Tutorials/Tree farming

Tree farming is the process of planting a large number of saplings and waiting for them to grow into trees. These trees are then harvested for wood and more saplings, which can be used to grow another generation of trees. This can be repeated indefinitely, yielding a regular supply of logs without the hassle of covering large areas of terrain. A secondary benefit of tree farming is that it allows conservation of the surrounding environment. Use of bonemeal can speed the process, or you can just plant your saplings and go do something else while they grow.

For fuller information on the mechanics of tree growth and structure, see the article on trees.

Which type of tree is best?
Because all four types have different advantages and disadvantages, the best tree to choose can vary with the situation. Oak trees are best at the beginning of the game or compact spaces; birch is best in moderately sized fields or a community farm, and jungle trees are best for mass-production of wood late in the game, when you have plenty of time and space on your hands. Larger trees offer more wood per tree, while smaller trees are quicker to harvest (and the leaves decay sooner).

Wood from different trees is now a different color. If building wooden structures, you may choose a specific type of wood for its color. Because the efficiency difference among tree types is only slight, looks do often take priority. If building or decorating with multiple wood types, having a tree farm for each is also useful.

Simple farming
What you need:

1. At least 4 saplings(any kind) 2. A chest(optional) 3. An axe(Any)(optional)

First dig 1 block down. Count 4 blocks to the left and dig 1 block down. 4 blocks left again, dig one down. Repeat one more time. Then plant a sapling in every hole:

Wait a day (or use bonemeal), then harvest the trees (get the saplings too, for next time). Place the chest nearby and store the saplings(and axe, if you have one) in there. You can extend the grid if you like, as long as all the saplings are the same type.

Jungle Tree Farming
Jungle trees can be planted and grown just like any other tree. But unless you just want a little jungle wood quickly, this is not very useful: Not only are they slightly too large to harvest easily, but they drop saplings rarely, and may not even replace the one used to grow them.

However, four saplings can be grown into the "jungle giant" form, by planting them in a 2&times;2 formation: Warning: Aside from the saplings, make sure there are no blocks less than 2 blocks away from the saplings, at any height up to the future height of the tree trunk (up to 32 blocks). A big jungle tree with a 2&times;2 thick trunk will grow. These trees average ~96 wood (1&frac12; stacks), and some can exceed 2 stacks. Bonemeal can be used on any (one) of the saplings to make the tree grow more quickly.


 * Especially if breaking the leaves on the spot, this can be most of a Minecraft day's work. Plan ahead—you may want to wait out the night 10 or 15 blocks up atop the trunk. Every so often, go back down to the ground to collect fallen wood and saplings—if you try to leave them until you've finished, some of the first logs and saplings will reach their 5-minute expiration.  The fastest way to harvest a jungle giant is with shears (bring a spare, you may use them up) and a diamond axe.
 * If you're using stone axes, bring a spare, as you will probably use up the first one.
 * As usual, top down is easiest. You can use those shears to harvest vines from two or three sides of the trunk to complete a track to the top, bashing or shearing the upper leaves.  (Or you can just bring a half-stack of ladders.)
 * When you reach the top, stand on the trunk and clear all foliage above your foot level, then use the remaining leaves as a floor to get at branches and the edges of foliage. Go down level by level like this.
 * If you do need ladders, but haven't got them, you can take a block or few of wood in a column (that is, a groove up the trunk), use those to make some ladders, and run the ladders up the groove, making more ladders as needed and as you mine the tree. (You might need to make a Crafting Table with the first block.)

Oak tree farming
Since the player can only harvest 7 blocks above the ground without climbing on something, the most efficient tree farm design limits the height of trees to 9 blocks. This allows 7 blocks of logs as a "trunk" and 2 block of leaves above that. This is accomplished by adding a ceiling at 9th block above the ground, leaving a space 8 blocks high in which trees can grow. This allows all of the wood from the trees to be harvested quickly and with minimal effort.

It should be noted that leaving 8 blocks of space for trees to grow will not guarantee that all trees grow to this height. Trees will grow with trunks 4, 5 and 6 blocks in height, but not higher. Some may also grow branches despite the height limitation.

This height issue can also be avoided by planting a sapling on the bottom of a 2-block-deep hole. This ensures that the top layer of the tree will still be reachable, and has the added benefit of preventing mobs from hiding in the shadow of the tree and surviving daylight. It also prevents growth of the smallest size, whose leaves would be blocked by the hole.

