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 logs 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.

Some players prefer to farm larger trees, as they yield more logs per tree or per sapling while other players prefer to farm smaller trees, as all the wood can be easily harvested from the ground and "floating canopies" do not persist as long. For more information on the mechanics of tree growth, consult the article on trees.

Efficient tree farming
Trees now grow branches if the height is capped at 8.

Since trees begin to grow branches on their main trunks once they reach a height of 6 blocks or more and the player can only harvest 6 blocks above the ground without climbing on something, the most efficient tree farm designs limit the height of trees to 8 blocks. This allows 6 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.

While prior to the Halloween update (31 Oct 2010), leaves were able to break glass and torches when growing horizontally, that is no longer true in post-Halloween and Beta versions.

Note: As of Beta 1.2_01 trees once again break torches - reportedly pine trees, more specifically.

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/West rule may let magma affect any leaf/wood blocks occupying the same corner.

80% efficiency farming
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 maximum space efficiency of 80% 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.

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, allowing to get enough saplings for a desired tree farm size more quickly.

Farming Pine and Birch Trees
Unlike normal trees, Pine and Birch trees will never grow to a branched tree, this makes them easier to harvest, but to farm Birch and Pine 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 pines. However, when planting the different types of trees together, birch and pine trees need 4 blocks of space in-between the saplings (the tree will not grow if leaves of a different tree are obstructing it's path). Both birch and pine trees require 9 blocks of vertical space above the sapling to grow regularly (10 is more efficient for growth). Both Pine and Birch will grow with less space, but not as regularly. Light requirements are the same as normal saplings.

Force growing trees
You can force grow a tree by limiting its mimimum 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. If Bone Meal is used to facilitate growth, they will be consumed without result until the sapling finds an acceptable height. This method will not force a tree to grow above the maximum height. This can be seen in the below video and gallery.

Here is a youtube link how to: Force growing trees in Minecraft

Anleitungen/Baumfarm Tutoriels/Cultiver des arbres