I've been trying to grow giant jungle trees. I have been planting 4 saplings in a 2x2 shape and splashing the north west sapling with bone meal. It has worked only 4 times out of countless attempts.
Just that if you are playing in the snapshots there is a bug that stops some trees from growing if there are solid blocks anywhere above them (though I think that was just single sapling trees.)
And in some Minecraft versions trees won't grow if the north west sapling is on farmland.
--
Oh yeah!
I forgot, also, in the snapshots some trees are really really picky about having enough space around them, even tall grass can block them.
If I counted blocks correctly, the tree on right in your screenshot is about 17 blocks high. Wiki says they can grow to about 32 so this is a bit over half. Still, your percentage cited seems low, I generally get about 20% or more getting about 25 blocks in height.
Bugs aside, jungle trees require that all blocks around the northwest sapling be air, saplings, leaves, wood, grass blocks, or dirt - anything else, even tall grass, will prevent the tree from growing (note: this is the list of non-obstructing blocks as of 1.6.4, I don't know if it has since changed):
2×2 jungle trees require a 5×5 column of unobstructed space at least 11 blocks above the saplings to grow (12 blocks including the saplings themselves). This column is centered on the northwestern sapling. A 3×3 area is required at the base of the tree (the level of the saplings).
Partly due to this I always plant jungle trees with a 1 block border around them, as shown here, ensuring that there is nothing obstructing them (note that double tall plants may count as an obstruction so you need to be sure there isn't any within 2 blocks of the northwestern sapling):
Also, I don't see the OP saying anything about the height; they just say that only 4 attempts out of however many bonemeal worked (this makes it sound as if they are working, just taking more attempts than expected; each attempt has a 45% chance of advancing the growth stage by one so it should take 4-5 attempts on average. Also, any sapling can be bonemealed (or should be able to) with equal chances of growing when any one sapling reaches its final stage. This means that 2x2 trees naturally grow faster than other types (the Wiki claims that dark oaks grow the fastest but 2x2 jungle trees also grow just as quickly; when harvesting the 6 trees shown above, replanting them as the saplings fall, they usually start regrowing before I'm done with the last one, using an Efficiency V diamond axe).
Bugs aside, jungle trees require that all blocks around the northwest sapling be air, saplings, leaves, wood, grass blocks, or dirt - anything else, even tall grass, will prevent the tree from growing (note: this is the list of non-obstructing blocks as of 1.6.4, I don't know if it has since changed):
Also, I don't see the OP saying anything about the height; they just say that only 4 attempts out of however many bonemeal worked (this makes it sound as if they are working, just taking more attempts than expected; each attempt has a 45% chance of advancing the growth stage by one so it should take 4-5 attempts on average. Also, any sapling can be bonemealed (or should be able to) with equal chances of growing when any one sapling reaches its final stage. This means that 2x2 trees naturally grow faster than other types (the Wiki claims that dark oaks grow the fastest but 2x2 jungle trees also grow just as quickly; when harvesting the 6 trees shown above, replanting them as the saplings fall, they usually start regrowing before I'm done with the last one, using an Efficiency V diamond axe).
Never tested growth rate, but I generally plant about a dozen trees of a type so I can harvest more effecintly, and often get some grown as I plant. I also always clear a collar around the saplings of all tall grass, etc.
Your statement about 2x2 trees growing faster, I wonder if that is true of the mega spruce trees also?
Your statement about 2x2 trees growing faster, I wonder if that is true of the mega spruce trees also?
