If you’ve ever wandered through a dark Minecraft cave at dusk and stumbled on glowing red or brown mushrooms tucked between stone blocks, you’ve probably wondered if you can grow those at your base. It’s a far less fussy crop than wheat or carrots, and it pays off with everything from quick hunger refills to huge decorative fungi for your base builds. Today we’re breaking down exactly how to plant mushrooms in Minecraft, no rare mods or tricky server commands required. Even if you’re only a few hours into your first survival world, you can set up a working mushroom farm in less than 10 minutes.
What You’ll Need Before You Start to Plant Mushrooms in Minecraft
You don’t need any special tools or rare materials to get your mushroom farm up and running, unlike many other in-game crops that need hoes, water, or fertilizer to thrive. The only non-negotiable items are a mushroom of any color, a solid block to place it on, and a spot with the right light conditions. If you’re trying to figure out how to plant mushrooms in Minecraft for the first time, you don’t need to hunt down rare podzol or mycelium right away, a simple shaded cobblestone platform works perfectly.
- 1 or more red or brown mushrooms (found in dark caves, swamps, nether biomes, or under huge tree canopies in dark forests)
- A solid building block (dirt, cobblestone, netherrack, and even wood all work, no special farmland required)
- Optional: Shears to collect huge mushroom blocks without breaking them, or a silk touch pickaxe to move mycelium or podzol blocks
One key rule to remember before you start placing any mushrooms: Mushrooms will only plant on blocks that have a light level of 12 or lower. That means you don’t need total darkness, but you can’t place them in direct sunlight or right next to a bright regular torch. Mycelium and podzol blocks are the only exceptions to this rule, you can plant mushrooms on those in full daylight if you want an outdoor farm.
Step-by-Step Process to Grow Small Mushroom Colonies
Small mushroom colonies are perfect if you want a steady supply of mushrooms for stew or brewing without taking up too much space. First, pick your growing spot. If you don’t have mycelium or podzol, opt for a shaded area like a spare cave nook, a covered deck on the side of your base, or a spot under dense dark oak trees. For example, if you build a small covered deck on the side of your base with a dark oak roof, the shaded area under it is perfect for growing small mushrooms without having to dig out a cave.
Once you have your spot picked, place down your solid blocks in whatever size layout you want. You can check the light level of each block by pressing F3 on Java edition, or turning on the light level toggle in Bedrock edition settings to make sure it’s under 12. Right click the block with the mushroom in your hand to place it. If the mushroom doesn’t place, the light level is too high, so move to a darker spot or remove nearby light sources.
Leave the placed mushroom alone for 10 to 20 in-game minutes, and it will start spreading to adjacent solid blocks that also meet the light requirement. You can have up to 5 mushrooms per 9x9 area, so you don’t need a huge space to get a steady supply. Redstone torches are ideal for mushroom farms because they don’t raise the light level high enough to stop growth, but keep hostile mobs from spawning on the farm blocks. I use these exclusively for my cave mushroom farms, and I never have to worry about creepers spawning in the middle of my crops.
How to Grow Huge Mushrooms for Bulk Resources
If you want way more mushrooms at once, or decorative blocks for building, growing huge mushrooms is the way to go. You get far more resources per mushroom this way, and it only takes one bone meal to trigger the growth if you set up the spot correctly. First, place your mushroom on a block of dirt, mycelium, podzol, or grass. Make sure there is at least 7 blocks of empty space above the mushroom, and a 3x3 area of clear space around it with no other blocks in the way.
Double check that the light level of the block is under 12, unless you’re using mycelium or podzol. Use bone meal on the small mushroom, and it will grow into a huge fungi in one use 90% of the time. I made the mistake of leaving a regular torch right next to my first mushroom attempt, and I wasted 3 bone meal before I realized the light level was too high for it to grow, so double check that first.
When you break the blocks of a fully grown huge mushroom, each block drops 0 to 2 small mushrooms of the same color. A single huge brown mushroom can give you up to 40 small mushrooms, which is enough for 13 mushroom stews, that’s a ton of food for very little effort. If you use shears to break the huge mushroom blocks instead of a pickaxe or axe, you’ll get the decorative mushroom block itself, which works great for cottage core roof tiles or custom fairy tree canopies.
Creative Ways to Use Your Mushroom Harvest
Mushrooms are far more versatile than most new players realize, and a steady supply can make your survival playthrough much easier. The most common use is mushroom stew, which restores 6 hunger points and doesn’t require any cooking, just combine one red mushroom, one brown mushroom, and a bowl in your crafting grid. It’s perfect for exploring far from your base where you don’t have access to a furnace to cook meat.
You can also use brown mushrooms to make fermented spider eyes, a key brewing ingredient for potions of weakness. These potions are essential for curing zombie villagers, which lets you get discounted trades or repopulate empty villages. If you’re focused on trading, farmer villagers will buy 10 red or brown mushrooms for one emerald, which is one of the easiest early game ways to get emeralds without mining or farming more labor-intensive crops.
Setting up a large mushroom farm is one of the lowest-effort ways to get consistent emeralds in early survival mode. You don’t have to water it, replant after every harvest, or protect it from rabbits like you do with carrots or wheat. If you play in the nether often, you can use the same growing process for crimson and warped fungi, which you can use to feed hoglins or build spooky nether-themed base decorations.
Growing mushrooms is one of the most underrated early-game activities in Minecraft, and it gives you way more benefits than most new players realize. You don’t need any rare gear or complicated redstone setups to get started, and even a tiny 3x3 farm can keep you stocked with food, brewing supplies, and trading goods for weeks of play. Whether you’re setting up a hidden cave farm or a decorative outdoor mushroom patch on podzol, now you know exactly how to plant mushrooms in Minecraft to fit whatever playstyle you prefer. Next time you spot a stray mushroom in a cave, grab it and give farming a try, you won’t regret it.