A Minecraft composter is a utility block that turns excess plant-based items into bone meal, which you can use to speed up your crop growth. It also serves as the job site block needed to turn an unemployed villager into a farmer.
What a Minecraft composter does for you
The composter converts organic material into bone meal, allowing you to recycle surplus crops and food into a valuable fertilizer. This bone meal can then be applied to crops to make them grow instantly, giving you a faster and more reliable food supply. Additionally, if you place an unclaimed composter near an unemployed villager, that villager will become a farmer, which is useful for automated trading and food production.
Minecraft composter recipe and crafting steps
To craft a composter, you need seven wooden slabs of any wood type. You can mix different wood slabs together in the recipe. If you don't have slabs, craft them by placing three wooden planks of the same type in a single row on a crafting table, which yields six slabs. Repeat to get your seventh slab. In Minecraft PE Creative Mode, you can find a composter in your inventory under Items without crafting or exploring. You can find a composter in villages, particularly in farms, in Survival Mode.
- Open a crafting table.
- Place the seven wooden slabs in a U-shape in the 3x3 grid: three slabs in the first column, three in the last column, and one slab in the center slot of the bottom row.
- Take the composter from the result slot and add it to your inventory.
How to use a composter to get bone meal
Once you have a composter, place it on the ground. Hold a compostable item in your hand and use it on the composter to add it inside. Continue adding items until the composter is completely full, you will see the visual fill level rise and green particles appear as layers are created. When the composter is full, use it with an empty hand to collect the bone meal that appears on top.
Items you can and cannot compost
Most food and plant-based items can be composted, including crops like wheat, carrots, potatoes, beetroots, and melons, as well as items like apples, mushrooms, leaves, saplings, seeds, and flowers. However, the following items are specifically excluded and cannot be composted: bamboo, poisonous potatoes, dead bushes, meat, and fish. If you are using a digital art tool like a Procreate digital art app to plan your farm layout, remember that only plant and food items work in the composter, no animal products or the excluded plants will be accepted. Compostable items fill the composter at different rates; the original groups items by fill percentage (100%, 85%, 65%, 50%, 30%) and lists specific items under each tier. Cakes and pumpkin pies are the best items to compost because you only need one of either to create a compost layer, meaning seven cakes or pumpkin pies fill the composter completely.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a composter as fuel in a furnace?
Yes, a composter can be used as fuel in a furnace, but it is not a primary use. The original article mentions this as an additional function, though the block is mainly designed for producing bone meal and acting as a farmer job site.
Do I need a specific tool to break a composter?
You can break a composter with any tool, but an axe works fastest. If the composter contains compost, breaking it will destroy the contents, leaving only the block itself.
Can I find composters naturally in the world?
The most reliable method to obtain one is to craft it using the seven wooden slab recipe described above.
Does the composter work differently on different platforms like Minecraft PE?
The crafting method and usage described here apply across all versions of Minecraft.
Can I use a composter with a redstone comparator?
Yes, the original article notes that a composter can serve as an energy source for redstone comparators, outputting a signal strength based on how full it is.
