Productive Trees Mod Guide: Tree Breeding, Unique Wood Sets & Harvestable Fruits
Productive Trees adds over 160 new tree species to Minecraft, each with its own unique wood set, along with a deep tree breeding system inspired by Forestry. Cross-pollinate different species to create hybrids, harvest fruits and nuts from your orchards, and process logs in the Sawmill for bonus planks and Sawdust.
Overview
Productive Trees is a spiritual successor to the tree breeding system from Forestry, bringing over 160 new tree species into Minecraft. Every tree comes with a complete wood set: Logs, Planks, Stairs, Slabs, Fences, Fence Gates, Doors, Trapdoors, Pressure Plates, Buttons, Signs, and Hanging Signs. That means over 160 unique building palettes at your fingertips once you unlock them.
The core gameplay loop revolves around breeding. You start with a handful of base trees that can be found naturally, then cross-pollinate them to discover new species. Each generation opens up new breeding possibilities, forming a sprawling tech tree of arboreal genetics. Many trees also produce harvestable crops: over 50 different fruits, 12 nut varieties, 5 types of berries, and specialty items like Coffee Beans, Cinnamon, Cloves, and Maple Syrup.
You can browse every item and recipe this mod adds using the tabs at the top of this page. The Items tab lists all 2,752 blocks and items, while the Recipes tab has all 500 recipes searchable by name.
Getting Started
- 1
Find Your First Base Trees
Productive Trees adds several "starter" trees that generate naturally in the world. Look for Silver Lime, Beech, and European Larch trees in forest and plains biomes. These are the foundation species you'll use to begin breeding. Collect their Saplings and Leaves, and plant a few of each near your base.
- 2
Craft a Pollen Sifter
The Pollen Sifter is a machine that extracts Pollen from Leaves. Place leaf blocks in the input slot and it will slowly process them over 30 seconds per cycle. Pollen output has roughly a 10% success rate per cycle, so keep feeding it leaves. The Pollen item stores which tree species it came from, which is essential for breeding.
- 3
Cross-Pollinate Your First Hybrid
Take Pollen from one tree species and right-click it on the Leaves of a different species. This creates Pollinated Leaves, which have a chance to drop a hybrid Sapling when they decay or are broken. For example, placing Silver Lime Pollen on Oak Leaves produces a Silver Lime hybrid. Check JEI for all available breeding combinations and their success chances.
- 4
Build a Sawmill
The Sawmill processes Logs into Planks more efficiently than hand-crafting. It produces 6 Planks per Log (instead of the standard 4) plus 2 Sawdust as a byproduct. Sawdust can be turned into Paper by surrounding a Water Bottle with 8 Sawdust in a Crafting Table. This makes tree farming doubly productive.
- 5
Start Your Orchard
Many tree species produce fruit, nuts, or berries when fully grown. Plant fruit-bearing trees with adequate spacing and light (minimum light level 9) and wait for the fruit blocks on their leaves to ripen. The fruit changes color as it matures, going from an unripe shade to a fully ripe color before it can be harvested. Collect these crops for food or compact them into Crates for storage.
The mod has full JEI integration with dedicated recipe categories for Pollination, Sawmill, Log Stripping, and Tree Tapping. Press R on any Sapling in JEI to see which two parent leaf types you need to breed it. This is by far the easiest way to navigate the breeding tree.
The Breeding System
Tree breeding is the heart of Productive Trees. The system works through cross-pollination: you extract Pollen from one tree's Leaves using the Pollen Sifter, then apply that Pollen to a different tree's Leaves. If the two species have a valid breeding recipe, the Pollinated Leaves block has a percentage chance to produce a new hybrid Sapling.
Each breeding recipe has a defined success chance, typically between 3% and 15%. A 10% chance means that on average, you'll need to pollinate about 10 leaf blocks before getting one hybrid Sapling. The breeding system is bidirectional, so it doesn't matter which species provides the Pollen and which provides the target Leaves.
Starter Breeding Chains
Several trees serve as the "roots" of the breeding tree and are bred from vanilla species. Silver Lime comes from crossing Oak and Birch Leaves (15% chance). Beech is bred from Oak and Birch as well (10% chance). Cacao requires Dark Oak and Cherry Leaves (15% chance). European Larch comes from Spruce and Birch (10% chance), and Teak requires Jungle and Dark Oak (10% chance). These five starter trees branch out into dozens of further combinations.
