This is a topic that's been of a large interest to me. It seems like every time tree farming is brought up, people mention how they prefer to manipulate factors to make it more likely for giant trees to spawn when saplings grow. The logic seems obvious, you get more wood for your bone meal... but do you really? And is it really worth it? Yes, you get a massive amount of wood from one large tree as opposed to about 5 from a small one, but I've always found large trees to be much more of a hassle than their worth.
For one, if you set up a sapling so that it can only grow into a large tree (usually achieved by stacking string or other blocks next to it), it takes a lot more bone meal to get the tree to grow. This is because not only do you have to worry about the normal chances of the tree simply not growing, you also have to worry about the very high chance of the tree trying to grow into a small tree, which will always fail as well because there isn't enough room.
Small trees have much higher chances of growing, typically growing successfully on the first try.
Secondly, large trees are a huge hassle to cut down. Yes, they have a lot of wood, but gathering that wood is a lot less time efficient because you have to nerd pole into the tree and dig around in the leaves to find stray blocks of wood randomly scattered throughout. Sometimes you won't even notice you've missed any wood inside the tree unless you either cut down a large majority of the leaves yourself, or come back later to realize the leaves haven't decayed yet, leaving an ugly floating blob of leaves which you have to go out of your way to climb up to, just to get a single block of wood.
Meanwhile, in all that time you probably could have chopped down and replanted about 10 small trees.
I wanted to make this thread to discuss this topic. Am I the only one who thinks that small trees are just much more efficient and that large trees are really just nothing more than a major inconvenience? Honestly, if I didn't have to worry about the dangers of forest fires, I'd rather just light big trees on fire so I wouldn't have to worry about manually cutting them down.
If you prefer large trees, what is your technique to cut them down? Is there a much more efficient way of doing it that I'm simply not aware of, or do you just simply have more patience? Do you tactically manipulate the surroundings to try and force big trees to grow, or do you just prefer to get lucky with a sapling in open air?
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This is a test, this is only a test.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
As far as I'm aware, most if not all attempts to grow large trees are for aesthetic reasons, not lumber. Otherwise, you're probably very right on all points.
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My short story-like journals; quick-and-easy reads:
What species are you talking about? Oaks, or giant jungle trees and spruces? There's a difference. Generally, large oaks are a pain to harvest, yes, which is why I personally prefer to make tree farms out of birch. Giant jungle trees and spruces aren't so bad; either use the jungle tree's vines to climb to the top, or spiral up stair-case fashion if it's a spruce. You get a ton of wood for minimum effort compared to going from tree to tree harvesting small ones.
Also, in the Realm I play on I grew two giant jungle trees one on top of the other to use as a lookout. Very cool, and also served as a landmark, since it was visible from quite a distance away.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
What species are you talking about? Oaks, or giant jungle trees and spruces? There's a difference. Generally, large oaks are a pain to harvest, yes, which is why I personally prefer to make tree farms out of birch. Giant jungle trees and spruces aren't so bad; either use the jungle tree's vines to climb to the top, or spiral up stair-case fashion if it's a spruce. You get a ton of wood for minimum effort compared to going from tree to tree harvesting small ones.
Also, in the Realm I play on I grew two giant jungle trees one on top of the other to use as a lookout. Very cool, and also served as a landmark, since it was visible from quite a distance away.
I'm talking about Oak trees. I suppose I never considered that people would be talking about other forms of trees, mainly because most trees with large variants don't really need to be farmed since one giant jungle tree can basically supply you for life. Still, I would like to see if anyone has any useful techniques for cutting down large oak trees more efficiently. They are a massive pain.
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This is a test, this is only a test.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Well I usually plant a 5X5 to 10X10 block of saplings so when they've grown up I chop stairs up to the top and start smashing leaves so I find the logs and chop them out and then chop my way to the bottom, collect the saplings and replant. I don't worry too much if I miss a few logs, I'll just get them next time.
