Sapling

A sapling is a non-solid block that can be grown into a tree.

## Obtaining

### Breaking

Saplings can be broken instantly using any tool, including the player's fist, and always drop themselves.

Mangrove propagules can also be broken instantly using any tool, including the player's fist, but only blocks with block states `hanging=false` always drop themselves. When `hanging=true`, depending on the age, the chance of drop is different. On `age=0-3`, they drop nothing. But on `age=4`, they have a chance to drop themselves.

### Natural generation

**Spruce**
Potted spruce saplings generate in taiga and snowy taiga‌[*BE only*] village mason houses.

**Birch**
Potted birch saplings generate in a room in woodland mansions.

**Dark oak**
58 dark oak saplings generate naturally in a "sapling farm room" in woodland mansions. 28 dark oak saplings are also found inside a chest in that room.

**Acacia**
2 acacia saplings generate in front of each savanna village library.

**Mangrove propagule**
Hanging mangrove propagules generate under leaf blocks of mangrove trees that spawn in mangrove swamps.

### Chest loot

Chests generated in NPC Villages may contain Saplings.

### Leaves

When leaves decay, or are broken by any tool except shears, they have a 5% chance of dropping a sapling, except for jungle leaves, which have a 2.5% chance of dropping a sapling. The Fortune enchantment increases the rate to 6.25% (2.78% for jungle leaves) at level I, 8.33% (3.125% for jungle leaves) at level II, and 10% (4.17% for jungle leaves) at level III.

### Post-generation

Applying bone meal to a block of mangrove leaves with a space underneath produces a hanging mangrove propagule with `age=0`. At default random tick speed (3), a hanging mangrove propagule adds 1 unit of age every few game ticks. Applying bonemeal also increments the age. A mangrove propagule cannot be placed manually below mangrove leaves.

### Trading

Each type of sapling is sold by the wandering trader for 5 emeralds.

## Usage

### Growing trees

See also: Tree

Saplings come in eleven varieties, one for each of the eleven trees: oak, birch, spruce, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove (propagule), Hawthorn, Holly, Baobab, and Palm.

Tree saplings have two growth stages (with no visible difference between them) before growing into trees. When a tree is to be grown, a height is chosen and then the ground and space are checked; if the ground is bad or there is not space for the chosen height, the tree does not grow. Bone meal can be used to speed up the growth of the sapling, even to grow the tree without sufficient light.

Tree saplings can grow into trees when placed on all variants of dirt (except dirt paths) or moss blocks. Additionally, mangrove propagules can be placed on mud. The sapling requires a light level of at least 9, and require a certain volume of space above the sapling, based on its type:

* Oak needs at least 5 spaces above (3×3 column) to grow normally. If a block is present in the growth space (but not directly above the sapling), the tree still grows, but is forced to grow a large variant.
* Birch needs at least 6 spaces above (3×3 column).
* Spruce needs at least 6 spaces above (5×5 column) when placing a single sapling.
	+ Giant spruce needs at least 14 spaces above (6x6 column) when planted as 4 saplings in a 2×2 square. Also requires the 4x4 area centered on the saplings at the same level to be empty.
* Jungle needs at least 5 spaces above (3×3 column) when placing a single sapling.
	+ Giant jungle needs at least 11 spaces above (6×6 column) when planted as 4 saplings in a 2×2 square. Also requires the 4x4 area centered on the saplings at the same level to be empty.
* Acacia needs at least 6 spaces above (5×5 column).
* Dark oak needs at least 7 spaces above (6×6 column) and must be planted as 4 saplings in a 2×2 square.
* Mangrove needs at least 6 spaces above the propagule. It also requires at least one block (other than mud) north, east, south, and west of the block it is growing on, within one block vertically. The height of the tree depends on how far the roots can spread horizontally. The roots can spread up to 5 blocks away from the propagule.
* Hawthorn needs at least 6 spaces above (3×3 column).
* Holly needs at least 6 spaces above (5×5 column) when placing a single sapling.
* Baobab needs at least 7 spaces above (6×6 column) and must be planted as 4 saplings in a 2×2 square.
* Palm needs at least 6 spaces above (3×3 column).

In addition:

* Saplings can grow only if a player is within a certain radius, even in loaded chunks. For oak saplings, this check applies to individual blocks; for dark oak, acacia and birch, it applies to each chunk.
* A spruce or jungle sapling cannot grow if it is part of a 2×2 square of saplings that doesn't meet the requirements for a giant tree.
	+ Except for giant jungle and giant spruce (as noted above), sapling growth is not affected by nearby blocks on the same level as the sapling(s).
* A hanging mangrove propagule cannot grow into a tree.

Dirt blocks in the space above the sapling are an exception. Dirt blocks do not stop the sapling from growing. For most tree types, including giant versions, the dirt remains in place and the rest of the tree generates normally around it (it is possible to grow a tree that contains only one log block at the original sapling location, with a column of dirt above where the rest of the trunk should be and leaves spreading out from it). For the large variant of oak trees, the dirt blocks are replaced with log blocks wherever they would normally occur. In *Java Edition*, all types of log block and wood block and their stripped versions are also treated like dirt blocks (they don't stop growth). In Bedrock Edition, log and wood blocks are treated like other block types and stop the sapling from growing if they are above it.

When a sapling on a grass block grows into a tree, the grass block becomes a dirt block.

### Bee nests

Oak and birch trees grown from saplings that are within 2 blocks of any flower, flowering azalea‌[*JE only*] or flowering azalea leaves‌[*JE only*] have a 5% chance to grow with a bee nest and 1-3 bees in it.

### Bees

Bees engage in a pollinating behavior with mangrove propagules, increasing the honey level in beehives and bee nests by 1.

### Decoration

Any kind of tree sapling can be placed in a flower pot.

### Fuel

Tree saplings can be used as a fuel in furnaces, smelting 0.5 items per sapling.

### Composting

Placing a sapling into a composter has a 30% chance of raising the compost level by 1. A stack of saplings yields an average of 2.74 bonemeal.

## See Also

Items

Trees