Citrus Family
The citrus breeding chain is one of the most extensive in the mod. It starts with Citron, bred from Silver Lime and Sour Cherry (5% chance). From Citron, you can breed Key Lime (Citron + Wild Cherry), Pomelo (Citron + Wild Cherry), and eventually Lemon (Pomelo + Citron). Orange requires Mandarin and Pomelo (10% chance), while Grapefruit comes from Pomelo and Orange. More exotic citrus like Finger Lime, Buddha's Hand, Kumquat, and Tangerine all branch from these core species.
Stone Fruit & Apple Families
Wild Cherry is bred from Silver Lime and Cherry Leaves (10% chance), and it opens up the stone fruit line. Plum comes from Citron and Wild Cherry, which then leads to Cherry Plum, Peach, Nectarine, Apricot, and Almond. The apple family starts with Red Delicious Apple, bred from Cherry Leaves and Oak or Jungle Leaves (10% chance). From there you can breed Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Beliy Naliv, and several Crabapple varieties.
Tropical & Exotic Trees
Tropical trees require breeding into the Teak, Balsa, and Kapok lines first. Banana comes from crossing Balsa and Cacao (10% chance), with Red Banana and Plantain as further hybrids. Coconut requires Brazil Nut and Balsa. Mango is bred from Orange and Mangrove Leaves. The most exotic trees like Socotra Dragon, Grandidier's Baobab, and Rainbow Gum require several generations of breeding through the tropical wood lines.
Fantasy Trees
The mod includes a set of fantasy trees with unique names and appearances. Soul Tree, Black Ember, Flickering Sun, Blue Yonder, and Firecracker serve as the base fantasy species. From these you can breed Purple Spiral, Cave Dweller, Foggy Blast, Night Fuchsia, Time Traveller, Sparkle Cherry, Slimy Delight, Thunder Bolt, Rippling Willow, and Water Wonder. These fantasy trees have particularly striking wood colors and leaf effects.
Machines & Processing
Pollen Sifter
The Pollen Sifter is your primary tool for extracting Pollen from Leaves. Place any pollinatable Leaf block in the input slot and the machine will process it over 600 ticks (30 seconds). After processing completes, there is approximately a 10% chance of producing a Pollen item in the output slot. The Pollen carries NBT data identifying which tree species it came from, so different leaves produce species-specific Pollen.
Sawmill
The Sawmill converts Logs into Planks at a rate of 6 Planks per Log, a 50% improvement over the standard Crafting Table recipe (4 Planks per Log). It also produces 2 Sawdust as a secondary output on every operation. Processing takes 200 ticks (10 seconds) per Log. The Sawmill works with all Productive Trees wood types as well as vanilla wood. Special trees like Old Fustic produce Fustic dye as a tertiary output, while Logwood and Brazilwood produce Haematoxylin.
Stripper
The Stripper is a machine block that automates log stripping. Place Logs in the input slot and an Axe in the tool slot, and it will produce Stripped Logs in the output. The Axe loses durability with each operation, just as if you were stripping by hand. For Productive Trees logs, it can also produce bark items as a secondary output, depending on the tree species' configured strip drop.
Stripper Recipe
Sawdust from the Sawmill can be crafted into Paper: surround a Water Bottle with 8 Sawdust in a Crafting Table to get 2 Paper. You can also use a Water Bucket instead of a Water Bottle. This turns your wood processing byproduct into a valuable resource for Books, Maps, and Enchanting Tables.
Fruits, Nuts & Food
One of the most rewarding aspects of Productive Trees is the food system. Trees with fruit will grow colorful fruit blocks on their leaves that change color as they ripen. Once fully ripe, you can harvest them by breaking the fruit block. The variety of food items is impressive, spanning real-world produce categories.
Berries
Five berry types are available: Elderberry, Juniper Berry, Sloe, Haw, and Asai Berry. Berries restore 1 hunger and 0.1 saturation each, making them a light snack rather than a main food source. They can be compacted into Crates (9 berries per Crate) for efficient storage.
