A sugarcane farm is a great way to automatically produce various resources. Nowadays, there are exciting Redstone blocks that make this process easy for you. You just need to set up the farm, and it will do the work on its own. Additionally, it can be expanded infinitely, so there are no limits for you. But why do you actually need so much sugarcane in Minecraft? We will also look at different application examples and provide you with one of the simplest guides to building your own sugarcane farm in Minecraft!
Minecraft Sugarcane: What You Need It For and How to Harvest It
Sugarcane is a green block naturally found in the world of Minecraft. It grows mainly along the coast and can be found on both grass and sand. The climate makes no difference, as it can also grow next to an ice block. However, it appears more frequently in swamps and deserts. Naturally occurring sugarcane grows up to three blocks high. In very rare cases, there are ones that grow four blocks high.
You can harvest sugarcane with a simple punch and take it with you. It can only be replanted next to a direct water source. It must be placed on a variation of dirt or sand to grow. While it must grow naturally in the Java Edition, you can use bone meal in the Bedrock Edition.
Sugarcane has two different recipes: paper and sugar! But what can you craft from them?
Sugar:
- Books
- Banner pattern
- Cartography table
- Map
- Rockets
Paper:
- Cake
- Fermented spider eye
- Pumpkin pie
- Brewing potions
Building a Minecraft Sugarcane Farm: Step-by-Step Guide for an Automatic Farm
Most of the sugarcane you will likely need for paper, whether for books or rockets. But waiting and harvesting yourself is definitely not helpful and can take a long time. This is where the automatic sugarcane farm comes into play! It is really easy to build, and you don’t need extensive knowledge of Redstone. Once the farm is built, you can expand and customize it as you like.
Materials for Building Your Sugarcane Farm
- Building materials
- Glass
- Water bucket
- Some sugarcane
- Hoppers
- Chest
- Mud (alternatively dirt and water bottles)
- Redstone dust
- Pistons
- Observers
Detailed Guide: How to Build Your Minecraft Sugarcane Farm
1. Digging the Trench
We’ll show you a small version of the farm, but you can expand it according to your own ideas. First, set your parameters. A channel two blocks wide and a kind of trench is the prerequisite and helps to keep the design as compact as possible. You can embed the whole thing in the ground or, like us, surround it with any building blocks. We have chosen a length of 8 blocks.
2. Collection Station and Mud
Then fill in the trench. The deeper side is for the hoppers that will later collect the sugarcane and direct it into a chest. You probably know this mechanism from our other farms. The larger the farm, the more iron you need. But you don’t have to overdo it.
Now let’s take a closer look at the mud block, as it is used above the hoppers. One of the most interesting features of mud is that it is not a full block. When you walk over it, you’ll notice that your character sinks a little. This also happens with items lying on the mud. The sugarcane is practically pulled through the mud into the hoppers, which not only saves space but makes your farm 100% efficient! Nothing is lost, and the sugarcane can grow undisturbed on it.
But where do you get mud? Well, you can find it in the mangrove swamp biome and harvest it there. You can also use dirt, coarse dirt, or rooted dirt with a water bottle to obtain mud. A super simple technique that allows you to quickly and easily produce mud without necessarily having to search for a biome.
Place the mud over the hoppers. Fill the trench next to it with water so that the sugarcane can grow.
3. Redstone
Now let’s take care of the Redstone, which is really not difficult. First, place a row of blocks above the water and behind it. Then have your pistons ready and attach them to the blocks above the water source. The wooden head of the pistons must point in the direction of the mud, where the sugarcane will grow later.
Then lay a row of Redstone behind the pistons. These will then transmit the signal. A direct source is not necessary; the observer takes care of that. This cool Redstone component reacts to changes and emits a Redstone signal based on them. And the piston below reacts to that.
Observers are made from Redstone, cobblestone, and quartz, so you need to go to the Nether. You can learn more about this in one of our articles on the topic (Surviving Minecraft Nether: Tips and Tricks for Experienced Players) . The block has a funny face and must also point in the direction of the mud. When placing them, it’s best to do it from behind, as observers always face away from you.
Then you need to place a row of blocks behind the observers to relay the signal downwards. Test the whole thing by placing a block in front of the observer’s face. It should detect the change, and the piston should briefly extend. This is how it will work with the sugarcane later. Repeat the process for all other fields.
4. Final Touches
The farm is actually ready to use now! You can plant your sugarcane on the mud at the bottom and let it grow slowly. Fill the rest of the farm with a block of your choice. Glass is always a good option because you can observe if everything is working. Use full glass blocks so that nothing is left on the edge. Voilà, your sugarcane farm is complete!
When the sugarcane grows and reaches a height of three blocks, the observer will detect it and extend the piston. This breaks the sugarcane, and it falls through the mud into the hoppers below. The good thing about this design is that only the piston underneath is activated, not the ones next to it.
Conclusion: Automatic Sugarcane Farm in Minecraft for Endless Harvest
A sugarcane farm is a must-have for every good Minecraft world! With the help of an observer, it can now be operated completely automatically, so you just need to build it and wait for your harvest. In the end, you’ll probably have more sugarcane than you can use. Use it for books, cakes, or fireworks. Produce endless sugarcane on your own server and keep control over your resources. Rent your Minecraft server and build efficiently!
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