Snowball, Powder-Puff, or Puff Cactus
Mammillaria bocasana (CACTACEAE)
Planting and Growing Snowball Cactus
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow snowball, powder-puff, or puff cactus in the accompanying table’s tabs:
-
- Flowers and fruit of snowball, powder-puff, or puff cactus
- Growing conditions for snowball cactus
- When and where to plant snowball cactus
- How to plant snowball cactus
- How to shape, prune and control growth of snowball cactus
- Watering, fertilizing, and care of snowball cactus
- Landscape uses of snowball cactus
- Pest and disease control for snowball cactus
Growing Snowball Cactus
Many cultivars of slow-growing, mounding, round to columnar, ribbed cacti, to 3 in. (75 mm) tall, armed with cream, white, yellow, needlelike spines in flat, radiating clusters, to 3/8-in. (10-mm) long, surrounding erect, fishhook-shaped, central spines, to 3/4-in. (19-mm) long, and clothed in woolly, white, hairlike bristles, to 1 in. (25 mm) long.
More than 100 related species of Mammilaria cacti with similar care needs are commonly cultivated.
Snowball Cactus Planting and Care Guide
Flowers and Fruit
Showy, pink, purple, red, white, open-faced or fibrous flowers, to 3/4-in. (19-mm) wide, in a ringlike cluster circling the top of the plant, in winter, form woolly, round, red fruit, to 1/4-in. (6-mm) wide, in autumn.
Best Climates
U.S.D.A. Plant Hardiness Zones 7–10. Semi-hardy. Best in arid, mild-winter climates.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp to dry, well-drained, sandy soil. Fertility: Average. 7.0–8.0 pH. Salt tolerant.
Where and How to Plant
Full sun to partial shade. Space 4–6 in. (10–15 cm) apart.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp spring–autumn; allow soil to dry completely between waterings. Withhold water in winter. Drought tolerant. Fertilize annually in summer. Propagate by offsets, seed.
About This Species
Good choice for accents, containers, edgings in arid, natural gardens. Good as houseplant. Pest and disease resistant.
Warning:
Spines can be hazardous; avoid planting in gardens frequented by pets and children.