Dirt

Dirt is a block found abundantly in most biomes under a layer of grass blocks at the top of the Overworld.

Obtaining[]

Natural generation[]

Dirt comprises the majority of the upper terrain layers in most Overworld biomes, bridging the gap between stone and grass blocks in various thicknesses.

There are approximately 1,850 dirt blocks per chunk in plains, forest, snowy plains, jungle, and windswept hills biomes. In villages, dirt generates naturally as part of several different structures. In woodland mansions, dirt generates in several types of rooms. Four blocks of dirt also generates as part of each ancient city and they also generate in trail ruins.

Dirt can also appear in the Overworld in the form of ore blobs. It attempts to generate seven times within each chunk as blobs ranging in size from 0-160 at Y=0—160, across all biomes. Moreover, it has the capability to replace stone, granite, andesite, diorite, polished granite‌^{[BE only]}, polished andesite‌^{[BE only]}, polished diorite‌^{[BE only]}, tuff‌^{[JE only]}, and deepslate‌^{[JE only]}.

Breaking[]

Dirt drops as an item when broken with any tool or by hand, but a shovel is the quickest way to break it.

Farmland, dirt paths, grass blocks, mycelium, and podzol drop dirt if broken without Silk Touch. Farmland and dirt paths‌^{[JE only]} drop dirt even if broken with Silk Touch.

Mob loot[]

An enderman drops a dirt block upon death, if holding one.

Post-generation[]

Farmland turns into dirt if either a mob jumps on it, a solid block is placed over it, or if nothing is planted on it and it is not within four blocks of water.

Dirt paths immediately turns into dirt if a solid block is placed over it.

Coarse dirt can be tilled with a hoe to become dirt.

Tilling rooted dirt with a hoe turns it into normal dirt, and yields a hanging roots item.

Grass blocks and mycelium can die under various circumstances. When they die, they turn into dirt.

Renewable acquisition[]

By tilling coarse dirt, the player can convert gravel into dirt. Two blocks each of gravel and dirt become four blocks of coarse dirt, which can then be placed and tilled. Since gravel is renewable through bartering with piglins, this makes a renewable source of dirt.

Another way to obtain renewable dirt makes use of moss blocks. Azalea converts the moss block below it into rooted dirt when grown into a tree. In Java Edition, Large spruce trees convert up to about 100 moss blocks into podzol when grown. Since moss can be converted from stone using bone meal, and stone can be renewably generated with water and lava, dirt can be renewably created as long as there is access to water, lava and moss blocks.

A third way to obtain renewable dirt is by buying podzol or rooted dirt from wandering traders. However, only 18 blocks of podzol or 10 blocks of rooted dirt can be purchased from each trader, so this method cannot be performed on a large scale.

Usage[]

Dirt's primary use is for farming, but it can also be used as a highly available building block.

Crafting ingredient[]

Farming[]

Dirt has the ability to grow saplings, sugar cane, mushrooms, sweet berries, and bamboo, which can be planted directly in dirt under appropriate conditions.

Using a hoe on dirt turns it into farmland, enabling wheat seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, potatoes, carrots, beetroot seeds, pitcher pods, and torchflower seeds to be planted on it.

Dirt path[]

Using a shovel on dirt turns it into a dirt path.

Grass and mycelium spreading[]

When a dirt block is adjacent to a grass block and is exposed to a light level of at least 4, it is eventually converted into a grass block at random intervals.

Mycelium spreads in a similar fashion, but requires a light level of at least 9.

Mud[]

Using a water bottle, splash water bottle or lingering water bottle will convert the dirt into mud.