Note that oaks can grow through certain blocks: Small oaks can replace many blocks (fences, glass (but not glass panes), paintings, stairs, pistons, torches, buttons, ladders and doors), while the branch wood of large oaks can grow through even solid blocks (including chests).

Since trees will grow quite happily underground with a nearby light source, and will grow when in direct or diagonal contact with other trees, quite compact arrangements can be used for efficient use of space. The images to the right show that trees will grow quite happily in confined spaces and in close packed arrangements.

Underground saplings rely on torch light to grow. Various patterns of saplings and torches can be used to achieve varying degrees of space efficiency. Since saplings only require light level 9 to grow, a single torch starting at light level 14 can sufficiently light 60 saplings. However, this torch-efficient model comes at the cost of stability. Trees can grow and block the torch light to other saplings. Underground tree farms should stay clear of magma because a bug relating to the South/East rule may let magma affect any leaf/wood blocks occupying the same corner.

Space-efficient farming
It is also possible to grow trees, especially oaks, closer together, to maximize wood for the territory. However, since the canopies will overlap, you will get fewer saplings back.

The most space-efficient way to prevent grown trees from blocking light to other saplings is to have every sapling directly next to a torch (not diagonal). This strategy yields a basic space efficiency of 70% since the pattern is made up of units of 1 torch + 4 saplings. The plus-sign shaped units can be arranged to completely fill an area.

For example, the following diagram shows an 11 by 7 farm, utilizing 61 saplings and 22 torches, with a perimeter walkway.

While an odd-shaped 80% efficient farm is possible, this design sacrifices some efficiency (79.2% efficient in an 11x7 farm, not counting the walkway) for ease of maintenance by including a rectangle perimeter walkway around the farm. The torches placed on the walkway are required for lighting the immediately adjacent saplings.

It is recommended that the perimeter walkway and all blocks with a torch underneath be a different material, such as cobblestone. This will allow for quick visual identification during re-planting, of which blocks get saplings and which get torches that may have been inadvertently knocked out during harvest. It is recommended to do the same for torches on the wall, as these may get knocked off by growing trees.

An improvement on this design is the following. A 16 by 7 farm, utilizing 94 Saplings and 24 torches, with a perimeter walkway.

This design takes account for the fact that all saplings adjacent to the walkway are supplied by light from the torches on the walkway. Thus the farm yields an efficiency of 84%.

Note when the tree farm is cut down, the amount of returned saplings per tree is much lower than cutting trees in a forest, as the canopy is shared by many trees. Therefore, when starting the farm, growing them more spaced out will yield more saplings per tree, letting you stock up for a desired tree farm size more quickly.

The same principle can be applied to sugar cane farms by replacing the torches with water and the trees with sugar cane. This can create a dual purpose farm by placing water with glowstone on top, this allows either trees or sugarcane (or both) to grow.

Farming Spruce and Birch Trees


Unlike oak trees, spruce and birch trees will never grow to a branched tree. This makes them easier to harvest, but to farm Birch and Spruce trees efficiently, more space is required. Birches can be planted next to other birches with 2 blocks of space between them since the birch leaves can overlap with other birch leaves. This same spacing holds true for spruces. However, when planting the different types of trees together, birch and spruce trees need 4 blocks of space in between the saplings (the tree will not grow if leaves of a different tree are obstructing its path). Both birch and spruce trees require 9 blocks of vertical space above the sapling to grow regularly (10 is more efficient for growth). Both Spruce and Birch will grow with less space, but not as regularly. Like other other saplings, they must receive light level 8 or better to grow.

Force growing trees
You can force grow a tree by limiting its minimum growth height, forcing it to grow as a certain size. This is done by placing blocks around the lower area, typically a loop of blocks floating around the sapling at a height of three or four blocks, with an opening in the center for the future trunk to grow through. This will prevent the tree from growing if it would collide with the blocks above, causing it to instead choose another height and attempt to grow again until it finds one which will allow it to grow through the hole. As a result, natural growth of such "tube trees" usually takes longer than others. This method will not force a tree to grow above the maximum height. This can be seen in the gallery. Bone Meal can be used to force growth, if you have enough of it: On each attempt, if the tree would have grown too short (leaves blocked by the ring), the bone meal will be used up without effect.

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