Brown and Green Materials That Fill Your Composter

A composter in Minecraft accepts two broad categories of plant-based materials: "brown" items (mostly seeds and dried plants) and "green" items (mostly crops and leaves). Each material raises the composter's level by a different amount—some items fill it by 5 percent, others by 10 or 30 percent. The composter produces bone meal when it reaches level 8 (completely full), which you can use to speed up crop growth or dye wool and other blocks.

The game treats compostable materials differently depending on their type. Leaves, seeds, and small plant parts fill the composter slowly. Larger crops like pumpkins, melons, and hay bales fill it much faster. Knowing which materials give you the most bang for your effort matters if you want to produce bone meal quickly without walking across your farm collecting scraps.

Key Takeaways

  • Seeds, saplings, grass, and leaves fill the composter by 5 to 10 percent and are the slowest materials to use.
  • Crops like wheat, carrots, potatoes, and beetroot fill the composter by 5 to 10 percent each.
  • Larger items like pumpkins, melons, hay bales, and dried kelp blocks fill the composter by 30 percent and are the fastest route to bone meal.
  • Flowers, mushrooms, and vines also compost, but at varying rates depending on the specific plant.
  • The composter produces one bone meal when it reaches level 8, then empties and is ready to fill again.

Seeds and Small Plant Parts (5 to 10 Percent)

Seeds are the slowest materials to compost. Wheat seeds, beetroot seeds, pumpkin seeds, and melon seeds each fill the composter by only 5 percent. If you want to fill a composter using only seeds, you will need 20 of them to produce one bone meal. This makes seeds a poor choice if you are trying to produce bone meal quickly, but they are useful if you have excess seeds lying around after harvesting crops.

Saplings (oak, birch, spruce, jungle, acacia, dark oak, mangrove, and cherry) fill the composter by 5 percent each. Grass and seagrass also fill it by 5 percent. Leaves from any tree type fill it by 2 percent, making them the slowest single item you can compost. If you are clearing a forest and want to dispose of leaves while getting some bone meal, the composter will accept them—but expect to need a lot of leaves to fill it.

Crops and Harvested Plants (5 to 10 Percent)

Wheat, carrots, potatoes, and beetroot (the actual crops, not the seeds) each fill the composter by 5 percent. This means you need 20 of any of these crops to produce one bone meal. If you have a large farm and want to compost the crops themselves rather than just the seeds, the composter will accept them at the same rate as seeds.

Nether wart, which grows in the Nether, fills the composter by 5 percent. Glow berries fill it by 15 percent, making them notably faster than standard crops. Cocoa pods (which grow on jungle trees) fill it by 10 percent. If you are farming in the Nether or jungle biome, these materials offer a middle ground between slow seeds and fast large crops.

Large Crops and Dried Plants (30 Percent)

Pumpkins and melons are the fastest common materials to compost. Each pumpkin or melon block fills the composter by 30 percent, meaning you need only three or four of them to produce one bone meal. If you have a pumpkin or melon farm, composting the full blocks (not the seeds) is the quickest way to turn your harvest into bone meal.

Hay bales fill the composter by 30 percent as well. If you are farming wheat and converting it to hay bales for storage, you can compost the hay bales instead and get bone meal at the same rate as pumpkins. Dried kelp blocks (made from nine dried kelp) fill the composter by 30 percent, making them another fast option if you are farming kelp in the ocean.

Flowers, Mushrooms, and Vines

Most flowers fill the composter by 5 percent each. This includes roses, tulips, daisies, poppies, and all other standard flowers. Tall flowers (like sunflowers and rose bushes) also fill it by 5 percent. Mushrooms (both red and brown) fill it by 5 percent. If you are decorating with flowers and have extras, the composter will accept them, but they are not an efficient source of bone meal.

Vines fill the composter by 5 percent. Weeping willow vines and cave vines also compost at 5 percent. Hanging roots (which grow in lush caves) fill it by 10 percent. If you are exploring caves or jungles and collecting these plants, you can compost them, but they are slower than dedicated crops.

Items That Do Not Compost

Not all plant-like materials can go in a composter. Sticks, wood blocks, planks, and logs do not compost—the composter only accepts items that are actually harvestable crops or plant parts. Cactus, sugar cane, and bamboo do not compost either, even though they are plants. Bone meal itself cannot be composted (you get it out, not put it in).

Flowers in pots, crops in farmland blocks, and any plant that is still growing or attached to a block cannot be composted—only the harvested item works. If you try to place a non-compostable item in the composter, it will straightforward fall through and drop on the ground below.

Building an Efficient Composting Setup

If you want to produce bone meal regularly, focus on growing pumpkins, melons, or hay bales. A small pumpkin or melon farm produces enough material to fill a composter multiple times per harvest. Place the composter next to your farm so you can compost materials as you harvest them. One composter produces one bone meal at a time, so if you need large amounts of bone meal, build multiple composters and fill them in parallel.

Composters can be stacked vertically or placed side by side. They do not need to be connected to anything—just place them where you want and start adding materials. You can automate composting with hoppers and redstone, but for a straightforward farm, manually adding materials as you harvest is straightforward and requires no redstone knowledge.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much bone meal does one full composter make?

One full composter produces exactly one bone meal. Once it reaches level 8 (completely full), it automatically empties and drops the bone meal. You can then start filling it again from level 0.

Can I compost wood or sticks?

No. Wood blocks, planks, logs, and sticks do not compost. The composter only accepts harvestable plant materials like crops, seeds, leaves, flowers, and mushrooms.

What is the fastest way to fill a composter?

Pumpkins, melons, hay bales, and dried kelp blocks each fill the composter by 30 percent, making them the fastest materials. You need only three or four of any of these items to produce one bone meal.

Do I need to do anything special to get bone meal out?

No. When the composter reaches level 8, it automatically produces bone meal and ejects it. You can collect it by hand or use a hopper below the composter to catch it automatically.

Can I compost sugar cane or cactus?

No. Sugar cane, cactus, and bamboo do not compost, even though they are plants. Only crops, seeds, leaves, flowers, mushrooms, and vines can be composted.