Bone meal is a material that can be used as a fertilizer for most plants and fungi, as well as a crafting ingredient for dyes.
Obtaining[]
Crafting[]
Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|
Bone | |
Bone Block |
Mob loot[]
Fish[]
All fish mob variants (cod, salmon, tropical fish, and pufferfish) have a 5% chance to drop 1 bone meal upon death.[Java Edition only] In Bedrock Edition, they drop bones instead.
Composters[]
When a composter is completely filled, a single bone meal drops the next time the composter is used.
Trading[]
Wandering traders sell 3 bone meal for an emerald.[Bedrock Edition only]
Usage[]
Crafting ingredient[]
In Bedrock Edition, bone meal can be also used in banner patterns:
Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
---|---|---|
White Banner pattern | Bone Meal + Banner |
|
White Banner image | Bone Meal + Banner + Vines or Bricks or Creeper Head or Wither Skeleton Skull or Oxeye Daisy or Enchanted Golden Apple |
Loom ingredient[]
Dye[]
In Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education, bone meal can be:
- Applied to sheep to dye their wool, which can then be sheared for 1–3 blocks of white wool.
- Applied to tamed wolves to dye their collars.
- Applied to tamed cats to dye their collars.
- Used to dye or stain leather armor, beds, glass, terracotta and shulker boxes.
- Combined with gunpowder to make a firework star.
- Combined with a firework star to create a fade-to-color effect.
- Used to add patterns to banners.
- Used to dye shulkers in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Used to dye water contained in cauldrons in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Combined with sand and gravel to craft concrete powder.
- Combined with compounds to craft balloons or glow sticks in Bedrock Edition and Minecraft Education.
- Used to change the color of text on signs or hanging signs.
Fertilizer[]
Bone meal can also be used on the following plants to have a chance to increase their growth stage:
Plant | Action |
---|---|
Wheat Carrots Potatoes |
The plant matures 2–5 growth stages. |
Beetroots | The plant has a 75% chance of growing to the next growth stage. |
Bamboo | Grows the bamboo by 1-2 stems. |
Melon Seeds Pumpkin Seeds |
The planted stem matures 2–5 growth stages. Bone meal affects only the stem's growth; it does not cause melons or pumpkins to sprout from a mature stem. |
Saplings Azalea Flowering Azalea Mangrove Propagule (not hanging) |
The sapling has a 45% chance of growing to the next growth stage, if possible. Saplings have two growth stages (with no visible difference between them) before growing into trees as the third stage. A tree cannot grow unless the sapling is planted in proper ground and sufficient space is available. Using bone meal on such an obstructed sapling with no chance of growing wastes the bone meal. |
Sunflowers Lilacs Rose Bushes Peonies |
The corresponding item form drops, without destroying the original plant. |
Grass Ferns Seagrass |
A one-block-high tall grass, fern, or seagrass (that is on grass block, dirt, coarse dirt, rooted dirt, farmland, podzol, mycelium, moss block, mud, or muddy mangrove roots (only exception is seagrass, will need to on a full surface)) grows into a two-block-high tall grass, fern or seagrass. |
Mushrooms | Has a 40% chance of growing into a huge mushroom if on grass block, dirt, coarse dirt, rooted dirt, farmland, podzol, mycelium, moss block, mud, or muddy mangrove roots. |
Cocoa | The cocoa plant matures 1 growth stage. |
Sweet Berry Bush | Grows every stage. |
Sea Pickle | If the sea pickle is on a coral block and in water at least 2 blocks deep, the sea pickle colony grows, and additional sea pickles generate nearby. |
Sugar Cane[BE only] | The sugar cane grows to maximum height (three blocks tall). |
Kelp | The kelp plant grows by 1 block per bone meal used, up to its maximum height. |
Flower (excluding wither roses)[BE only] | One-block-high flowers make more flowers of the same type grow in the surrounding area. |
Fungus | Grows into huge fungi, but only if on the respective nylium. |
Weeping Vines | Grows the weeping vines a few blocks downward. |
Twisting Vines | Grows the twisting vines a few blocks upward. |
Cave Vines | Produces glow berries if the vine did not have any glow berries on it already. |
Glow Lichen | The glow lichen spreads to a random adjacent block. |
Moss Block | The moss block causes nearby stone, cave vines, and dirt to become moss blocks. |
Big Dripleaf Small Dripleaf |
A big dripleaf grows one block higher, and a small dripleaf becomes a big dripleaf. |
Rooted Dirt | Causes hanging roots to grow underneath the rooted dirt if there is space. |
Mangrove Leaves | Creates a hanging mangrove propagule under the mangrove leaves. |
Mangrove Propagule (hanging) | The mangrove propagule matures 1 growth age. |
Pink Petals | Produces another pink petal in the block. If there are already four pink petals in the block, it will drop a pink petal as an item. |
Torchflower Crop Pitcher Crop |
Grows every stage. |
Bone meal does not affect:
- Cactus
- Vines
- Nether wart
- Sugar cane[Java Edition only]
- Chorus plants, or other plants not listed above.
