How a cactus handles shipping, and when to order

A cactus can spend several days in a cardboard box with no soil and no water and arrive in good condition. Cold and heat are what can harm it during shipping, and you should check the weather forecast before you order.

The short version

Cacti are commonly mailed bare-root, which means with no pot and no soil. A cactus stores water in its stem, so a few days in a box does it no lasting harm.
Freezing injures a cactus. Order when nights at your address are mild, and stay clear of hard freezes and heat waves.
A cutting roots when nights are about 60 F or warmer. One that arrives in cooler weather can wait, kept dry and shaded.
Use a delivery address where someone can bring the box indoors and open it the day it arrives.
A plant that has been in a dark box can sunburn. Start it in light shade, such as under a tree or shade cloth.

Why a bare-root cactus travels well

The stem of a columnar cactus such as San Pedro (a Trichocereus) holds a reserve of water. That reserve keeps the plant alive while it has no working roots, and it goes on supplying the plant while new roots grow. This is why a cactus can be dug up, kept dry and in the shade, and replanted days or weeks later.

Soil is the part that travels poorly. Wet soil promotes rot, and soil in a closed box stays damp.

A cactus arrives by mail in 1 of 2 forms. A rooted plant has roots but no pot or soil around them. A cutting is a piece of stem with no roots yet, and it grows them after you plant it. How to root a cactus cutting takes you through that step.

What cold does in transit

Freezing injures cactus tissue, and a cardboard box gives little protection from it. The risk does not end at delivery, because a parcel can sit on a porch for hours on a freezing day. In cold weather, use a delivery address where someone is in during the day, so the box comes inside when it arrives.

What heat does in transit

In hot weather the care is the same in reverse. Track the parcel and bring it indoors as soon as it is delivered. Do not let the box sit in direct sun, in a mailbox or in a parked vehicle. Open it and place the plant somewhere cool and shaded.

When to order

Look at the forecast for your address for the next week. You are checking 2 things: how cold the nights get, and whether a freeze or a heat wave is on the way.

Mild nights, no freeze and no heat wave. This is the easy time to order. The plant travels in comfortable conditions and the box can wait a few hours at your door without harm.
Nights at about 60 F or warmer. This is the time to order a cutting you want to root right away. A cutting roots when nights stay at about 60 F or warmer, and rooting takes 4 to 8 weeks. A rooted plant settles in fastest when it is planted in spring or early summer.
Cool nights without frost. The trip is still easy on the plant. A cutting will wait before it roots, and a rooted plant will be slow to grow.
Hard freezes or a heat wave. Wait for the weather to pass, then order.

A cutting that arrives when nights are too cool for rooting is not wasted. Take it out of the box and keep it dry and out of direct sun. It can wait there for weeks until nights warm up.

Pick a week when you will be home on the delivery day. Growing cactus for your conditions helps you work out what your climate allows through the rest of the year.

For how we handle weather, rates and timing, see our shipping policy.

When the box arrives

Open the box the day it arrives. A plant left sealed in the dark gains nothing from the wait.

What normal looks like. The plant has used some of its water on the way. Your cactus may arrive a little slimmer, with slight wrinkling between the ribs (the raised ridges that run up the stem), and fill out again once it has roots and water. Press the stem gently with your thumb. If it does not give, the plant is sound. If any part is soft and wet, photograph it and email support@thoughtfulpricks.com.

Start it in light shade. A cactus kept out of the sun can burn when it goes straight back into direct sun, whether it has roots or not. Put it in light shade, such as the dappled shade of a tree or under shade cloth, and increase the sun gradually.

What to do after your cactus arrives has the full steps for the first weeks.