I plant jungle trees and don't worry about bone meal because I always have mature trees to farm at any point. I currently have 5 jungle trees and I get about 5 saplings each time I fell one (so I will slowly grow to 6 trees and so on and so forth.) I replant it immediately and move on. It grows back after a few days and it's ready for the next harvest whenever I need it. And cutting them down it a breeze, just climb to the top, crouch, look down and start chopping while rotating. I can bring down a jungle tree in less than a minute and I have more wood than I need for almost any project.
I have a tree dome at my third base which has a mixture of all types of trees, usually a giant jungle tree in the middle cos its the high point in the dome. I like chopping them down cos with a 2x2 trunk, you can go up the tree staircase fashion, then come back down, mining the blocks left used as "steps" - quite a simple process. Never bothered with farms.
Yes, bone meals are hard to get, yes, not every sorts of trees can grow big, yes, it takes plenty of times getting all of the wood. But if you're a redstone liker, you may appreciate this video (the only thing is this guys talks in french):[/p]
If you want, there are some other youtubers that made tutorials about this, but their explanations are less better.[/p]
About the bone meals, you can always do a mob grinder. The same guys in the video made a pretty efficient grinder (not in the video), so you don't have to worry to much about getting theses.[/p]
Hope this helped [/p]
I have a tree dome at my third base which has a mixture of all types of trees, usually a giant jungle tree in the middle cos its the high point in the dome. I like chopping them down cos with a 2x2 trunk, you can go up the tree staircase fashion, then come back down, mining the blocks left used as "steps" - quite a simple process. Never bothered with farms.
What is the purpose of the dome, or is it just cosmetic?
What is the purpose of the dome, or is it just cosmetic?
Entirely cosmetic. It has a lighting system at night, has the benefit of allowing me to chop down trees without having to worry about mobs as it has glass floors and is generall spawn proof. I've never been sure whether mobs can spawn on leaves tho ...
Entirely cosmetic. It has a lighting system at night, has the benefit of allowing me to chop down trees without having to worry about mobs as it has glass floors and is generall spawn proof. I've never been sure whether mobs can spawn on leaves tho ...
Very cool regardless. I imagine it took some time to get the dome completely symmetrical?
mainly because most trees with large variants don't really need to be farmed since one giant jungle tree can basically supply you for life.
Heh, when I've made over 316,000 torches, which requires 9,875 logs, and mined about twice as many overall; my main source of wood is large jungle trees since they are the best source of wood in the version I play on (in 1.7 or later I'd prefer large spruces since they do not have branches). 2x2 trees also grow faster since any of the 4 saplings can grow into a tree; just a few large jungle trees can regrow faster than you can cut them down, although they do take up more space; even one is enough for me.
As for oak trees, I just cut down some wild trees around the area and replant them when I need some wood when building a new base; when I need more wood, as when building my main base (all the others are much smaller) I plant them in a row (next to each other) so they grow into a solid wall of wood, which can be staircased up like 2x2 trees.
Here is an example of how I grow oak trees; this is actually two blocks thick so there are 40 trees here (growing trees like this reduces the number of leaves and saplings per tree but you can also plant them in separate 2x2 clusters to simulate 2x2 trees and get more leaves per tree):
I've never been sure whether mobs can spawn on leaves tho ...
Nope. They also don't spawn on other semi-transparent blocks suck as glass, stair blocks, or half-slabs in the bottom position.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Make of that what you will, but I thought leaves were considered nonsolid.
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I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I grow and harvest both jungle giants and spruce in/over tree harvesting pools that direct the water to a hopper/chest.
That way I lose no saplings.
I do this for one very good reason. I use the wood to make charcoal.
Any coal I mine is used to trade with villagers.
Also it's quite easy to get to the top of a tall tree.
I use sand but you could just as easily use gravel (they both obey the law of gravity).
Place a block next to the tree and place a torch on its side beside the tree trunk.
Now place a block over the torch on the side of the trunk.
Make sure you have adequate axes and inventory space. Also if you're going to stack the trees take dirt, saplings,and bone meal.
Hop up on the upper block and start elevating yourself up the tree breaking foliage as necessary.
When you get to the top you have two options:
1. Stand on one log and start chopping your way down to the bottom.
2. Level off the top, place 4 dirt blocks and 4 saplings, add bone meal until the next tree grows.
I will do this twice, making a triple height tree. The view from the top is AMAZING!
