I have been out of action for the last year because my poor old Xbox died after seven long years of faithful service. I am told that may be a record for a first gen Xbox 360.
Anyway, I finally got a new one and quickly fell in love with most the changes made over the last year, many I have yet to discover. But I am having an issue with something that has always vexed me. That is how to create a productive pumpkin & melon farm. It seems like I always have either too much water or not enough and the blasted things just refuse to grow. Any suggestions?
well since you are talking about ones that are rooted via a stalk. Really it is rather simple.
The stalks themselves take a long time to grow. bonemeal quickens at least this process. Once the stalks are fully grown, you should have an adjacent space ready for the melon in question to appear. Really you only need water near the stalk itself. Lighting might be the issue as well.
Which part is not growing, the stalk or the actual melon. If you are referring to the stalk, then make sure there is enough light for it. In sunlight they grow the fastest, but torchlight a little less. dirt or sand for the melon itself to spawn on. That might help.
Really that is all I can think of without making it semi-automated. hope some of this helps.:)
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My First World, always getting back to is a pleasure I enjoy with each new update that brings in more things to add in.
I seem to have issues with both the shall and the fruit. Stalks seem to take a game week or more to mature, and once mature, they only produce 1 fruit a week, some times longer if I have too much or little water. I can't seem to find the water balance. If I have water in an adjacent block, they won't bore, but if water is a block or more away they don't seem to grow either. If water is too close, they stay bright green sprouts. And if too far away they turn brown and still don't grow.
I have not monitored the length of time for vines to mature... but all of my melon/pumpkin farms seem to produce at least one a game day, sometimes more.. this have ranged from just planting the seed at the shore line.. to one water source block with seeds planted all around (8 plants).. then another ring of plants 4 blocks away from the water source.. 4 being the maximum range for the earth to stay tilled and hydrated
I only bother hoeing the blocks that I plant the seed in... I've seen some say to till the squares that the melon will grow onto.. but it never mattered in my worlds..
When I first start my melon plantings, it seems like it takes ages for the vine to grow, then for the melons to start... kind of like the longer time goes the faster the melons grow back...
I have not tested it out completely.. but it does feel like all of my crops grow slower when I am not in the area.. like maybe within 64 blocks.. its like the game is not updating the farming as quickly if the chunks are not being reloaded.. then again.. I'm not positive... I thought about testing with a redstone clock left running in the area, thinking that might force updates???
Really water doesn't have much baring on growth, beyond being close enough to grow. The melon itself doesn't need water; all it needs is a spot to appear on.
In my experience, it is like the person above somewhat. Minus the time away. The chunks will stay loaded as long as it is within the same game session. Once I save and quite I would have to make sure that they are loaded into memory. This is one of the advantages of the console version, that there is no unloading of chunks during play.
However it appears like they are not, even when they are. The growth is in a way random, so like a few plots of wheat will randomly grow with each passing tick, and eventually be fully grown. They don't always grow at the same speed, as that itself is random between probably a range I would think.
Now onto what I have experienced with melons:
i plant a row of the stalk, leaving a space next to each for the melon. The water is on the opposite side of the stalk forming a row as well. I usually end up surrounding the whole thing in a fence. I have 2 rows actually. the plot where melons grow I skip a space and designate another melon row. Then till another row for the stalks, then water again. That in itself is more than enough water. I also have a tendency to put torches on the fence to keep lit. During the night melons do not grow, so this does help in the long run.
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f = fence, w = water, s = stalk/tilled dirt, m = dirt/sand for melon, x = space (any block), g = fence gate
That is roughly how I have it setup, especially when converting a villager farmland. Which is what I have done, although I took it even further to make it semi-automated with pistons, but that is not necessary for them to grow.
For me the more stalks you have, the more you will end up with growing; and quite quickly I might add. If you are trying only a few (1-4) it will take a bit for them to grow.
On that same world my original pumpkin farm was only 2 stalks. That was:
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This is just surrounded by wall, except where the x is. I had used torches at first placed on the wall above the stalks. The water actually was put under the wall. Eventually I put jack o lanterns above in the ceiling. This crop of two was obviously done inside a mountain base of mine.
