Table of Contents
Who this is for: Minecraft players wanting to establish sustainable sugarcane farms for crafting paper, books, and other essential items.
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Finding and Planting Sugarcane
Sugarcane naturally spawns near water sources in most biomes, appearing as tall green stalks. You’ll often find it along riverbanks, lake shores, or ocean coastlines. Once you locate some, simply break the bottom block with any tool or your hand – the entire stalk will drop as items.
To plant sugarcane, you need two essential conditions: the block must be placed on grass, dirt, sand, or red sand, and there must be water directly adjacent to it (not diagonally). The water can be a natural source block, flowing water, or even a single water bucket placement.
Growth Mechanics and Timing
Sugarcane grows automatically without any player intervention, reaching a maximum height of three blocks. Each growth stage takes an average of 18 minutes in real-time, though this can vary due to random tick mechanics. The plant grows from bottom to top, so you’ll see the middle block appear first, then the top block.
Light levels don’t affect sugarcane growth – it grows equally well in complete darkness or bright sunlight. However, the chunk must be loaded for growth to occur, meaning you need to stay within range or use chunk loaders in modded versions.
Harvesting Strategies
The most efficient harvesting method is breaking the middle block of a three-tall sugarcane plant. This causes the top block to break automatically while leaving the bottom block intact to continue growing. This technique maximizes your yield while maintaining your farm’s productivity.
For larger farms, consider creating rows of sugarcane with water channels between them. This setup allows you to walk through and harvest quickly while ensuring every plant has the water access it needs.
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TL;DR
Plant sugarcane on dirt/sand next to water, wait 18 minutes per growth stage, harvest by breaking the middle block to keep the bottom growing.
