Minecraft players, at least those playing in Survival Mode, will need experience orbs at some point in the game. Experience levels are crucial not only in enchanting but also for performing other tasks like repairs. It’s part of the reason fans create experience farms early in their playthroughs. The more experience levels that they can store in the beginning, the less they have to do so later.
There is certainly no shortage of different XP farm designs in Minecraft, and each farm works differently. Furthermore, some are more effective at generating experience. However, many of the best farms can be quite complex to build.
Fortunately, in the interest of saving time, Minecraft players can resort to a farm design that is both cheap in resources and effective at experience generation.
Building a cactus XP farm in Minecraft 1.20
Although it may not be the most efficient XP farm as of Minecraft 1.20, cactus XP farms are quick to construct and capable of generating experience points. They can be particularly effective for newer players who haven’t yet acquired the resources to build the more complex methods.
These Minecraft farms use fence blocks to automatically break growing cactus blocks above a water flow. When the cacti break, they fall into the water flow and are fed into a trench of connected hoppers, which ultimately feed into furnaces that smelt the cacti into green dye. Players can then collect the XP from the furnaces before the dye is placed in chests.
The upside of these farms is that they can begin incredibly small, and players can build upon them at a later date, improving their experience production. As long as Minecraft fans keep the smelters at the base of the build fueled with coal, lava, or other resources, they can rely on these farms to collect a solid amount of experience.
Here’s how to build a basic cactus XP farm in Minecraft 1.20:
- Begin by creating a frame of solid blocks. The frame can be just about any size as long as it’s an odd number, but it can be roughly 11×11, for starters.
- Inside the frame, dig a one-block-deep trench across one side.
- On the opposite side of the trench, place water source blocks with a water bucket flush against the frame. The water should be flowing and stop right before it reaches the trench.
- Back in the trench, place a system of connected hoppers that direct themselves to one of the frame’s corners.
- Dig out a sizable area and connect the hoppers in the trench to a hopper that feeds into a chest or double chest. Use more hoppers to connect the chest to a furnace or multiple furnaces underneath it. Lastly, use one final set of hoppers feeding the furnace or furnaces into a final chest or double chest. Place levers on the face of the furnace(s) and set them into the downward position.
- Back at the frame, build up a wall atop the base frame as high as you’d like. This will be helpful for placing your cacti.
- Put solid blocks directly above the water’s surface. Place a sand block atop them and then a cactus block on the sand. Repeat this until you fill the farm’s frame, but make sure that the cacti have at least one block of space between them in each direction.
- After a little while, the cacti should grow two at least two blocks tall. Head back into the farm and place fence blocks between the rows of growing cacti.
- Repeat Steps 7 and 8 to expand on the farm’s design. You can continue building rows of growing cactus blocks as high as you’d like as long as the spacing remains the same.
When constructed correctly, Minecraft players will find that growing cactus blocks will drop into the water and will ultimately end up stored in the fueled furnaces. Collecting experience orbs is then as easy as heading to the furnaces, interacting with them, and collecting the dye.
Alternatively, if Minecraft players would prefer to automate the farm and just generate dye, they can set the levers on the furnaces to the upright position to keep the dye from being held in the furnace for XP collection.
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