How to Plant and Grow Mushrooms in Minecraft Easily
Mushrooms in Minecraft are unique fungi (not plants!) that naturally generate in dark places like caves, the Nether (occasionally), dark oak forests, and especially the rare Mushroom Fields biome. They come in two small types—red and brown—and can be harvested for food recipes or grown into huge mushrooms for bulk farming. Mushrooms prefer low light: small mushrooms can be placed where the light level is 12 or less, or on special blocks like mycelium and podzol at any light level. Keep your farm area dim (or use mycelium/podzol), and you’ll have a steady, renewable supply.
Why grow mushrooms? They’re renewable and versatile. You can craft Mushroom Stew (great early-game food), farm huge mushrooms with bonemeal for mass drops, and use brown mushrooms in alchemy via Fermented Spider Eye.
Once you’ve gathered what you need, you can begin.
In this article, we’ll talk about how to grow your own mushrooms in Minecraft.
Getting Started
Find mushrooms: Look for red and brown mushrooms in dark areas (caves, under trees in dark oak forests/taiga), in the Nether (sporadically), and especially in the Mushroom Fields biome where they’re plentiful.
Place mushrooms correctly: You don’t craft a “plantable” mushroom—just place the mushroom directly on a valid block. Small mushrooms can be placed on most solid blocks when the light level is ≤12. They can always be placed on mycelium and podzol regardless of light.
- Best blocks for easy farms: Mycelium (from Mushroom Fields) and Podzol (grow with spruce saplings 2×2 to create a giant spruce; it converts nearby dirt to podzol).
- Lighting tip: Aim for dim light (torches far apart or none at all) unless using mycelium/podzol.
How to plant: Right-click (or tap) the mushroom on a valid block to place it. It will sit as a small mushroom and can spread to nearby valid blocks over time if the area remains suitable.
Bonemeal for huge mushrooms: Use bonemeal on a placed small red or brown mushroom (on dirt/grass/podzol/mycelium, etc.) to grow a huge mushroom. Ensure enough space:
- Space check: Leave ~7 blocks or more of vertical clearance and a 7×7 horizontal area for red; give brown even more headroom (it can grow wider/taller).
- Harvesting: Break the huge mushroom’s blocks to collect many small mushrooms quickly.
Farming Mushrooms
There are two efficient approaches:
- Passive spread farm: Lay out a floor of mycelium or podzol in a dim room. Place a few mushrooms spaced apart (they won’t spread if too crowded). Over time, they’ll duplicate onto nearby valid blocks. Periodically harvest extras.
- Bonemeal farm for bulk: Place one mushroom on dirt/grass/podzol/mycelium and apply bonemeal to generate a huge mushroom; harvest it with an axe. Repeat. This is the fastest way to scale up.
Extra tips
- Use Silk Touch on mycelium to move it; or generate podzol with a 2×2 spruce tree.
- Keep farm floors tidy—mushrooms won’t place on occupied blocks like tall grass.
- Don’t confuse Nether fungi (crimson/warped) with mushrooms—their growth rules use nylium and are separate from red/brown mushrooms.
Farming Mushrooms for Food
You can’t eat mushrooms raw or cook them in a furnace/campfire. Instead, craft Mushroom Stew (excellent early-game saturation) and other recipes:
- Mushroom Stew: 1 Red Mushroom + 1 Brown Mushroom + 1 Bowl (shapeless in crafting grid).
- Suspicious Stew: 1 Red + 1 Brown + 1 Bowl + 1 Flower (effects vary by flower—e.g., Night Vision, Saturation, etc.).
- Bowl: Craft from 3 wooden planks (V shape). (Cobwebs do not drop bowls; they drop string unless harvested with Silk Touch.)
Brewing & mushrooms: You don’t brew potions by adding mushrooms directly to water. However, brown mushrooms are used to craft Fermented Spider Eye (Brown Mushroom + Sugar + Spider Eye), which is then used for potions like Weakness and as a corrupter for certain effects. Potion of Regeneration is not made with mushrooms (it uses a Ghast Tear added to an Awkward Potion).
Renewability: With spread mechanics and bonemeal-grown huge mushrooms, you can create an effectively infinite supply of mushrooms for food and brewing components.
What’s New in This Update
- Corrected several inaccuracies: mushrooms are fungi, not plants; you don’t cook/eat them directly; bowls come from wooden planks (not cobwebs).
- Added accurate placement rules (light level ≤12; mycelium/podzol ignore light limits) and biome tips (Mushroom Fields, dark oak forests).
- Expanded bonemeal farming with huge mushroom space guidance for faster scale-up.
- Clarified brewing: brown mushrooms → Fermented Spider Eye; Regeneration potions are not crafted with mushrooms.
- Included practical farm blocks guidance (mycelium/podzol, generating podzol with 2×2 spruce).
Last updated: 27 October 2025