Those 2 still took a while before they grew. Once they started though, it was roughly random between a day or 2 before they would grow again. In game days.
I do find it though the closer you are the more liable they will grow, which below those two I would have habit to work my branch mine way below. Of course the village converted crop I had no problems with as that is a lot of pumpkins, and had tendency to grow more often due to how many stalks. So it is more like the more stalks the more chances it will grow quickly.
That is my experience with melons. Both pumpkins and melons grow about the same, and do grow with the same method. Like I was saying before, it is best to have a light source near the stalks in order to have them grow more often, even if they are done outside a cave. Although inside a cave, light is needed for even to plant the seeds.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
My First World, always getting back to is a pleasure I enjoy with each new update that brings in more things to add in.
As Tamorr said, what determines growth is not water, but random game ticks... like rolling the dice. It's much the same with trees in my tree farm... they can suddenly all grow at once very quickly or they can seem to take forever. The more you plant, the better the odds that the game will :"tick" growth on at least some of them.
oddly enough, i don't seeem to have any issues growing anything other than melons and pimpkins. if i plant trees, i can pretty much count them poping up the game day after i plant them unless it rains, then they grow the next sunny day. and wheat seems pretty consistant, too. i haven't had a chance to work with carrots or potatoes yet, but by observing the nearby villiage farms, they seem to grow pretty good, too. melons & pumpkins, though are a completely story.i planted a pumpkin farm with over 200 seeds experimenting with water distance from the stalk. i planted a row of 20 right on the water's edge. left 2 rows blank, made a water ditch, skipped a block then planted 20, i even tried to dig a 2 block deep ditch, fill it 1 block full of water, put blocks over the water and planted on them, or near them. it seemed no mater what i did, only about 3 out of 20 stalks would even grow, and of the ones that did grow, they would only produce frout maybe once every 2 - 3 hours real time (and that is with me just parking the AV in the middle of the field and going on to something else for a few hours.
I usually build all my farms in a manner similar to what Tammoe described
F G F F F F F F F F F F G F
F X P X X P W P X X P X F
and so on, this seems to work well with wheat, and once with melons and pumpkins.most of the time i just copy or expand villiage farms depending on my needs. i guess i will just build a maga farm and just harvewsst what does grow. thanks for the help. i just cant help but think i am doing something wrong somewhere.
It may boil down to the concept that "randomness" within a computer program is never really truly random - it's programmed like everything else... so, there may indeed be something in the program that, perhaps combined with your particular seed string, makes it mathematically a little less likely that your pumpkins and melons will receive growth ticks - who knows. I doubt it's something that you're doing wrong, but when something is not working... always a good idea to try something a little different. If there is a "trend" I've noticed in my worlds, it's that the longer I operate and harvest a farm, the faster everything seems to grow. It could be merely because I tend to keep enlarging them, but maybe it just takes a few harvests for the game to recognize the area as a "farm"... and maybe it allots more growth ticks to areas it recognizes are farms. Don't know.
I just do a trough of water, 15 long, 2 rows of tilled land, one on each side of the trough, and a row of dirt adjacent to each of those (for the pumpkins or melons to drop on).
I surround that with a perimeter of gravel, then another perimeter of cobblestone and fencing, with a gate wherever it makes the most sense. Keeps grass from growing on the dirt, and animals from trampling or spawning inside (as long as dirt blocks have no grass). You can walk around the farm inside the fence on the gravel.
I have no issues with speed of production. I'll usually have one row of pumpkins and one of melons.
I have been out of action for the last year because my poor old Xbox died after seven long years of faithful service. I am told that may be a record for a first gen Xbox 360.
Anyway, I finally got a new one and quickly fell in love with most the changes made over the last year, many I have yet to discover. But I am having an issue with something that has always vexed me. That is how to create a productive pumpkin & melon farm. It seems like I always have either too much water or not enough and the blasted things just refuse to grow. Any suggestions?
The stalks themselves take a long time to grow. bonemeal quickens at least this process. Once the stalks are fully grown, you should have an adjacent space ready for the melon in question to appear. Really you only need water near the stalk itself. Lighting might be the issue as well.
