I've seen quite a lot on YouTube and here on the forums about Pumpkin/Melon farms and Sugarcane farms built using the new Observer blocks, but so far I haven't seen a lot of people taking full advantage of the Observer block for wheat, potato, and carrot farming. As you all probably know, the Observer is not simply a replacement for BUD switches. It is actually a great deal more sensitive than a BUD switch, being able to detect changes in block state that do not trigger a block update, such as the individual growth stages of wheat. What this means is that we now have the ability to build completely self-harvesting wheat and vegetable farms (not self-planting, though, unless you use a villager): semi-AFK, so to speak. I built a system that works really well and blogged about it in two different posts at minecraftramblings.com (one is about the Observer and Redstone Counter system that detects when the wheat is mature and harvests it, the other is about my particular method for collecting the harvested items). Check out the links to see a full description and how-to. Here, I just want to summarize and show off some of the concepts.
First, what I have built to test the concept is a basic 9x9 farm, with a slab covering the central water source. The Dispenser pictured here contains a water bucket.
You can use more, but I use a single Observer on the corner. The idea is that the corner of a 9x9 farm is going to grow the slowest and mature last (or close to last).Every time anything changes on the block in front of the Observer (seed is planted, every change in growth stage, water harvests the plant, water disappears) it triggers a Redstone pulse that you can use to send an item (in my case, a Dirt block) through a Hopper counter loop.When the single wheat plant matures, the Dirt block travels through a couple of Hoppers that are not disabled by Redstone. A Comparator detects when the block travels through one of these Hoppers and triggers not only the Dispenser to harvest the farm but also a subterranean Hopper Minecart collection system.
All you have to do is plant the seeds. AND you can plant up to two types of crop in parallel lines, including beet root, just so long as the plant in front of the Observer is wheat, potato, or carrot. This will make the crops grow faster. However, you don't want to do more than two kinds of crops if you are using a Hopper Minecart to collect, because the Hopper Minecart only has five slots, and these will fill up. But this system is great. It even resets itself when you plant the seed, making it about the most automated wheat farm you can build in Minecraft without a villager or mods.
Again, for a fuller description of the Observer Wheat/Vegetable farm, go here.
For a fuller description of the Hopper Minecart collection system, go here.
Good observation. This is accounted for, though. When the water appears it triggers the Observer block, and when it disappears an instant later it triggers another. My Hopper counter includes these. I've been using this farm for weeks without a hitch.
Entities can sometimes be a hassle, it's nice to have alternatives. Becides that, this farm could also be used for netherwart. Which is something that can't be farmed automaticly.
Right! As I mention in the blog post, it only requires a little adjustment (removing redstone dust from the counter or reducing the number of hoppers in the counter), since netherwart has only 4 growth stages rather than 8 (this applies to beetroot, too). You could also significantly reduce the size of the farm, since netherwart is used less frequently (unless you're building entire cities out of red netherbrick or brewing potions for your entire server). This also means collection could be simpler: a hopper placed directly below a piece of soulsand will pull through the soulsand, since it isn't a full block height.
Entities can sometimes be a hassle, it's nice to have alternatives. Becides that, this farm could also be used for netherwart. Which is something that can't be farmed automaticly.
Yeah farmland , also sand, depends if auto-farming is better than the possibility of FARMER VILLAGERS doing
all the talkin' .
Have you tried, dropper/dispenser? I dunno if they existed in the version you played. A similar idea came into my mind and I came across your post for help :D.
EDIT: After hours of work, I finally came up with counter a design. As seen in the bird-eye view, droppers fullness value un/locks hopper h_!, and h_1 un/locks h_2. Dropper acts like a countdown timer. Until it is empty, it locks h_1, and h_1 does the same for h_2. This way, the dropper enters a cooldown to replenish its items. When this happens, the output is activated. The circuit should use cheaper resources, compared to VladTubaka's hoppers, which uses many irons.
I've seen quite a lot on YouTube and here on the forums about Pumpkin/Melon farms and Sugarcane farms built using the new Observer blocks, but so far I haven't seen a lot of people taking full advantage of the Observer block for wheat, potato, and carrot farming. As you all probably know, the Observer is not simply a replacement for BUD switches. It is actually a great deal more sensitive than a BUD switch, being able to detect changes in block state that do not trigger a block update, such as the individual growth stages of wheat. What this means is that we now have the ability to build completely self-harvesting wheat and vegetable farms (not self-planting, though, unless you use a villager): semi-AFK, so to speak. I built a system that works really well and blogged about it in two different posts at minecraftramblings.com (one is about the Observer and Redstone Counter system that detects when the wheat is mature and harvests it, the other is about my particular method for collecting the harvested items). Check out the links to see a full description and how-to. Here, I just want to summarize and show off some of the concepts.
First, what I have built to test the concept is a basic 9x9 farm, with a slab covering the central water source. The Dispenser pictured here contains a water bucket.
All you have to do is plant the seeds. AND you can plant up to two types of crop in parallel lines, including beet root, just so long as the plant in front of the Observer is wheat, potato, or carrot. This will make the crops grow faster. However, you don't want to do more than two kinds of crops if you are using a Hopper Minecart to collect, because the Hopper Minecart only has five slots, and these will fill up. But this system is great. It even resets itself when you plant the seed, making it about the most automated wheat farm you can build in Minecraft without a villager or mods.
Again, for a fuller description of the Observer Wheat/Vegetable farm, go here.
For a fuller description of the Hopper Minecart collection system, go here.
http://minecraftramblings.com
Good observation. This is accounted for, though. When the water appears it triggers the Observer block, and when it disappears an instant later it triggers another. My Hopper counter includes these. I've been using this farm for weeks without a hitch.
http://minecraftramblings.com
i like ur pic
I think auto~farming is better done by farmer villagers go pro!
Right! As I mention in the blog post, it only requires a little adjustment (removing redstone dust from the counter or reducing the number of hoppers in the counter), since netherwart has only 4 growth stages rather than 8 (this applies to beetroot, too). You could also significantly reduce the size of the farm, since netherwart is used less frequently (unless you're building entire cities out of red netherbrick or brewing potions for your entire server). This also means collection could be simpler: a hopper placed directly below a piece of soulsand will pull through the soulsand, since it isn't a full block height.
http://minecraftramblings.com
This actually applies to farmland, too.
http://minecraftramblings.com
What's cooler than winking He-Man? Nothing I can think of.
http://minecraftramblings.com
nicely done.
Yeah farmland , also sand, depends if auto-farming is better than the possibility of FARMER VILLAGERS doing
all the talkin' .
Have you tried, dropper/dispenser? I dunno if they existed in the version you played. A similar idea came into my mind and I came across your post for help :D.
EDIT: After hours of work, I finally came up with counter a design. As seen in the bird-eye view, droppers fullness value un/locks hopper h_!, and h_1 un/locks h_2. Dropper acts like a countdown timer. Until it is empty, it locks h_1, and h_1 does the same for h_2. This way, the dropper enters a cooldown to replenish its items. When this happens, the output is activated. The circuit should use cheaper resources, compared to VladTubaka's hoppers, which uses many irons.