Yes, as all saplings have the exact same growth characteristics - every block tick (once every 68.27 seconds on average) has a 1 in 7 chance of advancing the growth stage (2 stages), which comes out to an average of about 16 minutes for a single sapling. Also, I wrote a simple program to measure the growth rate with multiple saplings so I could adjust the growth rates of larger trees in TMCW (I made larger trees grow more slowly to offset their increased size, which includes 3x3 trees with 500-600 logs per tree, so I wanted to know how quickly they grew):
Tree with 1 saplings took an average of 13.995271 ticks to grow
Minimum time was 2 ticks and maximum time was 119 ticks
Tree with 4 saplings took an average of 6.261931 ticks to grow
Minimum time was 2 ticks and maximum time was 38 ticks
Tree with 9 saplings took an average of 4.283516 ticks to grow
Minimum time was 2 ticks and maximum time was 20 ticks
Note that the minimum time in all cases is 2 ticks, which can happen in a single game tick since the game randomly ticks 3 blocks per chunk section, which can be the same block more than once. The worst-case time for 1 sapling represents a real-world time of more than 2 hours; the following is the same simulation but with the failure rate for bonemeal used instead:
Tree with 1 saplings took an average of 4.444406 ticks to grow
Minimum time was 2 ticks and maximum time was 30 ticks
This indicates a worst-case of 30 bonemeal needed to grow a sapling (this was out of 1 million runs so it is very unlikely, but still possible, to be higher. The number of saplings per tree doesn't matter as long as only one is bonemealed. Of course, there can be additional attempts required in either case if the tree doesn't have enough room to grow, such as when you restrict their height).
I've been trying to grow giant jungle trees. I have been planting 4 saplings in a 2x2 shape and splashing the north west sapling with bone meal. It has worked only 4 times out of countless attempts.
Are there any suggestions?
Just that if you are playing in the snapshots there is a bug that stops some trees from growing if there are solid blocks anywhere above them (though I think that was just single sapling trees.)
And in some Minecraft versions trees won't grow if the north west sapling is on farmland.
--
Oh yeah!
I forgot, also, in the snapshots some trees are really really picky about having enough space around them, even tall grass can block them.
Just testing.
If I counted blocks correctly, the tree on right in your screenshot is about 17 blocks high. Wiki says they can grow to about 32 so this is a bit over half. Still, your percentage cited seems low, I generally get about 20% or more getting about 25 blocks in height.
Learn something new each day
Bugs aside, jungle trees require that all blocks around the northwest sapling be air, saplings, leaves, wood, grass blocks, or dirt - anything else, even tall grass, will prevent the tree from growing (note: this is the list of non-obstructing blocks as of 1.6.4, I don't know if it has since changed):
Partly due to this I always plant jungle trees with a 1 block border around them, as shown here, ensuring that there is nothing obstructing them (note that double tall plants may count as an obstruction so you need to be sure there isn't any within 2 blocks of the northwestern sapling):
Also, I don't see the OP saying anything about the height; they just say that only 4 attempts out of however many bonemeal worked (this makes it sound as if they are working, just taking more attempts than expected; each attempt has a 45% chance of advancing the growth stage by one so it should take 4-5 attempts on average. Also, any sapling can be bonemealed (or should be able to) with equal chances of growing when any one sapling reaches its final stage. This means that 2x2 trees naturally grow faster than other types (the Wiki claims that dark oaks grow the fastest but 2x2 jungle trees also grow just as quickly; when harvesting the 6 trees shown above, replanting them as the saplings fall, they usually start regrowing before I'm done with the last one, using an Efficiency V diamond axe).
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?
Never tested growth rate, but I generally plant about a dozen trees of a type so I can harvest more effecintly, and often get some grown as I plant. I also always clear a collar around the saplings of all tall grass, etc.
Your statement about 2x2 trees growing faster, I wonder if that is true of the mega spruce trees also?
Learn something new each day
Yes, as all saplings have the exact same growth characteristics - every block tick (once every 68.27 seconds on average) has a 1 in 7 chance of advancing the growth stage (2 stages), which comes out to an average of about 16 minutes for a single sapling. Also, I wrote a simple program to measure the growth rate with multiple saplings so I could adjust the growth rates of larger trees in TMCW (I made larger trees grow more slowly to offset their increased size, which includes 3x3 trees with 500-600 logs per tree, so I wanted to know how quickly they grew):
Note that the minimum time in all cases is 2 ticks, which can happen in a single game tick since the game randomly ticks 3 blocks per chunk section, which can be the same block more than once. The worst-case time for 1 sapling represents a real-world time of more than 2 hours; the following is the same simulation but with the failure rate for bonemeal used instead:
This indicates a worst-case of 30 bonemeal needed to grow a sapling (this was out of 1 million runs so it is very unlikely, but still possible, to be higher. The number of saplings per tree doesn't matter as long as only one is bonemealed. Of course, there can be additional attempts required in either case if the tree doesn't have enough room to grow, such as when you restrict their height).
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?