Sapling

A sapling is an item obtained from leaves that can be grown into trees. There are 6 types of saplings: oak, birch, spruce, jungle, acacia, and dark oak - one for each type of tree. Saplings have a 1/20 chance of dropping when leaves are destroyed, except jungle saplings, which have a 1/40 chance of dropping. Oak saplings also have a 25% chance of spawning in Blacksmith chests in villages.

Growth
Saplings can grow into trees on any dirt, podzol or grass block, and in any altitude, granted that the saplings are exposed to a light level of at least 9, and have a certain amount of space above the sapling, depending on the sapling type:


 * Oak Saplings need at least 5 spaces above
 * Giant Dark Oak Saplings need at least 7 spaces above and must be placed in a 2x2 square
 * Birch Saplings need at least 6 spaces above
 * Spruce Saplings need at least 7 spaces above when placing a single sapling
 * Giant Spruce Saplings need at least 16 spaces above when placed in a 2x2 square
 * Jungle Saplings need at least 7 spaces above when placing a single sapling
 * Giant Jungle Saplings need at least 13 spaces above when placed in a 2x2 square
 * Acacia Saplings need at least 7 spaces above

However, they will grow slower if they have fewer than 10 blocks above the dirt. To instantly grow a tree, bone meal can be used on the sapling. It takes 2-4 uses of bone meal to grow a tree. If there is not enough space, the sapling will not grow.

Certain trees can only be grown with more than one sapling. Dark Oak Saplings will not grow unless four saplings are placed in a 2x2 square. Spruce Saplings and Jungle Saplings, if placed in a 2x2 square, will grow into a large variant of the respective tree.



Availability
Most trees will drop more than one sapling (four for giant jungle trees and dark oaks). The only exception is the small jungle tree, which will probably drop only one or even zero saplings. This means that to make a jungle tree farm, it is necessary to farm giant jungle trees.

Trivia

 * If the player stands on the same block as a placed sapling, the tree will still grow over the player, which will cause suffocation. In creative the player is moved.
 * Saplings will not grow on farmland.
 * Saplings can grow without the required amount of light if bone meal is used.
 * Repeatedly planting dark oak saplings in the same spot on the bedrock layer would eventually create a hole into the void. The thick trunk of dark oak trees grows over, or "breaks" the bedrock. This also works with jungle saplings placed in a 2x2 square as they act the same.
 * Two saplings are required to burn one item, so 128 Saplings are needed to burn a stack (64) of items.
 * A bug exists in Minecraft 14w21b where if you /give yourself a sapling with the data value 6 or above, it will crash your game, the only way to avoid crashing is to not open your inventory and then die, if it is in your hotbar slot, your screwed, place lava or fire at your feet if possible and repeatedly log back in until you die and the item is destroyed.