Once you've gotten back to the bottom remove the sand(gravel) block over the torch and all the blocks above will collapse down and can be readily picked up.
There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous people. R.A. Heinlein
If you aren't part of the solution, then you obviously weren't properly dissolved.
This is a topic that's been of a large interest to me. It seems like every time tree farming is brought up, people mention how they prefer to manipulate factors to make it more likely for giant trees to spawn when saplings grow. The logic seems obvious, you get more wood for your bone meal... but do you really? And is it really worth it? Yes, you get a massive amount of wood from one large tree as opposed to about 5 from a small one, but I've always found large trees to be much more of a hassle than their worth.
For one, if you set up a sapling so that it can only grow into a large tree (usually achieved by stacking string or other blocks next to it), it takes a lot more bone meal to get the tree to grow. This is because not only do you have to worry about the normal chances of the tree simply not growing, you also have to worry about the very high chance of the tree trying to grow into a small tree, which will always fail as well because there isn't enough room.
Small trees have much higher chances of growing, typically growing successfully on the first try.
Secondly, large trees are a huge hassle to cut down. Yes, they have a lot of wood, but gathering that wood is a lot less time efficient because you have to nerd pole into the tree and dig around in the leaves to find stray blocks of wood randomly scattered throughout. Sometimes you won't even notice you've missed any wood inside the tree unless you either cut down a large majority of the leaves yourself, or come back later to realize the leaves haven't decayed yet, leaving an ugly floating blob of leaves which you have to go out of your way to climb up to, just to get a single block of wood.
Meanwhile, in all that time you probably could have chopped down and replanted about 10 small trees.
I wanted to make this thread to discuss this topic. Am I the only one who thinks that small trees are just much more efficient and that large trees are really just nothing more than a major inconvenience? Honestly, if I didn't have to worry about the dangers of forest fires, I'd rather just light big trees on fire so I wouldn't have to worry about manually cutting them down.
If you prefer large trees, what is your technique to cut them down? Is there a much more efficient way of doing it that I'm simply not aware of, or do you just simply have more patience? Do you tactically manipulate the surroundings to try and force big trees to grow, or do you just prefer to get lucky with a sapling in open air?
This is a test, this is only a test.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
As far as I'm aware, most if not all attempts to grow large trees are for aesthetic reasons, not lumber. Otherwise, you're probably very right on all points.
My short story-like journals; quick-and-easy reads:
My Quest for Elytra Complete! (Pic Intense, End-Game Spoilers)
[Journal & Pics] After a Year and a Half, I Finally Found a Jungle
FrozenCore: Hardcore Death; 3/20/15 to 5/3/15; Eight Weeks on a Frozen World in Pictures
What species are you talking about? Oaks, or giant jungle trees and spruces? There's a difference. Generally, large oaks are a pain to harvest, yes, which is why I personally prefer to make tree farms out of birch. Giant jungle trees and spruces aren't so bad; either use the jungle tree's vines to climb to the top, or spiral up stair-case fashion if it's a spruce. You get a ton of wood for minimum effort compared to going from tree to tree harvesting small ones.
Also, in the Realm I play on I grew two giant jungle trees one on top of the other to use as a lookout. Very cool, and also served as a landmark, since it was visible from quite a distance away.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I'm talking about Oak trees. I suppose I never considered that people would be talking about other forms of trees, mainly because most trees with large variants don't really need to be farmed since one giant jungle tree can basically supply you for life. Still, I would like to see if anyone has any useful techniques for cutting down large oak trees more efficiently. They are a massive pain.
This is a test, this is only a test.
boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
Well I usually plant a 5X5 to 10X10 block of saplings so when they've grown up I chop stairs up to the top and start smashing leaves so I find the logs and chop them out and then chop my way to the bottom, collect the saplings and replant. I don't worry too much if I miss a few logs, I'll just get them next time.
Just testing.
