Bamboo

Bamboo is a versatile, fast-growing, bonemealable plant found primarily in jungles, which is used for crafting (particularly scaffolding and bamboo wood), smelting and breeding pandas.

A bamboo shoot is the initial non-solid sapling form of planted bamboo.

Obtaining[]

Bamboo shoots cannot be obtained through vanilla means. In Bedrock Edition, they can be obtained through add-ons or inventory editing. In Java Edition, they are completely unobtainable.

Breaking[]

Bamboo can be mined with any tool, but a sword breaks the block instantly, even with Mining Fatigue. Flowing water also breaks bamboo shoots, but not mature bamboo stalks.

Block	Bamboo
Hardness	1
Tool
Breaking time[A]
Default	1.5
Wooden	0.75
Stone	0.4
Iron	0.25
Diamond	0.2
Netherite	0.2
Golden	0.15
Sword	0.05

Natural generation[]

Bamboo generates in widely scattered single shoots within jungle biomes. Bamboo generates much more densely in the bamboo variants of jungles, covering large areas of the landscape. Bamboo does not generate in sparse jungles.^[1]

Mob loot[]

In Java Edition, a panda drops 1 bamboo when killed. Looting does not affect the drop rate.^[2]

In Bedrock Edition, a panda drops 0-2 bamboo when killed. Looting increases the drop by 1 per level.

Fishing[]

Bamboo can be found while fishing in jungle biomes as a junk item.

Chest loot[]

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Bamboo	Jungle temple	Chest	1–3	51%
	Shipwreck	Supply chest	1–3	14.4%
Bedrock Edition
Bamboo	Jungle temple	Chest	1–3	50.9%
	Shipwreck	Supply chest	1–3	14.4%

Usage[]

When broken, any bamboo block placed or grown above it is also broken. A bamboo block drops itself as an item if a piston pushes it or moves a block into its space. When bamboo is first placed as a shoot it's not solid and can be destroyed by water flowing into it. After growing at least one block taller it becomes solid and can't be destroyed by water. To transform a bamboo shoot into a solid bamboo block place another bamboo on top of it.

Unlike most plants, bamboo cannot be composted.^[3]

Farming[]

Bamboo can be planted on moss blocks‌^{[JE only]}, grass blocks, dirt, coarse dirt, rooted dirt, gravel, mycelium, podzol, sand, red sand, suspicious sand, suspicious gravel, mud, bamboo shoot, or on itself. At default random tick speed (3), each plant grows on average every 4096 game ticks (204.8 seconds). When bone meal is used on it, it grows by 1–2 blocks. Bamboo can grow up to 12–16 blocks tall. The top of a bamboo plant requires a light level of 9 or above to grow.

Because bamboo breaks in almost the same way as sugar canes, a sugar cane farm can be easily adapted to this use. While water is not needed with such a farm, some spacing is recommended if the harvest is done manually as mature stalks are solid.

Pandas[]

Bamboo items are eaten by pandas and can be used to speed up the growth of baby pandas. Bamboo can also be used to breed pandas when at least 8 blocks of bamboo are within 5 blocks of the pandas, making the panda the only animal in the game to have extra breeding requirements. At this point, the player can feed them bamboo and they mate to have a baby.

Fuel[]

Bamboo can be used as fuel for smelting. Each bamboo item smelts 0.25 items. Crafting two bamboo into a stick and using that as fuel is equivalent, smelting 0.5 items.

Bamboo can be crafted into other items to increase its fuel efficiency.

• By crafting 9 bamboo into 2 bamboo planks, 3 items can be smelted instead of 2.25, a 33.3% increase in efficiency.
  • In Bedrock Edition, the fuel efficiency can be further doubled by crafting the bamboo planks into twice the amount of slabs.^[4]
• In Java Edition, by crafting 14 bamboo into 3 ladders, 4.5 items can be smelted instead of 3.5, a 28.6% increase in efficiency.

Flower pots[]

Bamboo can be placed in a flower pot, where it retains the design it has in its item form.

Crafting ingredient[]

Name	Ingredients	Crafting recipe	Description
Block of Bamboo	Bamboo		Cannot be crafted back into 9 bamboo.
Scaffolding	Bamboo + String	6
Stick	Bamboo

Appearance[]

The appearance of bamboo changes as it grows. When first placed, it takes the form of a small shoot, which has no hitbox. When it grows one block taller it grows to 2 pixels in length and width and the top block has leaves coming off it. At 3 blocks, the top 2 blocks have leaves and at 4 blocks the bamboo expands to 3×3 pixels. At 5 blocks tall, the top 3 blocks have leaves on them. As the bamboo grows, the leaves move up and stay at the top 3 blocks. Destroying a block of bamboo does not change the appearance of the blocks below it. Bamboo is oriented at a random position in the block that it is in.

