Growing trees underground

[Chucky5150]

Quick question.

Do normal oak trees grow underground?


Full info.

I am trying to start a MFR tree farm. I never used it before. I got torches lighting up the area. The berries and IC2 rubber trees were able to grow. I am using the DW 1.5 pack. I just got one little sapling just sitting there. I've been thinking about trying bone meal but wanted to see if it would grow on its own.


Thank you

 

[WayofTime]

Quick question.

Do normal oak trees grow underground?


Full info.

I am trying to start a MFR tree farm. I never used it before. I got torches lighting up the area. The berries and IC2 rubber trees were able to grow. I am using the DW 1.5 pack. I just got one little sapling just sitting there. I've been thinking about trying bone meal but wanted to see if it would grow on its own.


Thank you

They need to have enough room to grow. Some trees need more room than others, so you may need to dig a lot more higher.

 

[Chucky5150]

The room is 11 x 11 x 10 tall. I would have thought that was tall enough. I'll try making it higher. the tree was able to grow with bone meal.

 

[Riuga]

The room is 11 x 11 x 10 tall. I would have thought that was tall enough. I'll try making it higher. the tree was able to grow with bone meal.

Tall enough. But'll youll miss out on real big trees.

 

[cynric]

Oak trees only need 9 blocks free space to grow, but only for the normal tree size, those oversized with branches need more. However trees won't really grow in the first half hour or so after planting and then they roll first what kind of tree they should turn into and then check if they have enough space, so if you roll big tree a few times but only have space for the small version, it can take a while for it to actually grow.

 

[ZabiGG]

I'm not sure it still applies, but the game used to also check light level at the potential top of the tree before growing it.

You mention torches, but I also always insert glowstone blocks in the ceiling in a 5 x 5 pattern in my underground tree farms (or any equivalent light block except for wrath lamps which place invisible blocks that hinder the tree growth in some instances) and have no problem growing them naturally in 10 block high rooms.

 

[cynric]

I don't think light at the top is necessary, but it is a good idea anyways. Otherwise a nasty surprise might spawn up there before the tree gets harvested and explode in your face the next time you visit.

 

[ZabiGG]

You're right Cynric, best avoid these pesky surprises... But my info WAS outdated. The Minecraft wiki tree page states 2 main conditions for growth:

- The sapling must be planted on a dirt or grass block, and must have a light level of at least 8 in the sapling block. (Leaves may block torch light, so it might be advised to place the torches on ground level for optimum growth).
- The sapling must also have at least 4 blocks of space above it.

It further explains the process like this:
"All trees in the active chunk radius around the player make attempts to grow at random intervals. For any given tree this can work out to about 3 attempts per minute, but a tree will usually not grow until nearly 30 minutes have elapsed since planting. When the tree attempts to grow it first checks that it has enough light, then chooses which type [read size] of tree to spawn."

Hope this helps

 

[Bibble]

I also remember that oak trees needed a lot of light (I used to put 1 torch directly between each sapling), so in the MFR planter, it might not work as well.

Also, the factorisation wrathlamp lights stuff by placing phantom light blocks. The sapling might register this as an obstruction, I'm sure it used to, not sure if it's been sorted now.

 

[Chucky5150]

I also remember that oak trees needed a lot of light (I used to put 1 torch directly between each sapling), so in the MFR planter, it might not work as well.

Also, the factorisation wrathlamp lights stuff by placing phantom light blocks. The sapling might register this as an obstruction, I'm sure it used to, not sure if it's been sorted now.

Yeah, I had the same issue with the wrathlamps before. I ended up making the room another 5 higher for a total of 15 blocks tall. It seems to be working now.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[namiasdf]

Trees do not require vision of the sky. Also, the only lighting that counts is what the sapling sees at ground level. Torches/lighting right next to the sapling will provide the best lighting. I am not sure about water and trees, I don't think water effects tree growth.

In short, no. If you are creating an MFR tree farm, consider the ratio of wood-to-other stuff you want. The shorter the tree, the less wood you produce. I had a ridiculous excess of wood, so I was okay with capping my trees at a height of 7.