Talk:Tutorials/Tree farming

Tree farm height
I tested a tree farm with a height of 6. This always grows trees with a trunk 4 blocks high and leaves above. Very easy to harvest, but might get less saplings... TobiX 12:24, 31 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Yeah, i can confirm this too. When i play in SMP, i collect a bunch of saplings and replant the trees. After that, i make an underground tree farm. They grow in 1x1x6 tubes. You get 4 blocks of wood, and 2 leaves. You sometimes get more saplings, but its rare. --Zkyo 13:12, 31 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I tested a height of 7, which gives you more leaves and irregular tree height, but still no branches, as far as I can see. Maybe this should be suggested as "optimal height"? TobiX 13:48, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Fire
Do torches now light tree leaves on fire? I've had mysterious fires at my underground tree farm?? Lloydh40
 * Possible explanations include fire 2 blocks away (fire can jump one block to wood), lava one block away (lava can sometimes light wood diagonally adjacent to it [south west rule], even if the lava is completely sealed off), or griefers. Novatastic 20:25, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Prettier diagrams
I have created a template for prettier diagrams, but it is currently limited (see Minecraft Wiki talk:Admin noticeboard)

If it gets fixed: Here is the diagram used on the Page; If it looks complete, paste the code into the page itself:

the lowest row should look similar to the topmost and there shouldn’t be error messages, then it’s fixed – Flying sheep 16:22, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

No sacrifice necessary
If you shift your pattern one block to the right so that there is a torch exactly in the center you end up with one more torch on the walkway and one less on the field, giving you 62 saplings and 80,5% efficiency. --Obi-Wahn 12:08, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

water and new saplings
can some one edit the article to include the affects of water,and that birch are the ideal tree to use because they never split off into branches and grow faster then pine,spruce and normal trees.i would do it my self but i fear i will ruin the article
 * Water doesn't have any effect on tree growth. And I don't think birch is any good for this kind of tree farm, because it always needs two blocks horizontal space so it won't grow next to each other like oaks can. Besides I'm not convinced that birches really do grow faster. --Obi-Wahn 16:10, 22 May 2011 (UTC)

Planting Near Waterfalls
My underground treefarm never worked. I was piping water in from the ceiling in the middle, mostly for aesthetic reasons, and planted the trees so that the branches may have conceivably wanted to pass through the water. They never left 1-block (sapling) height, despite plenty of light. I haven't worked out why this is yet, and the article doesn't explain it. Would make a good addition from someone who understands how this works! --Supersuperfarmer 20:46, 19 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah I was mistaken. I just didn't have enough light for the volume I'd excavated. --Supersuperfarmer 15:10, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

underground treefarm, 8 height, does have branches, so is that optimal?
I made an underground treefarm with normal trees, and the height of the dungeon is exactly 8 blocks. Like the article states, [quote]Trees now grow branches if the height is capped at 8.[/quote], so there they have branches. But after that, the article states that using a height of 8 still is optimal. But I found it annoying to find and cut the branches, takes quite a lot of time (relatively). So is that still the most optimal? --Lassie 14:13, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

8 still seems to be the optimal height for oak trees as they do not appear to approach within 2 of the ceiling. They can branch a little now as there seems to be more variation in growth, but with a densely packed farm, this isn't much of an issue. Ouroborus 06:38, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Pine/Birch farm designs
Does anybody know of an ideal design to use for pine or birch? It obviously differs from oak but I can't quite get a lid on a very efficient way to build one myself, and having a graph for the birch/pine section of the page seems like it could help out. -Indy 04:13, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

There are many more ways to plant a tree.
In the 1.8 Adventure Update, biomes were made much larger. The effect that this had is that, either tree farms are unneeded, because of the player being situated in a forest area with dense tree growth, or tree farms were difficult to maintain because of a lack of saplings, because of the player being situated in an area with very sparse tree growth.

As a result, it is sometimes time-efficient to plant trees in such a way that they generate maximum saplings. This is achieved by leaving larger spaces between trees.

