Sugar Cane

Sugar cane is a block found as 1–4-block-tall plants near water in the Overworld. As an item, it is an important crafting ingredient.

Obtaining
Sugar cane can be mined instantly with anything.

When the spot a sugar cane block is placed in becomes unsuitable, such as when the supporting block is removed, the sugar cane block uproots and drops as an item. Sugar cane does not immediately uproot when all adjacent water is removed, but does so when it next receives a block update or random tick. In Bedrock Edition, sugar cane uproots immediately after all adjacent water is removed.

A sugar cane block drops itself as an item if a piston tries to push it (trying to pull it does nothing) or moves a block into its space.

Natural generation
Sugar cane can generate naturally near water, as two ($11/18$ chance), three ($5/18$ chance), or four ($2/18$ chance) blocks tall. Rare taller sugar canes can be found if generation chooses to generate another on top of one already generated.

Sugar canes are five times more likely to generate in desert biome variants than in other biomes.

Trading
Wandering traders can sell sugar cane for an emerald.

Usage
Due to its water-displacing properties, sugar cane can interestingly be used to create underwater paths, allowing players to move at normal speed and breathe if it is two blocks in height.

Sugar cane takes on a different shade of green depending on the biome in which it is placed.

Farming


Sugar cane can generate naturally up to four blocks tall, but short plants grow only to a height of three blocks, adding a block of height when the top sugar cane block has received 16 random ticks (i.e. on average every 18 minutes, but the actual rate can vary widely). $$, bone meal can be used to grow sugar canes to the maximum height. The tick count is reset if a block occupies the space above a sugar cane.

Sugar cane must be planted on a grass block, dirt, coarse dirt, podzol, sand, or red sand that is directly adjacent to water or frosted ice (not merely above or diagonal to water), or on top of another sugar cane block. The adjacent water block can be covered with another block, whether opaque or transparent, and sugar cane can still be placed and grow next to it. Sugar cane grows regardless of light level, even in complete darkness.

Automated farming can be achieved through the use of a piston to break the second sugar cane block in a stack. a hopper place opposite the piston will catch the falling sugar cane pieces. Be careful to not run the piston too frequently, as it will reset the tick count of the bottom most sugar cane each time it runs. If you want to fully automate harvesting, you should use a timer to only run the piston every 18 minutes (the average growth time for sugar cane).

Composting
Placing sugar cane into a composter has a 50% chance of raising the compost level by 1.

Java Edition
These values are generated by the biome dyeing algorithm. See Biome colors for more information.

ID
Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Block data
In Bedrock Edition, sugar cane uses the following data values:

Trivia

 * When a sugar cane is broken at the second level, the time resets (for example, if a two-block high sugar cane is broken, but is just about to grow to the third stage, it would reset that time).
 * By placing more sugar canes on top of a sugar cane plant, it is possible to create very tall sugar canes (up to y=255, the maximum height for building), although they do not naturally grow this high.
 * Sugar canes usually try to spawn more often in Legacy Console Edition to ensure that the limited world have some sugar canes to find.
 * Before sugar cane received an official name, they were sometimes referred to as bamboo, a block added 9 years later. Other names were "reeds" and "papyrus".

Gallery
Cukrová třtina Zuckerrohr Caña de azúcar Canne à sucre Cukornád Canna da zucchero サトウキビ 사탕수수 Suikerriet Trzcina cukrowa Canas-de-Açúcar Сахарный тростник 甘蔗