I have recently been farming massive amounts of wood, birch wood, and pine wood, and I've come to a conclusion;
Birch is the best wood for massive farming. It has downsides, and I will get to those in a moment, but hear me out.
Standard trees can grow with the least vertical space. This amount is as much as you can clear by hand standing on the ground, six air blocks. If you can no longer hit the ceiling, then you have enough for standard trees. This will result in trees that are ALWAYS 4 blocks of wood. Much higher than 6 blocks, and you can get bigger trees, but you have to deal with branches, which can seriously slow mass farming and harvesting efforts.
Pine trees require much more than 6 blocks. A minimum of 8 is required, though they grow faster at 9. There is a downside, however. Pine trees have a variable height with this growth space. Some have only 4 blocks, like standard trees. About a 1/4th or more have 7 blocks of wood. This is great . . . except you have to put down a scaffold to reach the top block. Furthermore, pine trees are very finicky about growing in close proximity to other trees. They need MORE clearance than standard trees (which need NO clearance) or birch (which needs some). Pine never has branches, but can be difficult to reach all of the blocks.
Birch requires 7 blocks of vertical clearance. At this height, they will always provide 5 blocks of wood. With 7 blocks of space, you can always reach the top block, and birch never has branches. So it provides 1 consistant block more of wood per tree, without the hassle of having to climb. This alone does not seem to be much of a benefit, but it has one difference from pine and standard trees. Birch at this height NEVER has leaves covering its trunk. With pine and standard, you have to break through leaves at least half the time, which can get quite annoying. It sounds trivial, but anyone who has harvested several thousand logs can attest to the annoyance of losing double durability for every accidental axe swing through leaves. It saves time and resources, yet provides more wood than standard, and less hassle than pine.
In my opinion, if you intend to leave your farm to grow, THEN harvest, standard trees are still better, because they can grow tightly packed, even touching. However, anyone who has experimented with large tree farms knows that if you wait around and harvest everything that grows, you will be quite busy as well! Birch farms have a faster wood output in this form than standard forms. Both are more efficient than pine, either way.
Summary:
Standard trees-
Pros: Least vertical clearance required
Can grow immediately next to each other
Most saplings (saplings can be used as a coal alternative in large numbers!)
Cons: Leaves cover trunk
Provides least amount of wood unless its a large tree, when-
Branches make harvesting difficult
Birch-
Pros: 2nd least vertical clearance required
Leaves NEVER cover trunk
Consistant and dependable size and wood yield
No branches, ever
Cons: Some distance is required between trees
Less saplings than standard (but more than pine)
Pine -
Pros: Tallest trees, lots of wood output
No branches, ever
Cons: Requires a LOT of vertical clearance
Leaves occasionally cover trunk (not as often as standard trees)
Size and wood output unreliable. Sometimes need a scaffold to harvest it all
Lowest sapling output
Finicky growth; needs lots of horizontal clearance
I don't know, I just try to find ways of being efficient, an as I am harvesting thousands of birch, I'm finding its collecting MUCH faster than regular or pine (which I did yesterday). I figured I'd share!
I concur. I first started using birch trees when I realized their leaves were never below walking clearance. Everything else just convinced me more to abandon other woods as I used them more.
I have them all planted next to each other in the shot, but it's mostly just so they can grow while I'm clearing what's already grown. Originally I had them all 2 blocks away from each other. While like that, 100% of them will grow while I'm afk for a while.
I find this intriguing though output is mostly aimed at plank production, people still plant the other trees with reason(I still need pine sadly, but i guess my standard tree farm isn't optimized for it).
But when i need planks, this is a good to know thanks. :biggrin.gif:
I find this intriguing though output is mostly aimed at plank production, people still plant the other trees with reason(I still need pine sadly, but i guess my standard tree farm isn't optimized for it).
But when i need planks, this is a good to know thanks. :biggrin.gif:
Haha, I agree entirely. Unfortunately, I LOVE natural wood, and my favorite is pine. Figures!
when trees grow to 7 blocks, it is true that you cannot reach the top block, but no extra effort is required.
Just leave the bottom block of the tree for last, and then you can reach to the top.
this is the tallest birch ever grows, so no scaffolding is required even if there is no height restriction.
when trees grow to 7 blocks, it is true that you cannot reach the top block, but no extra effort is required.
