Tree Breeding

Tree Breeding is a mechanic from Forestry & Extra Trees that allows the creation of new tree species. While mostly cosmetic, there are some niche uses for Forestry's trees - an alternate way of obtaining Coconut, seed oil, and some unique but low-value food for extra hearts.

Obtaining Saplings

Forestry applies genetics to trees the same way it does to Bees. Vanilla tree saplings need to be analyzed with the Field Kit, Scanner (GT) or Treealyzer, or collected from fertilized leaf blocks with a Grafter or Branch Cutter. Lumberjack Villagers also can have a single trade for a random Forestry sapling of any type, and chests in Forestry village houses can have random saplings. Any type of Bee with the Flower: Flowers trait can pollinate trees inside it's Territory x3 (default Average is 9x9 footprint, six blocks tall, so 27x27x18 for tree pollination.) Butterflies can also pollinate trees and will spawn naturally from Forestry-analyzed trees, but are much slower and less predictable at the job than bees.

Forestry saplings can be bonemealed and force-grown just like their vanilla counterparts.

Pollinated Leaves

To cross-pollinate successfully, two or more different Forestry or vanilla trees need to be mature and within a bee's Territory, accessible by butterflies, or hand-pollinated with fertile pollen. This creates a leaf block with a slightly different texture that when broken will drop either a hybrid between the two parents or a new mutation if any exists between the crossed tree types. Chance of successful mutation varies by species, just like bees. To guarantee a sapling drop, use Branch Cutters or a Grafter to collect the leaf block. Otherwise the normal sapling drop rate applies, which is quite low.

Waila tooltip for a fertilized leaf.

Spectacles should be worn to make pollinated leaves more obvious. Even with Spectacles, certain leaf textures are quite difficult to distinguish, particularly spruce. Waila will have an extra line when looking at pollinated tree leaves, saying what the other parent species is. Tree pollination is slow, and can affect any leaf block, not just those that are visible on the outside surface of the tree's canopy. The easiest option is to set up a small group of auto-cycling apiaries with the best Pollination speed available in the middle of a small circle of the trees. Leave enough space that the surfaces of the trees can be easily inspected for pollinated leaf blocks.

Fertile Pollen

Fertile Pollen can be acquired by several methods and used to hand-pollinate a leaf block or in the Mutatron.

• The Pollen Collection Kit (IV gated) can harvest pollen from a tree.
• Alveary Sieve in an Alveary can harvest pollen at the cost of Woven Silk.
• Sieve Upgrade in an Industrial Apiary
• Killing a butterfly that was carrying pollen may drop a fertile pollen.
• Chests in Forestry village houses can contain fertile pollen from a random tree.

Mutations

New tree species are acquired by mutating the common vanilla types (Apple Oak, Birch, Jungle, Dark Oak, Spruce, & Acacia) together, and then combining the resulting species in new ways. Some pairings can have multiple potential mutations - Silver Lime x Silver Birch can make both Hill Cherry and White Willow, in the right conditions. A few species have humidity/temperature needs which must be met to mutate. Mutations can also be created in the Mutatron with a sapling and fertile pollen.