How do you grow Fruit Trees

[Mikel Monleón]

Been following the wiki, but I can't seem to figure it out. I've planted 30+ of these fruit trees with plenty of space and in viable weather conditions. But even after an in-game year, they don't seem grow. Am I doing something wrong? All I did was place the stem (tree branch) on medium fertility soil. 

 

[Ogi Teh yeti]

Without knowing the code or anything like that, including what version you're on, I seem to recall that not so long ago there was an update to fruit trees to stop them from resetting their progress to 0 when the player is far away and unloads the chunk. I would imagine that while that may or may not (I wouldn't know) have been fixed, being away from the trees probably doesn't reset them now, but might stall their growth progress. 

That is to say, consider sticking around in your base for a while longer to see if that fixes it.

[Professor Dragon]

The update that Ogi Teh yeti is referring to is:

Specifically:

"1.16.5-rc.1 Game updates

• Fixed: Should fix some fruit trees never fruiting"

Note that this is an "unstable release."

That means, you will NOT be on it by default. You will have the version with this fault.

The last stable release is 1.16.5.

V1.17 unstable release also includes more fruit tree fixes, so  you may wish to wait until that becomes stable, and then load that.

 

That being said, you may not be facing the above issues, so as Ogi Teh yeti recommended, try hanging around your base.

If you hover your mouse over the stick, is it alive or dead?

And some trees have temperature requirements.

For what it is worth, I have YET TO SEE a fruiting tree. Trees in blossom, yes. A fruiting tree? No.

My cuttings HAVE GROWN though.

 

Professor Dragon.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Professor Dragon

[Mikel Monleón]

I saw a post that said something similar to that. So I stuck around for 8 in game days near all the trees. Just to test that out. Nothing.

I played for about half a year in 1.16.5, and now i've updated to 1.17.0rc5 with still no luck. Is it just broken? Is anyone able to grow fruit trees?

[Professor Dragon]

5 minutes ago, Mikel Monleón said:

I saw a post that said something similar to that. So I stuck around for 8 in game days near all the trees. Just to test that out. Nothing.

I played for about half a year in 1.16.5, and now i've updated to 1.17.0rc5 with still no luck. Is it just broken? Is anyone able to grow fruit trees?

I edited a reply in, just before you posted this.

But yes, on 1.16.5 I have some pear tree cuttings that are growing into leafy trees.

 

Maybe go into creative, fly somewhere far off, and see if a different climate lets you grow them.

Edited August 25, 2022 by Professor Dragon

[Mikel Monleón]

7 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

Maybe go into creative, fly somewhere far off, and see if a different climate lets you grow them.

Shouldn't it tell me its dead if the climate didnt permit it to grow? 

[Professor Dragon]

On 8/25/2022 at 11:50 PM, Mikel Monleón said:

Shouldn't it tell me its dead if the climate didn't permit it to grow? 

I won't pretend to understand what's happening.  
But I'll give you some words anyway.

 

I opened up a test world (v1.16.5 Stable), and teleported far north, until there was "glacial ice" and -15 C below.
Putting in a cutting still gives the "Establishing tree cutting" hover text. Even though you can bet that will die.

So there is a time period between when a cutting is "Establishing" and either "dead" or growing.

I then started out in a more pleasant climate, and spammed down a goodly number of Pink Lady cuttings in Spring.

Then I fast forwarded time with the command "/time speed 9999" which gives a rate of a full game day in a fraction of a minute.

After Summer ended and nothing really happened, I got a bit worried, so I also placed down pear tree cuttings as well.

Finally, in Spring a year later, the end result after a year was only two out of the 8 - 10 (Sorry - I didn't count accurately.) Pink Lady Apple cuttings started to grow.

Another 2  - 3 Pink Lady cuttings died.

And everything else was still "Establishing."

I'm really not sure about that tree right at the back. I think that I planted it, but there is a small chance that it was already there before I started my test. (I doubt it, but it wasn't a very controlled test!)  What is interesting about it though is that it is flagged as "dormant" and only has leaves on one side at the moment. Back in the prior summer it was fully covered.

I'm pretty sure that only "trees" enter "dormancy." That is, cuttings are either, Establishing or Dead. (I think the text below that in the above image about "Can be planted or grafted" is highly optimistic at this point.) You don't have a "dormant cutting."

BREAKING THIS ALL DOWN - WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU?

* Yes, fruit trees do grow from cuttings on v1.16.5 (Stable) when planted onto Medium soil in an appropriate climate.

* The growth rate chance within a year is low. (Tool tip says 40%.)
I wasn't accurate with my counting in the test above, and it was a really small sample size, but I didn't crack 30%. But it is conceivable - although unlikely - that you were just unlucky.

* Copy your world, turn on Creative and move time forward if you want to see what happens.

* I'm not sure of the climate that you're in, nor if there could be any "anomalies" where your base is, so I suggest two tests:

A) Journey somewhere temperate well away from your base, and try again. (Switch to Creative to fly or teleport if need be.)

B) Plant down a large number of different types of trees from the Creative inventory. Maybe you'll find that some just won't grow, because it is too hot or cold. Maybe you'll find a bug, where a particular type of tree just does not grow at all. Who knows?  But a bit of testing should at least flag "Yes, this will grow here."

And then once (hopefully) you have positive results, you can again use Creative if that feels too cheaty, wipe out the test trees, and continue with your build again.

Here's the general wiki link: https://wiki.vintagestory.at/index.php?title=Fruit_tree
 

Hope that helps. If you get results, let me know.