Sounds[]

Bamboo[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	0.8	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.bamboo.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	0.8	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.bamboo.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.25	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	varies [sound 2]	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo.break	0.8	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.bamboo.place	0.8	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.bamboo.hit	0.25	0.5
	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	0.4	1.0
	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	0.3	varies[sound 1]
	Players	Jumping from the block	jump.wood	0.15	1.0
	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	0.2	1.0

Bamboo Shoot[]

Java Edition:

Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo_sapling.break	subtitles.block.generic.break	0.9	0.8	16
	Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.bamboo_sapling.place	subtitles.block.generic.place	0.85	0.8	16
	Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.bamboo_sapling.hit	subtitles.block.generic.hit	0.2	0.5	16
	None[sound 1]	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	None[sound 1]	0.5	0.75	16
	Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps	0.15	varies [sound 2]	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo_sapling.break	0.9	0.8-1.0
	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.bamboo_sapling.place	0.85	0.8-1.0

Data values[]

ID[]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Form	Block tags	Translation key
Bamboo	bamboo	Block & Item	bamboo_plantable_on	block.minecraft.bamboo
Bamboo Shoot	bamboo_sapling	Block	bamboo_plantable_on	block.minecraft.bamboo_sapling

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Form	Item ID[i 1]	Translation key
Bamboo	bamboo	418	Block & Giveable Item[i 2]	Identical[i 3]	tile.bamboo.name
Bamboo Sapling	bamboo_sapling	419	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 4]	Identical[i 3]	—

Block states[]

Java Edition:
Bamboo

Name	Default value	Allowed values	Description
age	0	0 1	The age of the bamboo, if this is 1 the bamboo appears thicker.
leaves	none	large none small	The size of the leaves on this bamboo block.
stage	0	0 1	The stage is incremented at random intervals. At stage 1, bamboo may try to grow more bamboo above it.

Bedrock Edition:
Bamboo:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
age_bit	0x8	false	false true	0 1	The stage is incremented at random intervals. When true, bamboo may try to grow more bamboo above it.
bamboo_leaf_size	0x2 0x4	no_leaves	no_leaves small_leaves large_leaves	0 1 2	The size of the leaves on this bamboo block.
bamboo_stalk_thickness	0x1	thin	thin thick	0 1	The thickness of the bamboo, if this is thick the bamboo appears thicker.

Bamboo Sapling:

Name	Metadata Bits	Default value	Allowed values	Values for Metadata Bits	Description
age_bit	0x1	false	false true	0 1	Specifies the sapling's growth stage.
sapling_type	Not Supported	oak	acacia birch dark_oak jungle oak spruce	Unsupported	Unused.

Achievements[]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS4)
PS4	Other
		Zoologist	Breed two pandas with bamboo.	—	40G	Gold

History[]

September 29, 2018					Bamboo is announced at MINECON Earth 2018.
Java Edition
1.14		18w43a			Added bamboo.
					Bamboo as an item can be dropped by bamboo and planted to grow bamboo.
					Added bamboo jungles, where bamboo naturally generates.
1.16		20w06a			"Bamboo Sapling" has been renamed to "Bamboo Shoot".
		20w13a			Bamboo has been moved from the Miscellaneous tab to the Decoration Blocks tab in the Creative inventory.[5]
1.17		21w13a			Bamboo can now be planted on rooted dirt.
		21w16a			Bamboo can now be planted on moss blocks.
1.18		21w39a			Bamboo no longer generates underground.[6][7]
1.19		22w15a			Bamboo can now be planted on mud.
1.20 (Experimental)		22w42a			Bamboo can now be used to craft bamboo planks.
		22w45a			Bamboo can no longer be used to craft bamboo planks.
					Bamboo can now be used to craft a block of bamboo.
		23w07a			Bamboo can now be planted on suspicious sand.
1.20		23w14a			Bamboo can now be planted on suspicious gravel.
Bedrock Edition
1.8.0		beta 1.8.0.8			Added bamboo.
					Bamboo as an item can be dropped by bamboo and planted to grow bamboo.
1.9.0		beta 1.9.0.0			Bamboo can now generate in jungle biomes in single shoots.
					Added bamboo jungles, where bamboo naturally generates.
1.12.0		beta 1.12.0.3			The bamboo texture brightness has been updated to match Java Edition.[8]
1.17.30		beta 1.17.20.20			Swords now break bamboo instantly to match Java Edition.[9]
1.20.0		beta 1.19.50.21			Bamboo can now be used to craft bamboo planks.
		beta 1.19.60.20			Bamboo can no longer be used to craft bamboo planks.
					Bamboo can now be used to craft a block of bamboo.
Legacy Console Edition
		1.83			Added bamboo.
					Bamboo as an item can be dropped by bamboo and planted to grow bamboo.

Bamboo shoot "item"[]

The following content is transcluded from Technical blocks/Bamboo Shoot.

Bedrock Edition
1.8.0		beta 1.8.0.8			Bamboo shoots exist as an item. This is the most likely version where this was first the case.

Appearances[]

Bedrock Edition
?					Bamboo shoots use this texture.

Names[]

Bedrock Edition

• ? - ?: tile.bamboo_sapling.oak.name

Issues[]

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

Trivia[]

• Because bamboo grows quickly (on average 1 growth per 200 seconds), just 500 plants in an automatic farm produce more items than a hopper can collect (2.5 items per second). A single hopper can move only enough items to keep 6.25 furnaces running.
• Bamboo is the fastest-growing plant in Minecraft, which reflects its status as the fastest-growing plant known in real life.
• While bamboo cannot be composted in Minecraft, it can be composted in real life.

Gallery[]

• 

  The first image featuring bamboo, from MINECON Earth 2018.

• 

  A group of pandas eating bamboo, shown at MINECON Earth 2018.

• 

  Planted bamboo growing.

• 

  A bamboo shoot growing through a tree.

• 

  Bamboo seen in a jungle biome variant.

• 

  Bamboo Jungle in an Amplified world in 1.19-rc2.

• 

  Multiple naturally generated bamboo stems growing by a river.

• 

  Grown Bamboo with three parts

• 

  Zuri chopping down bamboo for a baby panda.

• 

  Smartphone wallpaper of the aforementioned artwork, showing more of the treetops and bamboo.

• 

  Packing for the Diamond Level Panda, modeled after bamboo.

References[]