just like you would the cacti, and attach a door normally.

(You could probably anchor your walkway to these pillars, too.)