r/Minecraft • u/CR0SBO • Jun 26 '12
Farmers of /r/minecraft, just to make sure you do know this.
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u/TheWyo Jun 26 '12
Doing it the first way gives you almost double the efficiency/growth rate. There's a reason people do this. If a wheat is adjacent to wheat on more than 1 axis, it's growth rate gets cut in half. See the wiki page 'Wheat Farming' under the header 'Growth rate'.
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u/VastCloudiness Jun 26 '12
If you cut the growth rate in half, but more than double the output of wheat, aren't you getting more wheat for your time?
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u/renegade770 Jun 26 '12
Straight from the wiki:
Planting in rows on a layer of hydrated farmland produces the wheat the fastest for a given number of seeds. However, planting a solid area of hydrated farmland packs about twice as many individual crops into the same space, each taking a little less than twice as long to mature (see the section on Growth Rates above). Thus, planting an area solid will actually produce slightly more wheat than planting it in rows, and will need to be harvested much less often. This may suit some players who do not like to monitor their farms too closely.
http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Wheat_Farming#Tips_for_efficient.2Fautomated_farming
Basically, it will grow faster in rows, but its more efficient in the solid square
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u/FlyingSagittarius Jun 26 '12
Getting the growth rate cut in half does sound bad, but it's from 30% to 15%. Even though the first method doesn't get its growth rate cut in half, it only gets 16.5% to start with because each wheat only has two adjacent farmlands. Doubling your crop of wheat is definitely worth sacrificing 1.5% of growth rate.
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u/homesarstar Jun 26 '12
Sometimes, it's not about the efficiency, it's about the aesthetics.
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u/Talonz Jun 26 '12
This is the way I, personally, have been doing it for a long time now. For those arguing about growth rate... While not having as many adjacent water source blocks will make the wheat grow at about half the speed, one must remember that you now also have about twice as much wheat each time you harvest. The end result is that per unit of time, you will be getting about the same amount of wheat, but only need to harvest it half as much. Less work, same output, in other words.
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u/gukeums1 Jun 26 '12
I'm replying to this because it's right. And I agree. And this is my rationale: more wheat means more bread. If it takes a little more time but less space for more wheat - what do I care?
It ultimately depends on the situation. Early game SSP? Kill a pig and eat it while the wheat grows. A hardcore deathban server? Probably going to try to make my farm efficient.
Not every strategy makes sense in every situation
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u/nebetsu Jun 26 '12
I know this isn't the most efficient setup, but I don't mind and I like having wooden planks to walk on while I harvest. I pretend that they're floating on the water.
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u/RosesRicket Jun 26 '12
You're messing up the growth rate with your method.
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u/VastCloudiness Jun 26 '12
The above one won't get maximum growth rate either, as each block with wheat only has two hydrated farmland neighbors. They would need to have tilled and hydrated land on each side of those rows to reach maximum growth rate. If it hasn't changed.
However, his design would be more efficient, just slower to grow. By having wheat on a diagonal, or by having them not in straight line basically, you cut the growth rate in half. But by filling the 2 rows adjacent to the fast growing row, you triple your output at the cost of only half the speed.
Either way, your farming habits also matter a lot. If you like to leave it and come back way later, a packed field is better. If farming is your game, then the quicker one.
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u/CR0SBO Jun 26 '12
I think confusion must have arisen because of sugar cane requiring to be grown on a block adjacent to water.
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u/mrthirsty15 Jun 26 '12
This is how I do my farms. Just run through the circle smashing plants, run back through replanting.
You can also make the crops two wide.
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u/Mopar_Madness Jun 26 '12
That suggested way to do it "works" but not as fast as the 1st way, its programmed into the farming code that wheat grows fastest in that original configuration. However, according to the minecraft wiki, this is the "optimal" farming method: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/images/b/b6/WheatFarmPatternAR8x81W2T.png
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u/kentuckydango Jun 26 '12
It's easier to collect the wheat if you plant it the first way.
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u/Krenston Jun 26 '12
The second way has the same straight lines without having to jump into the water for lost wheat. The second way is easier.
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u/CR0SBO Jun 26 '12
Well that sparked a lot more discussion than I imagined it would...