Fruits
The mod adds over 50 fruit varieties organized into several tiers. Small fruits like Apricot, Cherry, Plum, Date, Fig, and Kumquat restore 4 hunger and 0.3 saturation. Standard fruits including Apple varieties, Banana, Peach, Nectarine, Pear, Pomegranate, and Star Fruit also provide 4 hunger and 0.3 saturation. Large fruits such as Coconut, Mango, Plantain, Papaya, Breadfruit, Jackfruit, and Baobab Fruit are the most filling at 5 hunger and 0.3 saturation.
Citrus fruits are a special category with lower nutrition: small citrus (Lime, Key Lime, Finger Lime, Citron, Lemon) give only 2 hunger with no saturation, while larger citrus (Orange, Mandarin, Buddha's Hand) provide 3 hunger with no saturation.
Nuts
Twelve nut types are available: Almond, Beechnut, Brazil Nut, Butternut, Candlenut, Cashew, Chestnut, Ginkgo Nut, Hazelnut, Pecan, Pistachio, and Walnut. Raw nuts restore 1 hunger and 0.1 saturation. You can smelt or smoke any raw nut to produce its roasted version, which improves saturation to 0.3 while keeping 1 hunger. Roasted Coffee Beans are also available. Smelting takes 120 ticks per nut, while smoking is faster at just 20 ticks.
Special Products
Several trees produce unique specialty items. Sugar Maple trees can be tapped for Maple Sap, which can be processed into Maple Syrup (4 hunger, 0.3 saturation). Maple Syrup can also be crafted into 3 Sugar. Socotra Dragon trees produce Dracaena Sap, Date Palms yield Date Palm Juice (4 hunger, 0.3 saturation), and Sandalwood trees give Sandalwood Oil. The spice trees (Coffea, Clove, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Star Anise, Allspice) produce their namesake spice items.
Food Nutrition Comparison
| Berries | Small Fruits | Large Fruits | Citrus | Nuts (Raw) | Nuts (Roasted) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunger | 1 | 4 | 5 | 2-3 | 1 | 1 |
| Saturation | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
| Examples | Elderberry, Sloe, Haw | Plum, Date, Fig | Coconut, Mango, Papaya | Lemon, Lime, Orange | Walnut, Almond, Cashew | Roasted Walnut, Roasted Cashew |
Wood Sets & Building
Every tree species in the mod comes with a full wood set, giving builders an extraordinary palette of over 160 unique wood colors and textures. Each set includes Logs, Stripped Logs, Wood, Stripped Wood, Planks, Stairs, Slabs, Fences, Fence Gates, Doors, Trapdoors, Pressure Plates, Buttons, Signs, and Hanging Signs. The wood colors range from the pale white of Balsa and Silver Lime to the deep black of Ceylon Ebony, with vivid purples (Purpleheart), rich reds (Padauk, Brazilwood), warm golds (Osange Orange, Old Fustic), and everything in between.
All wood blocks follow standard vanilla crafting patterns. Planks are crafted from any of the Log, Wood, Stripped Log, or Stripped Wood variants (4 Planks per block). Stairs, Slabs, Fences, and other derivative blocks use the same recipes as vanilla, just with the mod's Planks as input. See the Recipes tab for the complete list of woodworking recipes.
Crates for Storage
Every fruit, berry, and nut item has a corresponding Crate block for compact storage. Craft a Crate by surrounding one item with 8 more of the same type in a Crafting Table. Each Crate stores 9 items and can be placed as a decorative block. Break a Crate to unpack it back into 9 individual items. Crates are particularly useful for organizing large orchards' harvests.
Some tree species have fire-proof wood that won't burn. Check the tree's properties if you're building in the Nether or near lava. This is defined per-species in the mod's data files, so not all exotic woods share this property.
Mod Compatibility
Productive Bees Integration
If Productive Bees is installed, many tree species gain their own Advanced Beehive and Expansion Box blocks. These are crafted from the tree's Planks along with Honeycombs, a Beehive, a Campfire, and Shears. Each wood type produces a visually distinct hive. Expansion Boxes extend hive capacity and are crafted more simply from Planks and Honeycombs.
