Cherry saplings are a plant block in Minecraft that let you grow cherry trees wherever you want. They were added in Minecraft 1.20 as part of the Cherry Grove biome update. You can’t craft them, but getting them is straightforward if you know where to look.
Where to Find Cherry Saplings
Cherry Grove Biome
Cherry trees grow naturally in the Cherry Grove biome. This is the only place you’ll find them spawning naturally in the world. If you haven’t explored much, cherry groves can spawn in most terrain areas, so keep exploring and you’ll find one eventually.
Finding Them in Creative Mode
In Creative Mode (Java Edition 1.20+), cherry saplings are in the Natural Blocks tab of your creative inventory. Just search for “cherry” or scroll through the plant blocks section.
Getting Cherry Saplings in Survival Mode
What You Need
You don’t need much, just an axe makes the job faster. Any axe works wood, stone, iron, diamond, golden, or netherite. If you don’t have one yet, you can break the leaves with your bare hands, but it takes longer.
Step-by-Step
- Find a cherry tree – Look in Cherry Grove biomes. The trees have pink/white flowering leaves and light-colored wood.
- Break the leaves – Use your axe (or hand) to break the cherry leaves. Keep hitting the leaves, not the wood. The wood drops logs, not saplings.
- Wait for drops – Like other tree leaves, cherry leaves randomly drop saplings when you break them. You might need to break several blocks of leaves before one drops.
- Collect them – Pick up the sapling before it despawns. Saplings disappear after 5 minutes if left on the ground.
Pro tip: Use an axe and break leaves in bulk. The more leaves you break, the more saplings you’ll get. You can also use bone meal to speed up tree growth once you plant a sapling.
How to Plant and Grow Cherry Trees
Place a cherry sapling on dirt, grass, or similar blocks and it’ll grow into a full cherry tree. The tree needs space above it (at least 5-7 blocks) and will grow randomly or instantly with bone meal. Cherry trees have a unique pink and white flowering appearance when they’re fully grown.
Technical Details
Item ID and Name
In Minecraft Java Edition 1.20+, the cherry sapling uses this command:
/give @p cherry_sapling 1The Minecraft ID name is minecraft:cherry_sapling. Saplings stack up to 64 in your inventory.
What to Do With Cherry Saplings
Cherry saplings are perfect for building a tree farm or decorating your base. The trees produce cherry logs and cherry leaves that you can use for building. You can also pot saplings in flower pots for decorative blocks, or use them in composters (saplings add 30% to the compost meter).