Just leave the bottom block of the tree for last, and then you can reach to the top.
this is the tallest birch ever grows, so no scaffolding is required even if there is no height restriction.
beat me to it smee
i always save the bottom block for last on any tree
Thanks for this, Kastrel. I really enjoy your opinions especially when it comes to farming. Would you mind posting a picture of your birch tree farm? (+1)
Edit: You're not Kiershar, but you are as awesome! Shows what happens when you post too late on the forums. :dry.gif:
Birch is my preferred wood, branches are a massively slow thing to deal with, Right now though I'm working in a tundra and need pine logs... god it's a pain without setting up a special scaffold.
Birch is the best wood for massive farming. It has downsides, and I will get to those in a moment, but hear me out.
Standard trees can grow with the least vertical space. This amount is as much as you can clear by hand standing on the ground, six air blocks. If you can no longer hit the ceiling, then you have enough for standard trees. This will result in trees that are ALWAYS 4 blocks of wood. Much higher than 6 blocks, and you can get bigger trees, but you have to deal with branches, which can seriously slow mass farming and harvesting efforts.
Pine trees require much more than 6 blocks. A minimum of 8 is required, though they grow faster at 9. There is a downside, however. Pine trees have a variable height with this growth space. Some have only 4 blocks, like standard trees. About a 1/4th or more have 7 blocks of wood. This is great . . . except you have to put down a scaffold to reach the top block. Furthermore, pine trees are very finicky about growing in close proximity to other trees. They need MORE clearance than standard trees (which need NO clearance) or birch (which needs some). Pine never has branches, but can be difficult to reach all of the blocks.
Birch requires 7 blocks of vertical clearance. At this height, they will always provide 5 blocks of wood. With 7 blocks of space, you can always reach the top block, and birch never has branches. So it provides 1 consistant block more of wood per tree, without the hassle of having to climb. This alone does not seem to be much of a benefit, but it has one difference from pine and standard trees. Birch at this height NEVER has leaves covering its trunk. With pine and standard, you have to break through leaves at least half the time, which can get quite annoying. It sounds trivial, but anyone who has harvested several thousand logs can attest to the annoyance of losing double durability for every accidental axe swing through leaves. It saves time and resources, yet provides more wood than standard, and less hassle than pine.
In my opinion, if you intend to leave your farm to grow, THEN harvest, standard trees are still better, because they can grow tightly packed, even touching. However, anyone who has experimented with large tree farms knows that if you wait around and harvest everything that grows, you will be quite busy as well! Birch farms have a faster wood output in this form than standard forms. Both are more efficient than pine, either way.
Summary:
Standard trees-
Pros: Least vertical clearance required
Can grow immediately next to each other
Most saplings (saplings can be used as a coal alternative in large numbers!)
Cons: Leaves cover trunk
Provides least amount of wood unless its a large tree, when-
Branches make harvesting difficult
Birch-
Pros: 2nd least vertical clearance required
Leaves NEVER cover trunk
Consistant and dependable size and wood yield
No branches, ever
Cons: Some distance is required between trees
Less saplings than standard (but more than pine)
Pine -
Pros: Tallest trees, lots of wood output
No branches, ever
Cons: Requires a LOT of vertical clearance
Leaves occasionally cover trunk (not as often as standard trees)
Size and wood output unreliable. Sometimes need a scaffold to harvest it all
Lowest sapling output
Finicky growth; needs lots of horizontal clearance
Hahaha, I'm glad to entertain.
I don't know, I just try to find ways of being efficient, an as I am harvesting thousands of birch, I'm finding its collecting MUCH faster than regular or pine (which I did yesterday). I figured I'd share!
Hahaha, he's got a point. :biggrin.gif:
I found your post interesting. Nice!
I have them all planted next to each other in the shot, but it's mostly just so they can grow while I'm clearing what's already grown. Originally I had them all 2 blocks away from each other. While like that, 100% of them will grow while I'm afk for a while.
Respond regardless.
I don't know the exact horizontal clearance, but the seven blocks includes the sapling. Seven blocks of air from the floor the ceiling.
But when i need planks, this is a good to know thanks. :biggrin.gif:
Haha, I agree entirely. Unfortunately, I LOVE natural wood, and my favorite is pine. Figures!
Ha. One time, when I went on a wood collecting expedition, I collected so many saplings I had no choice but to use them as fuel!
when trees grow to 7 blocks, it is true that you cannot reach the top block, but no extra effort is required.
Just leave the bottom block of the tree for last, and then you can reach to the top.
this is the tallest birch ever grows, so no scaffolding is required even if there is no height restriction.
beat me to it smee
i always save the bottom block for last on any tree
♣♦♠♥
Former King of Alesgan
Edit: You're not Kiershar, but you are as awesome! Shows what happens when you post too late on the forums. :dry.gif:
I think you're the equivalent to Jesus in Minecraft. You know what's up.
Revelations, bro.