Wasting bone meal[]
Bone meal can be used on the following objects in the following situations, consuming it without any real effect:
- On grass, ferns, and seagrass that do not have enough space to grow.[2]
- On seagrass that doesn't have water above.
- On a dark oak sapling that is not in a group of four.[3]
- On a mushroom that is not on a block that allows it to grow into a huge mushroom.[4]
- On a sea pickle that is already in a group of four and has no valid locations to expand to.[5]
- On a bamboo (not bamboo shoot) that is blocked in the way.
- On a sea pickle that is not on a coral block.
- On a fungus that is not on its respective nylium.
- Any plants that can't grow due to being block by the build limit.
Creating new plants[]
If bone meal is used on a grass block; tall grass, grass, flowers, and pink petals form on the targeted block and on random adjacent grass blocks in an 15×5×15[JE only]/7×5×7[BE only] area centered on the targeted block. The flowers/pink petals that appear depend on the biome, meaning that in order to obtain specific flowers, the player must travel to biomes where the flowers are found naturally. See Flower § Flower biomes for more information.
Using bone meal on a 2-block flower (rose bushes, sunflowers, lilacs or peonies) will cause one of the same type of flower to drop, without breaking the original. This is the only way to reproduce these flowers, since they cannot generate from using bone meal on grass blocks.
Using bone meal on a non-transparent block that is underwater generates seagrass on that block and surrounding blocks. Sometimes, if in a warm ocean biome, coral and coral fans may have a chance to generate as well, and in Bedrock Edition, coral (not coral fan) can be generated in any biome. In order for this to work, there must be 2 water blocks above the block the bone meal is being used on, and the lower one must be non-flowing water.
Using bone meal on a sea pickle on a coral block creates sea pickles. This generates sea pickles up to 3 blocks (of coral) away, so a 7+ × 7+ block (49+ blocks) of coral may be necessary, to return the most sea pickles per given bone meal attempt (more attempts grows them more numerously, exactly - including the range of it growing, like grass with heights on grass blocks - as coral and coral fans, though those others being non-solid blocks).
Using bone meal on netherrack adjacent to nylium converts the netherrack into nylium of the same type. If both crimson and warped nylium are adjacent to the netherrack that was applied with bone meal, there is a 50% chance that either type of nylium is created.
Using bone meal on nylium causes the corresponding roots and both types of fungi to appear on the nylium block and other nylium nearby, with the type of fungi matching the type of nylium being more common. In addition, using bone meal on the side of warped nylium creates nether sprouts and twisting vines.
Farmer villagers[]
Villagers with the farmer profession can collect bone meal from a full composter, with which they can make their crops grow faster.
