The Bug:
Two-by-two arrangements of jungle or spruce saplings cannot grow when surrounded by any block other than a sapling that's located to the north and/or west side of the sapling formation.
This can be anything from a torch to a snow layer, to a grass block. The south and east sides do not have this blocking effect.
Steps to Reproduce:
Build the setup as shown in the attachment below.
Apply large amounts of bone meal to the said saplings.
Take note as to whether or not two-by-two arrangements of jungle or spruce saplings cannot grow when there are adjacent blocks located north or west of the sapling formation.
Observed Behavior:
The saplings will never grow into trees naturally or when bone mealed.
Expected Behavior:
The saplings would grow into trees and not be prevented by adjacent blocks located north or west of the sapling formation.
Linked issues
is duplicated by 13
MC-18177
2 by 2 jungle tree bone meal bug
Resolved
MC-278183
Snow layers prevent 2x2 Spruce trees from growing
Resolved
MC-176235
2x2 spruce don't grow
Resolved
MC-155348
2 wide spruce wont grow if item/block is next to them
Resolved
MC-151951
Saplings planted next to snow don't grow.
Resolved
relates to 3
Attachments
Comments 22
There may not be any blocks adjacent to the north-western sapling, as this is considered as the center of the tree. More information can be found here..
It's probably worth noting that this extends to basically any block occupying the same space, including ones which are completely transparent like grass or ferns. I suspect this is probably to keep the giant spruce trees with leaves on the bottom level from intersecting any blocks, but spruce saplings are ignored in that check anyway so I don't see why that couldn't be extended to include other blocks.
I also noticed that adjacent blocks are only blocking tree growth from the north and west side of the sapling formation, but not the east or south. So it doesn't have to be fully surrounded. It also doesn't matter which sapling gets applied the bone meal, all saplings in the 2x2 formation behave as if they were one single sapling with 12 adjacent sides instead of 8.
@unknown, I believe that issue is MC-118980.
Unable to reproduce. Are you sure you give them enough space to grow?