Do the Stained Saplings work with MFR Planters?

[Silmenume]

I've been playing Tekkit on Peaceful on a private server with my God-son for a while now.  I set up a Cattle Breeder/Chronotyper/Grinder/Auto Farm - wheat arrangement with Sewers to speed things along.  I also collect the Mob Essence and plan to use it shortly.

 

Just to see, I added a Stained Sapling from ProjectRed-Exploration into the planter, which did its job.  For 4 days real time the sapling has not grown.  It does not seem to be responding to the fertilizer, but I don't know if that is because Mine Factory Reloaded "sees" the sapling or if ProjectRed-Exporation does not "see" fertilizer.

 

On top of that is the question of why the sapling isn't growing at all.  The ground is "hoed" by the Planter and is 4 blocks from a water block.  I use lighting, but it is on the ground and off to the sides.  There is nothing above the sapling to block it.

 

Do these two mods play together or am I playing the Dunce yet again?

 

Thanks in advance for all the help I've been receiving recently.

 

Best,

 

Jay

[SirLappy]

Yes, they should work just fine.  I don't believe that water has any effect on trees, and personally dont use fertilizer so no comment on that part.  mine grow at a typical rate, at least when I provide power to it.  proof:  my tree farm: 

[HeatHunter]

so when I read this correctly you're normally growing wheat on this, how much free space do you have to the top?

 

I know it from other trees that they only grow if theres nothing within 2 fields of the center and they need a height of at least 10 blocks above the sapling.

[Curunir]

I think the ProjectRed saplings don't work with MFR automation, at least not with the Fertilizer. Apart from that, the ground for saplings does not need to be tilled, nor does it require being near water. As far as I'm aware, only the biome decides about tree growth, so they won't grow in a desert if planted, unless you bonemeal them.

 

I honestly didn't get the workings of Stained Saplings yet. Found no way to craft them with any dye - am I missing something or do I really have to find all colours in the world first before I can farm them? In which case I'd rather have a coloured sheep farm.

[Digdug83]

They're a substitute for for dyes and can't be crafted so unfortunately you have to find all 16 if you want to use them. They're handy on occasion but also a pain.

[Curunir]

Thanks for the hint, but no thanks for Stained Saplings then. Coloured sheep farm for the win.

[Silmenume]

so when I read this correctly you're normally growing wheat on this, how much free space do you have to the top?

 

I know it from other trees that they only grow if theres nothing within 2 fields of the center and they need a height of at least 10 blocks above the sapling.

Below is an image of the growing arrangements.  A picture is worth a 1000 words, as is said, so perhaps this will give a better idea than my feeble describing skills!

 

 

So you can see my sky space is clear.  Am I too close to the structure?

 

I can grow (and have grown) Stained Saplings on regular dirt.

 

 

I just can't seem to get Stained Saplings to grow on the auto farm.  I haven't tested vanilla Minecraft trees in this version, but I know in the previous version (1.5.2?) they could be auto farmed.

 

Any thoughts?

 

SirLappy, on 08 Aug 2014 - 12:05 AM, said:

 

    Yes, they should work just fine.  I don't believe that water has any effect on trees, and personally dont use fertilizer so no comment on that part.  mine grow at a typical rate, at least when I provide power to it.  proof:  my tree farm:

 

I saw that and was pretty blown away.  It looks awesome.  I was thinking of shamelessly copying that design (giving proper credit if it came to it!) into my world, but I want to make sure I can auto farm the Stained Saplings before I began.

 

Best,

 

Jay

Edited August 8, 2014 by Silmenume

[Curunir]

Can you bonemeal the Stained Saplings? Not perfect, but it might be a semi-automatic workaround, because I think the Harvester will chop those trees fine.

[SirLappy]

I saw that and was pretty blown away.  It looks awesome.  I was thinking of shamelessly copying that design (giving proper credit if it came to it!) into my world, but I want to make sure I can auto farm the Stained Saplings before I began.

 

Heh no need for credit, i posted it so that others might be inspired to give it a go.  It is a bit less impressive when actually operational - when everything is running, you will just see saplings planted for 99% of the time, and then occasionally a tree will grow and immediately be cut by the harvester.

 

And yes, collecting them all does take time.  No easy way around it, just gotta catch em all.  Luckily they are pretty easy to see when you're flying around with a jetpack.

 

Bonemeal does work - I used it early on when the farm wasn't completed but I needed a bunch of red and blue dyes for logistics pipes upgrades iirc.  Not sure if you can use that with the MFR fertilizer or if you'd have to use some kind of a dispenser setup (as again, I dont use fertilizer).

 

As far as why they're not growing, I'm not sure.  Shouldnt be any issues with blockage, but you can bonemeal it just to make sure.  Other than that, I've never tried a planter with trees and produce all in one, so maybe there's something about that it doesn't like?  Try one with just a tree in it. (and a cobblestone upgrade to limit to 1 block)

[Silmenume]

Can you bonemeal the Stained Saplings? Not perfect, but it might be a semi-automatic workaround, because I think the Harvester will chop those trees fine.

I tried 19 pieces of bone meal on the Stained Sapling while it was in the framework of the auto farm.  Nothing happened other than I wasted all that bone meal!

 

Heh no need for credit, i posted it so that others might be inspired to give it a go.  It is a bit less impressive when actually operational - when everything is running, you will just see saplings planted for 99% of the time, and then occasionally a tree will grow and immediately be cut by the harvester.

 

And yes, collecting them all does take time.  No easy way around it, just gotta catch em all.  Luckily they are pretty easy to see when you're flying around with a jetpack.

 

Bonemeal does work - I used it early on when the farm wasn't completed but I needed a bunch of red and blue dyes for logistics pipes upgrades iirc.  Not sure if you can use that with the MFR fertilizer or if you'd have to use some kind of a dispenser setup (as again, I dont use fertilizer).

 

As far as why they're not growing, I'm not sure.  Shouldnt be any issues with blockage, but you can bonemeal it just to make sure.  Other than that, I've never tried a planter with trees and produce all in one, so maybe there's something about that it doesn't like?  Try one with just a tree in it. (and a cobblestone upgrade to limit to 1 block)

As noted above I tried bone meal while the Stained Sapling was part of the wheat farm.  Nothing happened with 19 tries.  I jury-rigged a single square auto farm with the cobblestone "upgrades" and the system worked!  In as much as the tree grew at its own unaltered rate, it was auto planted, harvested when fully grown and all the pieces (wood and stained saplings) were collected.  I didn't try bone meal in this arrangement so have no data on that topic.

 

So here's the results - Unlinke vanilla minecraft trees, Stained Saplings will not grow in a mixed crop auto farm.  A Stained Sapling will grow in a dedicated single color one square farm. Don't know if fertilizer works.

 

Thanks for the help!!  Off to build the blazing colored tree farm!

 

Best,

 

Jay

[efflandt]

The planter/harvester should work with mixed trees, including mixed sapling colors. I used to auto harvest mixed colored trees on my tech center roof (now just netherwarts on soul sand for biofuel). So maybe the problem was tilled soil and/or other types of crops. Trees normally grow on normal dirt or grass blocks. They should even grow normally in a desert biome as long as the sapling is on a dirt block.

Edited August 11, 2014 by efflandt