Saplings popping up
Noticed since the 1.0 update that the 80% efficiency tree farm does not work anymore, because saplings are removing themselves from the ground. Dunno what exactly is causing it, anyone else noticed? Possibly could be an SMP only problem, havn't tested SP 27.0.68.178 03:45, 22 December 2011 (UTC)

-Yes, ive been seeing the same thing. So far, it seems that Oak Trees require at least 3x3 spacing between saplings or they will refuse to grow.

Why not try my 100% method? Shadow18715 15:03, 15 March 2012 (UTC)shadow18715

Outdoor/indoor tree won't grow
Please forgive me if I don't make things clear enough. English is not my first language.


 * I checked the requirments for trees growing listed on the wiki already:C

I've build a underground tree fram. Some 40% saplings grow during the first rotation. I choped all those that had grow and replanted with saplings. Since then saplings in that area are unable to grow into trees:C I've tried remove all the blocks above the farm (hence making "outdoor tree farm") and apply bone meal to the saplings, that didn't work.

I then tried to grow trees (using bone meal) at a outdoor spot where I use to grow saplings. At first it worked out. However after a few replant, saplings once again stop growing into trees .I'm now forced to plant saplings further away from my base.

I have the same trouble, my outdoor tree farm near my base on the coast will not grow
There is no difference between sea water and normal water is there?? I have some saplings with nothing within 3 meters of them but they still will not grow. -Update- It seems the problem was they just took forever to go from sapling to full grown, there didn't seem to be any intermediate growth shown :( when i was going to my tree farm i was Like wow nothing grew could it be the soil or it just hates me :c

Sapling space needed
Exactly how much space do each of the saplings need to grow?

I'm specifically looking at underground tree farms, and the minimum clear space needed to grow a single tree.

---

In 125, I'm seeing trees with different leaf types growing into each other, despite the main article's claim that the different leaf types will prevent the trees from growing.

Keybounce 18:48, 24 July 2012 (UTC)

I'm seeing different leaf types growing into each other too, in 1.7.4. Derdiggermunster (talk) 20:02, 18 January 2014 (UTC)

Force-growing doesn't seem to work anymore.
I tried it first with dirt, which they grew through. Suspended blocks of cobblestone (on a diagonal to the sapling) seem to stop the tree from growing altogether (as in, Minecraft weeks at least). --Mental Mouse 14:56, 3 August 2013 (UTC)

Changes in 1.7.x
There have been significant changes to the tree growth requirements that make some of the recommendations inaccurate. In particular, the restrictions on proximity for Birch and Spruce trees has been lifted, allowing them to grow in the same formations as Oak and Jungle trees. I would edit the sections myself, but I don't feel comfortable working with the layout templates. 205.134.200.53 19:40, 30 November 2013 (UTC)

Dark Oak Saplings
I found most dark oak trees drop few saplings, sometimes less than 4. When growing one at a time, I had to be careful to collect every sapling from every dark oak I cut down, except a few trees would drop loads of saplings. I've written that into the page with the estimate that one in five dark oaks produce lots of saplings, but this is only a very rough estimate. It would be good if someone could pin it down more accurately, I can't work these things out myself. Derdiggermunster (talk) 20:11, 18 January 2014 (UTC)
 * I see nothing in the code affecting the drop rate per leaf block, so the only way this could be happening is if sometimes you're getting a Dark Oak with significantly more leaf blocks. Or else sometimes you're just getting lucky with the 5% per leaf block drop chance. Anomie x (talk) 02:04, 30 April 2014 (UTC)

The podzol issue
The advantages and disadvantages section states that if podzol is unwanted then it'll be tedious to remove it all from beneath giant spruce trees. This is fairly easily countered by growing them on a 2x2 dirt platform with a 3-block air gap beneath it towards the ground ie

4 Spruce saplings

4 Dirt blocks

air

air

air

Ground (won't turn to podzol)