Sounds[]
Sound | Subtitles | Source | Description | Resource location | Translation key | Volume | Pitch | Attenuation distance |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bone Meal crinkles | Blocks | When bone meal is successfully used | item | subtitles | 1.0 | 1.0 | 16 |
Sound | Source | Description | Resource location | Volume | Pitch |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Blocks | When bone meal is successfully used | item | 1.0 | 0.9-1.1 |
Data values[]
ID[]
Name | Identifier | Form | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|
Bone Meal | bone_meal | Item | item.minecraft.bone_meal |
Name | Identifier | Alias ID | Numeric ID | Form | Translation key |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bone Meal | bone_meal | dye / 15 | 411 | Item | item.dye.white.name |
History[]
Java Edition Beta | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.2 | Added bone meal. | ||||
Bone meal can now only be applied to saplings and wheat. | |||||
1.6.6 | Bone meal can now be applied on grass blocks. | ||||
1.8 | Pre-release | Bone meal can now be used on mushrooms to make huge mushrooms, and the block the mushroom is on changes to dirt. | |||
Pre-release 2 ;) | Bone meal can now be applied on pumpkin and melon seeds. | ||||
Java Edition | |||||
1.3.1 | 12w19a | Bone meal can now be applied on cocoa beans. | |||
1.3 | The texture of bone meal has been changed. | ||||
1.4.2 | 12w34a | Bone meal can now be used to dye leather armor and tamed wolf's collar. | |||
1.4.6 | 12w49a | Bone meal can now be crafted with gunpowder to create a firework star. | |||
1.5 | 13w04a | Bone meal has been significantly nerfed. Wheat, melon and pumpkin seeds, potatoes and carrots: one bone meal is now consumed for all seven stages of growth (melon and pumpkin seeds do not spawn right away). | |||
Green particles are now displayed when bone meal is used. | |||||
Bone meal can now be used from dispensers. | |||||
13w05a | The balancing of bone meal has been adjusted. Growing a plant to its last state now takes on average 2-5 uses of bone meal (results vary from plant to plant).[6] | ||||
1.6.1 | 13w19a | Bone meal can now be used to craft white stained clay. | |||
1.7.2 | 13w36a | The flowers generated when using bone meal on grass blocks is now biome dependent. | |||
13w41a | Bone meal can now be used to craft white stained glass. | ||||
1.8 | 14w30a | Added banners, which can be dyed with bone meal. | |||
1.10 | 16w20a | Bone meal can now be used to craft bone blocks. | |||
1.11 | 16w39b | Bone meal can now be used to dye shulker boxes. | |||
1.12 | 17w06a | Bone meal can now be used to craft white concrete powder. | |||
1.13 | 17w47a | The different data values for the dye ID have been split up into their own IDs.
| |||
Prior to The Flattening, this item's numeral ID was 351. | |||||
18w07a | Bone meal can now be used underwater to create seagrass. | ||||
18w14b | Bone meal can now be used for spreading sea pickles. | ||||
1.13.1 | 18w31a | Bone meal used in water of warm ocean biomes now has a chance of growing coral. | |||
Cod, salmon, tropical fish, and pufferfish now have a chance of dropping bone meal upon death. | |||||
18w32a | Bone meal used in water of warm ocean biomes now has a chance of growing coral fans. | ||||
1.14 | 18w43a | Bone meal can now used to craft white dye. | |||
Bone meal can no longer be used as a dye. | |||||
All of the dye-related functions and crafting recipes of bone meal (except bone blocks) have been transferred to white dye. | |||||
The texture of bone meal has been changed. | |||||
Bone meal can now be used on bamboo and bamboo shoot. | |||||
19w03a | Bone meal can now be obtained from composters. | ||||
1.16 | 20w06a | Bone meal can now be used to grow fungi into huge fungi. | |||
Bone meal can now be used to spread nylium onto netherrack. | |||||
20w09a | Using bone meal to grow fungi now works only on the respective nylium. | ||||
20w11a | Bone meal can now grow kelp, weeping vines, and twisting vines. | ||||
20w12a | Bone meal can now be used to grow roots, fungi, and nether sprouts on nylium. | ||||
20w13a | Farmers can now use bone meal to grow crops. | ||||
1.17 | 21w03a | Bone meal can now be used to spread glow lichens. | |||
21w05a | Bone meal can now be used on moss blocks, small dripleaf, big dripleaf, and cave vines. | ||||
21w11a | Bone meal can now be used on rooted dirt. | ||||
21w15a | Bone meal now makes a sound when used. | ||||
