Bamboo

For other uses, see Bamboo (disambiguation).

Bamboo

Old

Young

Old

Young

Old

Young

Shoot

Renewable	Yes
Stackable	Yes (64)
Tools
Blast resistance	1
Hardness	1
Luminous	No
Transparent	Yes
Flammable	Bamboo: Yes (60) Shoot: No
Catches fire from lava	Yes
Map color	7 PLANT  13 WOOD
Note block instrument	Default (Harp)

Bamboo is a versatile, fast-growing plant found primarily in jungles, 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 in item form cannot be obtained through vanilla means. In Bedrock Edition, they can be obtained through add-ons or inventory editing. In Java Edition, they do not exist as items and are thus completely unobtainable. Like most other saplings, limiting its possible growing conditions can keep it in its initial state.

Breaking

Bamboo stalks can be mined with any tool, but an axe is quicker than other tools. Using a sword of any type breaks bamboo stalks and shoots instantly, even with Mining Fatigue. Flowing water also breaks bamboo shoots, but not mature bamboo stalks.

Block	Bamboo	Bamboo Shoot
Hardness	1	1
Tool		—
Breaking time (sec)[A]
Default	11.5 (JE) 1.5 (BE)	11.5 (JE) 1.5 (BE)
Wooden	10.75 (JE) 0.75 (BE)	—
Stone	10.4 (JE) 0.4 (BE)	—
Copper	10.3 (JE) 0.3 (BE)	—
Iron	10.25 (JE) 0.25 (BE)	—
Diamond	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)	—
Netherite	10.2 (JE) 0.2 (BE)	—
Golden	10.15 (JE) 0.15 (BE)	—
Sword	10.05 (JE) 0.05 (BE)	10.05 (JE) 0.05 (BE)
Options
Efficiency	000
Haste	001 1JEBE

Legend

• incorrect tool, drops nothing
• correct tool, drops nothing or something other than the block itself
• correct tool, drops the block itself
• italicized can be instant mined

Natural generation

Bamboo generates in widely scattered single shoots within jungle biomes. Bamboo generates much more densely in the bamboo jungles, covering large areas of the landscape. Bamboo does not generate in sparse jungles. Bamboo can also generate as part of abandoned camps in bamboo jungles.

Mob loot

Java Edition:

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Panda[A]	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00	1	100.00%	1.00

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Panda[A]	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1

Mob		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Panda[A]	1	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)	1 (100.00%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)	1 (1.00)

Drops		1
Mob		Expected Number of Kills
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Panda[A]	1.00	1.00	1.00	1.00

Bedrock Edition:

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Panda	0–2	66.67%	1.00	0–3	66.67%	1.33	0–4	66.67%	1.67	0–5	66.67%	2.00

Mob		Quantity / Chance / Average
		Default			Looting I			Looting II			Looting III
	Panda	0–2	2⁄3	1	0–3	2⁄3	4⁄3	0–4	2⁄3	5⁄3	0–5	2⁄3	2

Mob		Amount	Probability
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Panda	0	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)
		1	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		2	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄3 (33.33%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		3	0	1⁄6 (16.67%)	1⁄4 (25.00%)	2⁄9 (22.22%)
		4	0	0	1⁄12 (8.33%)	1⁄6 (16.67%)
		5	0	0	0	1⁄18 (5.56%)
		Average	1 (1.00)	4⁄3 (1.33)	5⁄3 (1.67)	2 (2.00)

Drops		1
Mob		Expected Number of Kills
		Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Panda	1.00	0.75	0.60	0.50

Generated loot

Item	Structure	Container	Quantity	Chance
Java Edition
Bamboo	Jungle Pyramid	Chest	1–3	50.6% { "item": "Bamboo", "stacksize": "1–3", "chance": 0.5056278212789291, "structure": "Jungle Pyramid", "container": "Chest" }
	Shipwreck	Supply chest	1–3	14.4% { "item": "Bamboo", "stacksize": "1–3", "chance": 0.14367923534041638, "structure": "Shipwreck", "container": "Supply chest" }
Bedrock Edition
Bamboo	Jungle Pyramid	Chest	1–3	50.5% { "item": "Bamboo", "stacksize": "1–3", "chance": 0.5048102259079463, "structure": "Jungle Pyramid", "container": "Chest" }
	Shipwreck	Supply chest	1–3	14.4% { "item": "Bamboo", "stacksize": "1–3", "chance": 0.14367923534041638, "structure": "Shipwreck", "container": "Supply chest" }

Fishing

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

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 a solid stalk and cannot 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.^[1]

Farming

Bamboo can be planted on moss blocks, pale moss blocks, grass blocks, dirt, coarse dirt, rooted dirt, gravel, mycelium, podzol, sand, red sand, suspicious sand, suspicious gravel, mud, muddy mangrove roots, or other bamboo shoots. Upon receiving a random tick, bamboo has a ¹⁄₃ chance of growing; 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 client light level of 9 or above to grow.

