Minecraft: Here’s How Long It Takes for Wheat To Grow (& How To Speed It Up)
Farming is the primary way to obtain wheat in Minecraft. Wheat is planted at the beginning of eight different stages (0-7) and can be harvested at the end of the seventh stage. Harvesting a crop before it has fully grown causes it to drop a seed and effectively ruins your farming efforts. Of course, wheat is also the basis for some of the most nutritional meals you can acquire in Minecraft, and waiting for a long time for wheat to grow is both time-consuming and boring. Let’s see how long wheat takes to grow and whether there is a way to make it grow faster.
Editor’s Note: This post was updated in October 2023 and it reflects the most up-to-date state of the game.
Wheat growing stages explained
After you’ve planted the wheat, it needs to go through eight different stages of growth to be harvestable. You can recognize each stage based on the color of the wheat and its overall growth. In the initial first stages, wheat is barely peeking from the ground, only to take on its familiar golden color once it’s fully ready to harvest.
The speed at which your wheat grows is determined by the conditions in which you are farming it. In the worst conditions, each stage might take up to 35 minutes to complete, in the ideal conditions it takes much much less, and this is why it’s crucial to ensure you’re farming wheat the right way in order to ensure the fastest process possible. There isn’t an exact amount of time that wheat takes to grow but it generally takes anywhere between 1 and 6 in-game days for all stages of wheat growth to complete.
How many minutes does it take for wheat to grow in Minecraft?
It takes at least 60 minutes for the wheat to grow in Minecraft. Sometimes, it grows faster and some slower, but approximately 60 minutes is a good amount of time. To harvest in the minimum time possible, wheat seeds need to be sown under an open sky and with a block of water nearby.
How many ticks does it take for wheat to fully grow?
To fully grow a wheat crop it can take from 24,000 ticks to 72,000 ticks. Ticks are the time period in Minecraft, and one tick equals 0.05 seconds. In Minecraft, a game tick represents one game loop run. A game day in the game lasts exactly 24000 ticks, or 20 minutes, as the speed of the game is fixed at 20 ticks per second.
Based on how long it takes wheat to grow, you can calculate the number of ticks. As minutes, the number of ticks is not certain, but on a rough estimate, it can be in the neighborhood of the above figure.
Why does your wheat take a long time a long time to grow?
There are several reasons why your crops might take a long time to grow as these conditions aren’t really tied to wheat only. Your wheat might be growing slowly due to the following issues:
- Your soil is not hydrated.
- You’re not using bonemeal on bees to speed up the process.
- You’re not providing enough light to wheat.
How to make wheat grow faster?
I’m sure that by now you’re already picked up on what you need to do to speed up the process of farming wheat. Still, it’s always useful to get some concrete tips so let’s go.
1. Make sure that your wheat has plenty of water
Wheat needs to be planted next to a block of water, if your soil is looking awful pale and there isn’t any water near it, not only will your wheat grow slowly, but you also run the risk of it disappearing altogether. Always make sure that your soil has plenty of water to grow.
2. Make sure that your wheat has plenty of light
Growing crops and trees underground is possible, but in that case, you need to provide them with an alternative light source. It’s best to plant wheat under an open sky, but if this is not possible for you, put plenty of torches or other convenient light sources near your field since this is the only thing that will allow them to grow.
3. Use bonemeal
Bonemeal is easily accessible and drastically fastens various growth stages of wheat, skipping some of them altogether. The fastest way to farm wheat is with bonemeal if you have access to plenty of bones.
4. Keep bees near your field
Bees have the ability to accelerate the growth of your wheat through pollination. To ensure effective pollination for all your crops, it’s crucial to have a decent number of beehives and bees in the vicinity. Keep in mind that a single bee can pollinate up to 10 crops in one trip, so factor this in when designing your farm. Just like bonemeal, pollen has the chance to skip some of the growth stages completely.
Have any tips to make wheat grow faster? Share it with us in the comments below!