Rules for Tree Farming?

[BenWhittle]

Been trying to find info on this but it's kinda sparse. I'm starting a tree farm and want to know what the required space for a tree is to grow? I've seen someone mention that it's different sizes per tree, didn't specify which. Right now I'm in winter and just started a Pine tree farm, but they're stuck in the "will sprout in less then a day" part of the cycle. Each sapling has 1 block of space away from the other on all sides. 

Any help would be much appreciated!

[idiomcritter]

welcome to the forum

the wiki has some helpful infos, check the paragraph on Runtime cultivation data

that said, I much perfer growing oak trees 2x2 spaced every 5th block.  gives me a good mix of wood, and sticks to shear.

if I'm growing for the wood (purple heart, ebony..) I usually find a good open field and space accordingly...

hope that helps?

[BenWhittle]

I popped into creative to test myself, you can grow pine with a block of space apart. Thing is they don't start growing until May/June. Such is. 

1x1 for oak works but like you mentioned, 2x2 gives better space and more room for leaves to grow which is better for seed collecting.

Edited February 1, 2025 by BenWhittle

[Thorfinn]

Personally, unless I absolutely have to recover a lot of seeds, I like to place them in a single row 1 space apart. That way, once grown, if I pick up a bear, all I have to do is run between the trees to the other side of the row and he can't follow. You can pelt him with missiles and all he can do is roar, run away, or die. Same with shivers. Even wolves sometimes have a tough time pathing between them.

[Deidora]

22 hours ago, BenWhittle said:

I popped into creative to test myself, you can grow pine with a block of space apart. Thing is they don't start growing until May/June.

You can disregard the temperature ranges in the wiki they're only used for world generation, all trees (and plants, and bees for that matter) seem to stop growing at 0°C (seed will grow to sapling but no further).
so if you really need trees in winter, you can grow them underground at a depth where it's above 0° C (preferably low enough so that you can be above 0°C all day long, since surface temperature vary quite a bit and the growth timer stops when you reach 0°).

They grow underground regardless of the subterranean agriculture setting.
Another point, light is not needed for trees (or berry bush) to grow underground, though you might want some to prevent drifter spawn or harvesting these tree will become quite a challenge.

You can collect and store sapling to save day necessary for the seed to grow to a sapling (which can be done above ground).

The cost of digging/lighting is a bit prohibitive if you don't have plenty of metal on hand (or haven't found iron yet), so you have to choose trees that are not too expansive (once you have an ongoing tree farm above ground, it's kind of moot).

I usually dig a few underground areas for winter to supply berries, honey, grass, cattails or tree without the hassle of clearing snow (don't put all your berry bushes underground though, they have a max temperature for maturing and for keeping they fruits and they won't produce anything during late spring-late summer).

[BenWhittle]

On 2/1/2025 at 8:43 PM, Thorfinn said:

Personally, unless I absolutely have to recover a lot of seeds, I like to place them in a single row 1 space apart. That way, once grown, if I pick up a bear, all I have to do is run between the trees to the other side of the row and he can't follow. You can pelt him with missiles and all he can do is roar, run away, or die. Same with shivers. Even wolves sometimes have a tough time pathing between them.

That's awesome, I was already set on 1 block spacing but that def seals it for me, sounds like I'll set up a pine farm in an area where bears spawn...

 

16 hours ago, Deidora said:

You can disregard the temperature ranges in the wiki they're only used for world generation, all trees (and plants, and bees for that matter) seem to stop growing at 0°C (seed will grow to sapling but no further).
so if you really need trees in winter, you can grow them underground at a depth where it's above 0° C (preferably low enough so that you can be above 0°C all day long, since surface temperature vary quite a bit and the growth timer stops when you reach 0°).

They grow underground regardless of the subterranean agriculture setting.
Another point, light is not needed for trees (or berry bush) to grow underground, though you might want some to prevent drifter spawn or harvesting these tree will become quite a challenge.

You can collect and store sapling to save day necessary for the seed to grow to a sapling (which can be done above ground).

The cost of digging/lighting is a bit prohibitive if you don't have plenty of metal on hand (or haven't found iron yet), so you have to choose trees that are not too expansive (once you have an ongoing tree farm above ground, it's kind of moot).

I usually dig a few underground areas for winter to supply berries, honey, grass, cattails or tree without the hassle of clearing snow (don't put all your berry bushes underground though, they have a max temperature for maturing and for keeping they fruits and they won't produce anything during late spring-late summer).

Yeah thankfully I figured out they stop growing pretty quickly into testing, our home sits directly on top of spawn and it was dead of winter so no wonder they weren't growing! I still needed to establish a source of firewood/charcoal so my solution was starting a path highway which goes 10,000 blocks south into a Mediterranean climate where I can grow Pine year round.

 

Didn't know about growing underground though, I thought with greenhouses being a mechanic that natural light was required for all things to grow. Now I just want to build an underground farm for fun.