| “ |
|
„ | |
| — Duncan Geere[1] |
Dirt is a block found abundantly in most biomes under a layer of grass blocks at the top of the Overworld.
Obtaining
Dirt will drop as an item when broken with any tool or by hand, but a shovel is the fastest way to break it.
| Block | Dirt | |
|---|---|---|
| Hardness | 0.5 | |
| Tool | ||
| Breaking time[A] | ||
| Default | 0.75 | |
| Wooden | 0.4 | |
| Stone | 0.2 | |
| Iron | 0.15 | |
| Diamond | 0.1 | |
| Netherite | 0.1 | |
| Golden | 0.1 | |
- ↑ Times are for unenchanted tools as wielded by players with no status effects, measured in seconds. For more information, see Breaking § Speed.
Natural generation
Dirt is found at any altitude, and comprises the majority of the upper terrain layers in most overworld biomes, bridging the gap between stone and grass blocks in various thicknesses.
There are approximately 1,850 dirt blocks per chunk in plains, forest, tundra, jungle, and mountains biomes. There can be as many as 3,000 in chunks with high mountains. Dirt generates in pockets underground as well. Dirt also generates naturally in the butcher's shop and in some houses in villages. Dirt also generates as part of the dirt floor found in the starting point area in abandoned mineshafts.
Dirt based blocks
When grass, grass path, mycelium, or podzol is broken using a tool that is not enchanted with Silk Touch, it will drop dirt. Grass path will also drop dirt when broken with a Silk Touch tool, except in Bedrock Edition.
Farmland will drop dirt when broken. It will also turn into dirt if either a mob jumps on it, or if nothing is planted on it and it is not within four blocks of water.
Coarse dirt can be tilled with a hoe to become dirt.
Usage
Dirt's primary use is for farming, but it can also be used as a highly available building block.
Crafting ingredient
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Coarse Dirt | Dirt + Gravel |
Farming
Dirt has the ability to grow saplings, sugar canes, and mushrooms, which can be planted directly in dirt under appropriate conditions.
Using a hoe on dirt will turn it into farmland, enabling wheat seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, potatoes, carrots and beetroot seeds to be planted on it.
Grass and mycelium spreading
When a dirt block is adjacent to a grass block and is exposed to a light level of at least 4, it will eventually be converted into a grass block at random intervals.
Mycelium spreads in similar fashion, but requires a light level of at least 9.
Data values
Block data
In Bedrock Edition, dirt uses the following data values:
| DV | Description | |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Dirt | |
| 1 | Coarse Dirt |
Video
- Note: This video is outdated; dirt can now be used to craft coarse dirt as of 1.8.
Dirt/video
History
| pre-classic | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| rd-160052 | File:Dirt Revision 1.png Dirt was added. Grass would grow on dirt when under light. | ||||
| indev | |||||
| ? | Now uses a sound distinct from grass. | ||||
| February 6, 2010 | Dirt can now be tilled with a hoe into farmland. | ||||
| infdev | |||||
| June 17, 2010, 3 | Dirt is now generated naturally underground, along with gravel, for more varied caves. | ||||
| beta | |||||
| 1.8 | Pre-release | Dirt now generates naturally in villages. | |||
| release | |||||
| 1.0.0 | Beta 1.9 Prerelease | Mycelium is introduced and now spreads to dirt. | |||
| Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5 | |||||
| 1.3.1 | 12w22a | Inventory sprites for blocks were flipped from left to right, changing to . | |||
| 1.4.2 | 12w38a | Dirt was given new sounds for being placed and walked upon. | |||
| 1.7.2 | 13w36a | A "grassless dirt" variant was added that grass would not spread onto. Its Block ID was minecraft:dirt/1. | |||
| 1.8 | June 11, 2014 | Ryan Holtz revealed a new coarse dirt block, including its crafting recipe. "This will be a transparent switch-over in terms of world generation, as the coarse dirt block uses the same block ID and data value as the original grassless dirt block. As a result, even old worlds with the grassless dirt blocks should have them seamlessly change over to coarse dirt." | |||
| 14w27b | Dirt's textures now rotate randomly due to the addition of arrays to the block model format. | ||||
| 1.11 | 16w39a | Dirt now generates in woodland mansions. | |||
| 1.13 | 17w47a | The different variant block states for the dirt ID have been split up into their own IDs.
| |||
| Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 3. | |||||
| Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
| 0.1.0 | Dirt was added. | ||||
| 0.4.0 | Dirt can now be hoed into farmland. | ||||
| 0.8.0 | ? | The textures on dirt are now randomly rotated. | |||
| 0.9.0 | ? | Grassless dirt added. | |||
| 0.11.0 | build 1 | Dirt can be obtained by breaking grass path blocks. | |||
| Pocket Edition | |||||
| 1.1 | alpha 1.1.0.0 | Dirt now generates in woodland mansions. | |||
| Bedrock Edition | |||||
| 1.2 | beta 1.2.0.2 | Coarse dirt was added. | |||
| Legacy Console Edition | |||||
| TU1 | CU1 | 1.0 | Patch 1 | Dirt was added. | |
| TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | Coarse dirt was added. | |
Issues
Issues relating to "Dirt" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
Gallery
Grassless dirt (now coarse dirt) found in a savanna biome.
Trivia
- If dirt is tilled using a hoe and water is placed underneath it, the dirt will not cast a shadow on the water. Untilled dirt, however, will cast a shadow, this is likely a glitch.
References
- ↑ "Block of the Week: Dirt" – Minecraft.net, February 23, 2018