Which part is not growing, the stalk or the actual melon. If you are referring to the stalk, then make sure there is enough light for it. In sunlight they grow the fastest, but torchlight a little less. dirt or sand for the melon itself to spawn on. That might help.
Really that is all I can think of without making it semi-automated. hope some of this helps.:)
I only bother hoeing the blocks that I plant the seed in... I've seen some say to till the squares that the melon will grow onto.. but it never mattered in my worlds..
When I first start my melon plantings, it seems like it takes ages for the vine to grow, then for the melons to start... kind of like the longer time goes the faster the melons grow back...
I have not tested it out completely.. but it does feel like all of my crops grow slower when I am not in the area.. like maybe within 64 blocks.. its like the game is not updating the farming as quickly if the chunks are not being reloaded.. then again.. I'm not positive... I thought about testing with a redstone clock left running in the area, thinking that might force updates???
In my experience, it is like the person above somewhat. Minus the time away. The chunks will stay loaded as long as it is within the same game session. Once I save and quite I would have to make sure that they are loaded into memory. This is one of the advantages of the console version, that there is no unloading of chunks during play.
However it appears like they are not, even when they are. The growth is in a way random, so like a few plots of wheat will randomly grow with each passing tick, and eventually be fully grown. They don't always grow at the same speed, as that itself is random between probably a range I would think.
Now onto what I have experienced with melons:
i plant a row of the stalk, leaving a space next to each for the melon. The water is on the opposite side of the stalk forming a row as well. I usually end up surrounding the whole thing in a fence. I have 2 rows actually. the plot where melons grow I skip a space and designate another melon row. Then till another row for the stalks, then water again. That in itself is more than enough water. I also have a tendency to put torches on the fence to keep lit. During the night melons do not grow, so this does help in the long run.
- ffffgffff
- fwsmxmswf
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- fwsmxmswf
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- ffffgffff
f = fence, w = water, s = stalk/tilled dirt, m = dirt/sand for melon, x = space (any block), g = fence gateThat is roughly how I have it setup, especially when converting a villager farmland. Which is what I have done, although I took it even further to make it semi-automated with pistons, but that is not necessary for them to grow.
For me the more stalks you have, the more you will end up with growing; and quite quickly I might add. If you are trying only a few (1-4) it will take a bit for them to grow.
On that same world my original pumpkin farm was only 2 stalks. That was:
- wsmx
- wsmx
This is just surrounded by wall, except where the x is. I had used torches at first placed on the wall above the stalks. The water actually was put under the wall. Eventually I put jack o lanterns above in the ceiling. This crop of two was obviously done inside a mountain base of mine.Those 2 still took a while before they grew. Once they started though, it was roughly random between a day or 2 before they would grow again. In game days.
I do find it though the closer you are the more liable they will grow, which below those two I would have habit to work my branch mine way below. Of course the village converted crop I had no problems with as that is a lot of pumpkins, and had tendency to grow more often due to how many stalks. So it is more like the more stalks the more chances it will grow quickly.
That is my experience with melons. Both pumpkins and melons grow about the same, and do grow with the same method. Like I was saying before, it is best to have a light source near the stalks in order to have them grow more often, even if they are done outside a cave. Although inside a cave, light is needed for even to plant the seeds.
I usually build all my farms in a manner similar to what Tammoe described
F G F F F F F F F F F F G F
F X P X X P W P X X P X F
and so on, this seems to work well with wheat, and once with melons and pumpkins.most of the time i just copy or expand villiage farms depending on my needs. i guess i will just build a maga farm and just harvewsst what does grow. thanks for the help. i just cant help but think i am doing something wrong somewhere.
DTWTD (Dirt, Tilled, Water, Tilled, Dirt)
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I surround that with a perimeter of gravel, then another perimeter of cobblestone and fencing, with a gate wherever it makes the most sense. Keeps grass from growing on the dirt, and animals from trampling or spawning inside (as long as dirt blocks have no grass). You can walk around the farm inside the fence on the gravel.
I have no issues with speed of production. I'll usually have one row of pumpkins and one of melons.