Sounds[]

Generic[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Unique[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

Block states[]

In Bedrock Edition, dirt uses the following block states:

Bedrock Edition:

History[]

Java Edition pre-Classic
rd-20090515					Added dirt.
					Grass spreads to dirt when under light.
Java Edition Classic
0.24 SURVIVAL TEST					Grass blocks and dirt now drop dirt when broken.
Java Edition Indev
?					Dirt now uses a sound distinct from grass.
20100206					Dirt can now be tilled with a hoe into farmland.
Java Edition Infdev
20100617-2					Dirt and gravel now generate naturally as ore features underground.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			Dirt now generates naturally in villages and mineshafts.
Java Edition
1.0.0		Beta 1.9 Prerelease			Mycelium has been introduced, and now spreads to dirt.
		Beta 1.9 Prerelease 5			The texture of dirt has been changed. Dirt now has a slightly different arrangement of grains around the sides.
1.1		12w01a			Dirt is now generating in Superflat world type.
1.2.1		12w07a			Player is now unable to till dirt with hoe when there is block on top of the dirt.
1.4.2		12w38a			Dirt has been given new sounds for being placed and walked upon.
1.8		14w27b			Dirt's textures now rotate randomly due to the addition of arrays to the block model format.
1.11		16w39a			Dirt now generates in mansions.
1.14		19w05a			Dirt is now renewable due to the wandering trader selling podzol.
1.16		20w07a			As gravel has become renewable through piglin bartering, dirt can be more easily and renewably obtained through crafting and tilling coarse dirt.
1.17		20w45a			A shovel can now be used on dirt to create a dirt path block.
		21w06a			The height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. Dirt blobs are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0.
		21w07a			Dirt ore features no longer generate below Y=0, but more common than in pre 21w06a versions.
		21w15a			All the changes to dirt blob generation in the previous 1.17 snapshots have been reverted, but they can be re-enabled with the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack.
1.18		Experimental Snapshot 1			Dirt blob once again generates the way it did in the 1.17 snapshots without the use of a data pack.
		21w37a			Dirt no longer generates as part of the starting room in mineshafts.[1][2]
		21w39a			Dirt blobs no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk.
1.19		22w11a			Using a water bottle, splash water bottle or lingering water bottle now convert dirt into mud.
		22w13a			Dirt now generates as part of ancient cities.
1.20 (Experimental)		23w07a			Sniffers can now dig dirt.
1.20		23w12a			Dirt now generates in trail ruins.
		23w16a			The amount of dirt in trail ruins has been tweaked.
					The game's application icon has been changed from crafting table to dirt (for snapshots).
Pocket Edition Alpha
Pre-release					Added dirt.
v0.2.0					The texture of dirt has been changed.
v0.4.0					Dirt can now be hoed into farmland.
v0.8.0		build 1			The textures of dirt are now randomly rotated.
v0.9.0		build 1			Grassless dirt has been added.
v0.11.0		build 1			Dirt can now be obtained by breaking grass path blocks.
Pocket Edition
1.1.0		alpha 1.1.0.0			Dirt now generates in woodland mansions.
Bedrock Edition
1.2.0		beta 1.2.0.2			Grassless dirt has been replaced with coarse dirt.
1.10.0		beta 1.10.0.3			Dirt is now renewable.
1.18.0		beta 1.18.0.20			Dirt blob generation has now been tweaked to be in parity with Java Edition.
		beta 1.18.0.21			Dirt blobs no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk.
Legacy Console Edition
TU1	CU1	1.0	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added dirt.
TU3					The texture of dirt has been changed.
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0					Added dirt.

Data history[]

Java Edition
1.8		14w10a			Dirt with numerical metadata variants 3 through 15, which are inaccessible through normal gameplay, now have no model rather than appearing identical to dirt.
		14w25a			Dirt and its variants are now defined via block states rather than by numerical metadata. Prior to this version, the numerical metadata variants of dirt were as follows: DV Description 0 Dirt 1 Grassless Dirt 2 Podzol 3-15 Inaccessible "boring" variants of dirt
		14w26a			Dirt with metadata values 3 through 15 have now been completely removed from the game.
1.13		17w47a			The different variant block states for the dirt ID have been split up into their own IDs.
					Prior to The Flattening, this block's numeral ID was 3.

Issues[]

Issues relating to "Dirt" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery[]

• 

  A cave entrance containing multitudes of dirt.

• 

  Coarse dirt found in a savanna biome.

• 

  Grass spreading on a square of dirt.

• 

  A castle made of dirt.

References[]

External Links[]

• Block of the Week: Dirt – Minecraft.net on February 23, 2018