21w16a | Moss patches obtained from fertilizing moss blocks contain less vegetation and are now smaller and more irregular in shape. | ||||
Bone meal can now be used on azalea and flowering azalea. | |||||
1.19 | 22w11a | Bone meal can now be used on mangrove propagules and mangrove leaves. | |||
1.20 (Experimental) | 23w07a | Bone meal can now be used on pink petals and torchflower crops. | |||
Using bone meal on cherry groves now have a chance to generate pink petals. | |||||
1.20 | 23w12a | Bone meal can now be used on pitcher crops. | |||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
v0.3.0 | Added bone meal. It is currently unobtainable and serves no purpose. | ||||
v0.3.3 | Bone meal can now be crafted from bones. | ||||
Bone meal can now be applied to grass blocks and saplings. | |||||
v0.4.0 | Added the first crops, which bone meal can be applied to. | ||||
v0.8.0 | build 1 | The texture of bone meal has been changed. | |||
Bone meal no longer instantly grows crops to full size. | |||||
Bone meal can now be used to craft white wool. | |||||
build 5 | Pumpkin and melon stems now grow by only one stage when bone meal is used. | ||||
Some flowers now spawn certain other flowers when bone meal is used on them. | |||||
Bone meal can now grow ferns and tall grass in survival and creative. | |||||
Bone meal can now grow sugar canes to maximum height. | |||||
v0.9.0 | build 11 | Bone meal can now be used to dye tamed wolf collars. | |||
v0.14.0 | build 1 | Bone meal can now be used from dispensers. | |||
Bone meal can now be used to dye water in cauldrons. | |||||
Pocket Edition | |||||
1.0.0 | alpha 0.17.0.1 | Bone meal can now be used to dye shulkers. | |||
1.1.0 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Bone meal can now be used to craft white concrete powder, white beds and white shulker boxes. | |||
1.1.3 | alpha 1.1.3.0 | Bone meal can now be used to craft bone blocks. | |||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.2.0 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Bone meal can now be used to craft white stained glass. | |||
Bone meal can now be used to craft firework stars. | |||||
Bone meal can now be used to create banner patterns. | |||||
1.4.0 | beta 1.2.14.2 | Bone meal can now be used underwater for growing seagrass and coral. | |||
beta 1.2.20.1 | Bone meal can now be used for spreading sea pickles. | ||||
Bone meal can now be used to craft white balloons and white glow sticks. | |||||
1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Bone meal can now be used to grow bamboo. | |||
beta 1.8.0.10 | Bone meal can now be used to craft white dye. | ||||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | Bone meal are now sold by wandering traders. | |||
The texture of bone meal has been changed. | |||||
1.11.0 | beta 1.11.0.1 | Bone meal can now be obtained from composters. | |||
1.16.0 | beta 1.16.0.51 | Bone meal can now grow fungi into huge fungi. | |||
Bone meal can now be used to turn netherrack into nylium. | |||||
Bone meal can now be used to grow roots, fungi, and nether sprouts on nylium. | |||||
1.16.100 | beta 1.16.100.56 | The ID of bone meal has been changed from dye/15 to bone_meal . | |||
1.16.210 | beta 1.16.210.51 | Bone meal used in water now has a chance of growing coral fans. | |||
1.16.220 | beta 1.16.220.52 | Bone meal can now be used on moss blocks, small dripleaf, big dripleaf, cave vines and rooted dirt. | |||
1.17.0 | beta 1.16.230.50 | Bone meal can now be used to spread glow lichens. | |||
beta 1.16.230.54 | Bone meal can be used to grow azaleas into azalea trees. | ||||
beta 1.17.0.50 | Bone meal now makes a sound when used. | ||||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU1 | CU1 | 1.00 | Patch 1 | 1.0.1 | Added bone meal. |
TU19 | CU7 | 1.12 | Bone meal no longer instantly grows crops to full size. | ||
1.90 | The texture of bone meal has been changed. | ||||
New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
0.1.0 | Added bone meal. |
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Bone Meal" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Trivia[]
- Bone meal can be used on the sides or bottom of a grass block, as well as on a grass block with plants already on top of it.
- Regardless of if it succeeds in fertilizing, bone meal makes green sparkles. However, like smoke from a torch, the sparkles appear only if the player has particles set All or Decreased.
- In real life, bone meal is used as a fertilizer to provide nitrogen and phosphorus to plants.
Gallery[]
Bone meal used on grass blocks.