I plant jungle trees and don't worry about bone meal because I always have mature trees to farm at any point. I currently have 5 jungle trees and I get about 5 saplings each time I fell one (so I will slowly grow to 6 trees and so on and so forth.) I replant it immediately and move on. It grows back after a few days and it's ready for the next harvest whenever I need it. And cutting them down it a breeze, just climb to the top, crouch, look down and start chopping while rotating. I can bring down a jungle tree in less than a minute and I have more wood than I need for almost any project.
Mintutor now works in 1.13!
MrKite & Mc_Etlam ... I salute you!
If you want, there are some other youtubers that made tutorials about this, but their explanations are less better.[/p]
About the bone meals, you can always do a mob grinder. The same guys in the video made a pretty efficient grinder (not in the video), so you don't have to worry to much about getting theses.[/p] Hope this helped [/p]
What is the purpose of the dome, or is it just cosmetic?
Entirely cosmetic. It has a lighting system at night, has the benefit of allowing me to chop down trees without having to worry about mobs as it has glass floors and is generall spawn proof. I've never been sure whether mobs can spawn on leaves tho ...
Mintutor now works in 1.13!
MrKite & Mc_Etlam ... I salute you!
Very cool regardless. I imagine it took some time to get the dome completely symmetrical?
Heh, when I've made over 316,000 torches, which requires 9,875 logs, and mined about twice as many overall; my main source of wood is large jungle trees since they are the best source of wood in the version I play on (in 1.7 or later I'd prefer large spruces since they do not have branches). 2x2 trees also grow faster since any of the 4 saplings can grow into a tree; just a few large jungle trees can regrow faster than you can cut them down, although they do take up more space; even one is enough for me.
As for oak trees, I just cut down some wild trees around the area and replant them when I need some wood when building a new base; when I need more wood, as when building my main base (all the others are much smaller) I plant them in a row (next to each other) so they grow into a solid wall of wood, which can be staircased up like 2x2 trees.
Here is an example of how I grow oak trees; this is actually two blocks thick so there are 40 trees here (growing trees like this reduces the number of leaves and saplings per tree but you can also plant them in separate 2x2 clusters to simulate 2x2 trees and get more leaves per tree):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
No time at all!
Mintutor now works in 1.13!
MrKite & Mc_Etlam ... I salute you!
Ahhhh, nice!
Nope. They also don't spawn on other semi-transparent blocks suck as glass, stair blocks, or half-slabs in the bottom position.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Are we sure about leaves? I've seen many zombies in trees. I suppose it's very possible they spawned on the wood block.
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Spawn#Spawn_conditions
Make of that what you will, but I thought leaves were considered nonsolid.
I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. I will face my fear. I will let it pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
I grow and harvest both jungle giants and spruce in/over tree harvesting pools that direct the water to a hopper/chest.
That way I lose no saplings.
I do this for one very good reason. I use the wood to make charcoal.
Any coal I mine is used to trade with villagers.
Also it's quite easy to get to the top of a tall tree.
I use sand but you could just as easily use gravel (they both obey the law of gravity).
Place a block next to the tree and place a torch on its side beside the tree trunk.
Now place a block over the torch on the side of the trunk.
Make sure you have adequate axes and inventory space. Also if you're going to stack the trees take dirt, saplings,and bone meal.
Hop up on the upper block and start elevating yourself up the tree breaking foliage as necessary.
When you get to the top you have two options:
1. Stand on one log and start chopping your way down to the bottom.
2. Level off the top, place 4 dirt blocks and 4 saplings, add bone meal until the next tree grows.
I will do this twice, making a triple height tree. The view from the top is AMAZING!
Once you've gotten back to the bottom remove the sand(gravel) block over the torch and all the blocks above will collapse down and can be readily picked up.
There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous people. R.A. Heinlein
If you aren't part of the solution, then you obviously weren't properly dissolved.
The latest release of Amidst, version 4.6 can be found here:
https://github.com/toolbox4minecraft/amidst/releases
You should probably also read this:
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding-java-edition/minecraft-tools/2970854-amidst-map-explorer-for-minecraft-1-14
You can find me on the Minecraft Forums Discord server.
https://discord.gg/wGrQNKX