Because bamboo breaks in almost the same way as sugar cane, 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. Flowing water makes it a lot easier to collect the bamboo though and eliminates the need for space between them for collection.

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 1 bamboo block (not a bamboo shoot) is 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. (it costs 4 bamboo items to smelt 1 item)

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

• By crafting a block of bamboo (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.^[2]

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	Notes
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 that has no hitbox. When it grows one block taller, its visual thickness increases to 2×2 pixels and the top block has leaves. At 3 blocks tall, the top two blocks have leaves. At 4 blocks tall, the bamboo's visual thickness expands to 3×3 pixels. At 5 blocks tall, the top three blocks have leaves on them, and these blocks remain on top as the bamboo grows. Destroying a block of bamboo does not change the appearance of the blocks below it. Bamboo is oriented randomly in the block that it is in.

Sounds

Bamboo

Java Edition:

bamboo sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	varies [sound 1]	16

Bedrock Edition:

bamboo sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo.break	​ ?	0.8	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	Blocks	When the block is placed	block.bamboo.place	​ ?	0.8	0.8–1.0
	​Block breaking	Blocks	While the block is in the process of being broken	block.bamboo.hit	​ ?	0.25	0.5
	​Something fell on a block	Blocks	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	​ ?	0.4	1.0
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	​ ?	0.3	varies[sound 1]
	​Footsteps	Blocks	Jumping from the block	jump.wood	​ ?	0.15	1.0
	​Something fell on a block	Blocks	Falling on the block without fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	​ ?	0.2	1.0

Bamboo shoot

Java Edition:

bamboo_sapling sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	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​[until: JE 26.4]	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
	​Something falls on a block	Entity-Dependent	Falling on the block with fall damage	block.bamboo.fall	subtitles.block.generic.fall​	0.5	0.75	16
	​Footsteps	Entity-Dependent	Walking on the block	block.bamboo.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	varies [sound 1]	16

Bedrock Edition:

bamboo_sapling sound type
Sound	Closed captions	Source	Description	Identifier	Translation key	Volume	Pitch
	​Block broken	Blocks	Once the block has broken	block.bamboo_sapling.break	​ ?	0.9	0.8–1.0
	​Block placed	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] (Numeric: -163)	tile.bamboo.name
Bamboo Sapling	bamboo_sapling	419	Block & Ungiveable Item[i 4]	Identical[i 3] (Numeric: -164)	tile.bamboo_sapling.name

Block states

Java Edition:
Bamboo

Bedrock Edition:
Bamboo

Bamboo Sapling

Achievements

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

History

Announcement

Java Edition

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.[3]
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.[4][5]
1.19			22w15a				Bamboo can now be planted on mud.
1.19.3 Experiment Update 1.20			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.
1.19.4 Experiment Update 1.20			23w07a				Bamboo can now be planted on suspicious sand.
1.20			23w14a				Bamboo can now be planted on suspicious gravel.
26.3			snap1				Bamboo now generates as part of abandoned camps in bamboo jungles.

Bedrock Edition

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.[6]
1.17.30			beta 1.17.20.20				Swords now break bamboo instantly to match Java Edition.[7]
1.20.0			Preview 1.19.50.21				Bamboo can now be used to craft bamboo planks.
			Preview 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.
1.20.30			Preview 1.20.20.21				Decreased the hardness and blast resistance of bamboo from 2 to 1.
							Increased the hardness and blast resistance of bamboo shoots from 0 to 1.
1.21.50			Preview 1.21.50.20				Pickaxes and shovels no longer mine bamboo as quickly as axes.
							Swords can now destroy bamboo shoots instantly, while axes no longer mine them faster.
1.21.60			Preview 1.21.60.21				Changed the model of bamboo saplings to match Java Edition.
							The width of bamboo generated in bamboo jungles is now consistent across the entire plant.
			Preview 1.21.60.23				Bamboo no longer generates in sparse jungles.
							Bamboo generates in larger and denser patches in bamboo jungles.
							The width of bamboo generated in bamboo jungles is now consistent across the entire plant.
26.0			Preview 26.0.25				Bamboo stalks will now have no transparency from a distance (except on simple graphics).
26.40 Experiment Drop 3 of 2026			Preview 26.40.27				Bamboo now generates as part of abandoned camps in bamboo jungles.
26.50			Preview 26.50.22				All features from the "Drop 3 of 2026" experiment have been fully implemented.

Legacy Console Edition

PlayStation 4 Edition
1.83							Added bamboo.
							Bamboo as an item can be dropped by bamboo and planted to grow bamboo.

Issues

Issues relating to "Bamboo" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed 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

Renders

• 
  Grown bamboo with three parts

Screenshots

• 
  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
• 
  Bamboo jungle in an Amplified world in 1.19-rc2
• 
  Multiple naturally generated bamboo stems growing by a river

In other media

• 
  Bamboo as it appeared in Minecraft Earth
• 
  Bamboo as it appears in Minecraft Dungeons
• 
  Bamboo as it appeared in the Eerie Mojang Office Party
• 
  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
• 
  Bamboo props at Meet the Mobs

References