Teddy Bear Cactus

Cheekily named for its not-so-cuddly spines, the teddy bear cactus is a popular and beloved houseplant. It hails from southwestern North America and, like many other desert cacti, is generally easy to keep alive.

In this article, we’ll learn about the morphology of the teddy bear cactus, where it comes from, and the ecological roles it fills in its native environment. We’ll also talk about what it takes to care for a teddy bear cactus and how to propagate one.

About the Teddy Bear Cactus

Before we talk about how to care for a teddy bear cactus at home, let’s find out where the species comes from and how it tends to grow in nature. We’ll look at the roles it fills in its native habitat, its physical characteristics, and some notes about its cultivation. Understanding the conditions that the plant grows in naturally will help you develop a better understanding of how to take care of your own.

Native Habitat

The teddy bear cactus (Cylindropuntia bigelovii) is native to southwestern North America. It occupies a wide range in the deserts of southern California, Arizona, southern Nevada, and northwestern Mexico. It is what you would expect from a desert cactus, tolerating long periods of harsh sun and thriving in hot, dry, and gritty soils. These cacti grow in a variety of locations among desert scrub, from rocky slopes and hillsides to sandy flats at elevations from 100 to roughly 3,000 feet. They also grow on coastal sand dunes among saltbush scrub.

Wherever it grows, the teddy bear cactus provides small animals like rodents, insects, and reptiles with valuable cover from predators. One species in particular, the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida), uses the easily detached limbs of the cactus to protect its nest. By piling the spiny bits around the burrow entrance, the rat creates a defensive palisade that is quite effective at deterring predators. The cactus wren (Campylorhynchus brunneicapillus) uses the plant for protection as well but builds its nest in the arms of the cactus rather than on the ground.

By transporting what are essentially cuttings around the desert, these animals inadvertently help propagate the cactus. As the wrens nest in the branches, they may break off some of that plant’s segments. Sometimes, in passing, part of a cactus will hitch a ride on the fur of a passing rabbit or coyote, or on a person’s clothes. When it eventually falls off, it may form a new cactus stand that is the clonal offspring of its distant parent plant.

Growth Habit

Teddy bear cacti are branching shrubs by nature and can grow surprisingly tall. Their clearly defined trunks can reach heights of about 2 feet, raising their dense crowns up to 8 feet in the air. Usually, each cactus has only a few main branches, each of which splits off into many smaller segments that detach quite easily if disturbed.

The entire cactus is densely covered with sharp, rigid, barb-tipped spines that can grow more than an inch long. These serve several functions. While these sharp protrusions protect the plant from predation by herbivores, their barbs also aid in propagation. By catching on passing animals, a cactus segment can be transported great distances to begin a new clonal colony. In addition to protecting the cactus from predators, the spines also protect it from heat and harsh ultraviolet radiation. They are comprised entirely of dead cells and can provide the cactus with shade without suffering from sun damage themselves. In its native habitat, shade sources are scarce and daytime temperatures can quite easily exceed 105 degrees Fahrenheit! Without its spines, the cactus could quickly overheat beneath the desert sun.

Flowers and Seeds

Beginning in the spring, usually around March, mature cacti will produce many small, pale-green flowers at the tips of their segments. As they age, flowers develop a yellow hue with white or lavender markings. Each one is cylindrical in shape with colorful reproductive parts that serve to attract nearby pollinators. In the summer months, stands of teddy bear cacti and their desert scrub companions are popular congregation sites for desert bees, moths, and butterflies.

As the flowers fade, they give way to small, yellow, oblong fruits. Before they are ripe, they contain bitter oxalic acid. As they ripen, however, and fall to the ground, they provide food for many animals like rabbits, peccaries, and tortoises. Many plants rely on animals like these to spread their seeds to new locations, but the teddy bear cactus is a notable exception. The seeds within its fruit are often sterile — a testament to the efficiency of the plant’s ability to reproduce vegetatively.

In Cultivation

Teddy bear cacti are quite popular among gardeners in warm climate zones. They can survive winter temperatures down to USDA zones 9 and 8b and have no upper zone limit in North America. The species is salvage-restricted in the wild owing to the potential for people to damage or harm the plants. Because of their protected status, cacti for sale are usually the offspring of plants on private property. While you can usually find them for sale in nurseries, you can also purchase teddy bear cacti online and have them shipped to your door. These plants are quite important for wildlife, so take care if you decide to propagate your own from a wild specimen.

If you’re growing this cactus at home, consider giving it the company of its usual desert companions. Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) and creosote bush (Larrea tridentata) are great to plant in a Sonoran polyculture. In addition to tolerating the same harsh, dry conditions they also have overlapping bloom periods. Replicating the plant groupings found in nature not only gives your desert garden an annual pop of springtime color but also turns it into an authentic and varied resource for desert wildlife. If you’d like to see a protected colony of teddy bear cacti in person, there is a large one in the Cholla Cactus Garden at the Joshua Tree National Park in southern California. There, the cacti have formed a massive polycultural stand among desert shrubs, wildflowers, and other cactus species.

How to Care for a Teddy Bear Cactus

As you might expect from a desert species, caring for a teddy bear cactus is quite simple. Because it has adapted to survive harsh desert conditions, it requires very little input from the gardener to survive. Still, there are some important things to keep in mind about its care.

Below, we’ll talk about some of the considerations you’ll want to make when planting and caring for your cactus, including placement, watering, and substrate type.

Sunlight and Placement

These cacti require at least 6–8 hours of full sun per day to produce the soft appearance the species is famous for. While they can grow indoors with good positioning in a south-facing window, they may produce fewer spines. Ultimately, their high light demands and large, spreading crown mean that they grow best outdoors.

Because the spines serve to protect the body of the cactus from the sun, more exposure will increase the density of the spines. With this in mind, consider the placement of your cactus carefully. It probably goes without saying, but an incredibly spiny, tree-sized cactus might not be the best choice to plant near a porch platform, set of stairs, or other stumbling block. Remember as well that the segments of the cactus detach easily from the parent plant and can end up in paths and walkways. Keep an eye on pets, as they may be enticed to play with fallen segments. Exercise caution when handling and disposing of broken cactus parts.

Water and Substrate

Watering your teddy bear cactus is a no-brainer. Once it has established itself in its new home, you can leave it alone for many weeks at a time.

If you are growing it outdoors in its native range, you shouldn’t have to water it at all. Except during unusually long periods of drought, the normal rainfall will be plenty. Indoors, however, you will have to water your cactus periodically. Average rainfall in the plant’s native habitat ranges between 3 and 15 inches per year. Ensure that the substrate dries out entirely between watering, as excess moisture can encourage root rot.

Planting your teddy bear cactus in a very sandy and rocky substrate is ideal, as the large pore size ensures good oxygenation and rapid drainage. It also allows the plant’s fibrous roots to spread out easily. This species is great for planting in desert polycultures, xeriscapes, and rock gardens.

How to Propagate a Teddy Bear Cactus

Just like in nature, teddy bear cacti are easy to propagate by division. To multiply your cactus, simply break off a small segment and place it at the foot of the parent plant. If the segment doesn’t want to separate on its own, you can use a sharp pair of scissors or shears to cut it away.

Check on it periodically over the next day or two, watching for the formation of a callus at the site of the break. Once it has formed a callus, simply plant the segment with its callused end down into a small pot of moist, well-drained cactus mix. Within several weeks, it will form its first roots and become a self-sustaining plant. Congratulations, you’ve begun your own clonal colony!