Does the moon cactus need sunlight? Sun exposure and its consequences

  This succulent commonly known as the moon cactus is a beautiful man-made, mutant plantlet created through a merge between Gymnocalycium mihanovichii and the Hylocereus plant. This combination of species resulted in a succulent that is scientifically known as Gymnocalycium mihanovichii, reputable as the moon cactus.

  The moon cactus is a gorgeous decorative plant, and easily recognisable due to its unique look. The top half of the succulent is what is truly unique about the moon cactus, its vibrant colors will easily catch your attention. The colors that a moon cactus has come with are orange, red, hot pink and bright yellow.

 As many other sources would state as well, it is also an easy-to-take care of plantlet, a plant for beginners, that does not require advanced experience with plants. Succulents are most of the time plants that do not demand any kind of special care, however, it does require standard, simple conditions, such as watering and lighting to survive. 

  This article will focus on one of the two necessities, that being lighting. If you are interested to read about watering your moon cactus, we have another article for that. Without delaying this any longer, does the moon cactus need sunlight?

So, does the moon cactus need sunlight?

  To cut down to the chase, I will answer the question early in the article. Yes! The moon cactus does need sunlight. This plant needs and develops best in indirect sunlight to survive. Therefore, do not expose your moon cactus to direct sunlight. In case of direct sunlight exposure, just move it to a place that has indirect sunlight, any damage done by its previous placement is irreversible.

  Every plant needs sunlight, however, some plantlets demand direct sunlight to be able to properly thrive, while others are getting their essentials from indirect sunlight.

  Direct sunlight can be highly harmful to certain plants, to categorize them, it is detrimental to plantlets that like, and only like indirect sunlight. To be even more specific, in the case of the moon cactus, for example, direct sunlight can cause sunburns on its surface, which are not reversible and can even terminate your plant if your succulent is exposed to it for a long period of time.

  Therefore, if you are thinking of getting a moon cactus, know that even if it is not a pretentious plantlet, this succulent still has some specific demands that have to be met, otherwise it might not survive.