Compost & Fertility
Compost restores fertility to Cultivated Soil. Fertility is separate from moisture: a field can be perfectly hydrated while still losing growth performance because its nutrient level has been depleted.
Status: Implemented
Compost is craftable, applies directly to [Cultivated Soil](/agriculture/cultivated-soil/), and raises the stored fertility level by 2 up to the maximum of 7.
Crafting Compost
Section titled “Crafting Compost”The current shapeless recipe is:
- 1 Bone Meal
- 1 Dirt
This produces 2 Compost.
Applying Compost
Section titled “Applying Compost”Use Compost on Cultivated Soil to increase fertility by 2 levels.
Fertility is clamped at the maximum level of 7, so a Compost item will not be consumed when the soil is already full.
Players in Creative mode do not consume the Compost item when applying it.
Use Compost on farmland to convert it into Cultivated Soil.
Fertility and growth
Section titled “Fertility and growth”Fertility contributes a growth multiplier from:
- 0.25× at fertility 0
- 1.00× at fertility 7
The factor scales linearly between those values.
Fertility also contributes 15% of the crop’s environmental target vigor calculation.
Fertility consumption
Section titled “Fertility consumption”After a successful crop growth step, the crop may consume one fertility level. This chance belongs to the crop profile.
Current values are:
| Crop | Fertility consumption chance |
|---|---|
| Tomato | 45% |
| Onion | 30% |
| Basil | 22% |
| Rosemary | 18% |
| Thyme | 16% |
| Parsley | 20% |
| Mint | 24% |
| Rice | 35% |
| Soybean | 28% |
Composting compatibility
Section titled “Composting compatibility”Several A & A Cooking ingredients can also be used with Minecraft’s composter:
| Item | Composting chance |
|---|---|
| Tomato | 65% |
| Onion | 65% |
| Orange | 65% |
| Garlic | 50% |
| Tomato Seeds | 30% |
| Onion Seeds | 30% |
These composter chances are separate from the direct use Compost item described above.