Thermal Series Integration
When Thermal Expansion is present, every tree species gets Thermal Sawmill recipes (producing Planks and Thermal Sawdust), Insolator recipes (growing saplings with bonus logs, saplings, and fruit), and Tree Extractor recipes. The Tree Extractor produces Sap from most trees, Resin from Bull Pine, Douglas Fir, Cedar, Loblolly Pine, and Sweetgum, and Latex from Rubber Trees. Sugar Maple produces its own Maple Sap fluid.
Botany Pots & Other Mods
Botany Pots support lets you grow any Productive Trees sapling in a pot on dirt soil. Each sapling produces Logs (2-4), Sticks (1-2 at 10% chance), extra Saplings (15% chance), and any fruit the tree bears. The Corail Woodcutter mod also gets full recipe support for all wood types, and the Treetap mod can tap several Productive Trees species for fluids.
Tree Growth Conditions
Each tree species has specific growth requirements defined by its GrowthCondition. Most trees require a minimum light level of 9 and a maximum of 15, similar to vanilla saplings. Trees need to be planted on an appropriate soil block, which defaults to Dirt or Farmland but can vary by species. Some trees also require proximity to a specific fluid (usually Water) to grow.
The canForceGrowth property determines whether Bone Meal works on the tree's Sapling. Most trees allow it, but some rare species may require natural growth time. Certain trees are also biome-restricted, meaning they'll only grow when planted in the correct biome. Check JEI or the mod's data files if a Sapling refuses to grow.
Configuration
The mod has a single server-side configuration option. The pollenChanceFromSieve setting (found in the server config file) controls the percentage chance that a Pollen Sifter upgrade in beehives produces pollen. It defaults to 2% and can be set anywhere from 1% to 100%. This only affects the sieve upgrade item used in Productive Bees hives, not the standalone Pollen Sifter machine.
Log Processing Pipeline
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I find the starter tree species?
Silver Lime, Beech, European Larch, Teak, and Cacao are the primary starter species. They can be bred from vanilla tree leaves. Silver Lime and Beech come from Oak and Birch, European Larch from Spruce and Birch, Teak from Jungle and Dark Oak, and Cacao from Dark Oak and Cherry. Plant vanilla trees near each other, extract their pollen, and cross-pollinate to get your first Productive Trees saplings.
Why isn't my Pollen Sifter producing anything?
The Pollen Sifter has approximately a 10% success rate per processing cycle. Each cycle takes 30 seconds (600 ticks). It's working correctly even if most cycles produce nothing. Keep it running continuously and you'll accumulate Pollen over time. Build multiple Sifters to speed up production.
Does Productive Trees work with Productive Bees?
Yes, Productive Trees has deep integration with Productive Bees. Many tree species gain their own Advanced Beehive and Expansion Box blocks when Productive Bees is installed. These hives are crafted from the tree's Planks and function like other Productive Bees hives. There's also a Pollen Sieve upgrade for hives with a configurable output chance.
How does the Sawmill compare to hand-crafting?
The Sawmill produces 6 Planks per Log compared to 4 from a Crafting Table, a 50% improvement. It also gives 2 Sawdust per Log as a bonus byproduct. Sawdust can be turned into Paper (8 Sawdust + 1 Water Bottle = 2 Paper). The trade-off is processing time: each Log takes 10 seconds in the Sawmill.
Can I use Bone Meal on Productive Trees saplings?
Most Productive Trees saplings accept Bone Meal for accelerated growth, just like vanilla saplings. However, each species has a canForceGrowth property that can disable this. If Bone Meal doesn't seem to work on a particular sapling, that species may require natural growth. Also ensure the sapling has adequate light (level 9+) and is on valid soil.
What are the best food items from this mod?
Large fruits are the best at 5 hunger and 0.3 saturation: Coconut, Mango, Plantain, Papaya, Breadfruit, Jackfruit, Soursop, and Baobab Fruit. Standard fruits like Apple varieties, Banana, Peach, and Pomegranate provide 4 hunger. Avoid relying on citrus (2-3 hunger, no saturation) or raw nuts (1 hunger) as primary food sources. Roast your nuts for better saturation.