In Minecraft, you can build pretty much anything. From giant bases to automatic farms, nothing is impossible. In terms of farms, the automatic melon and pumpkin farm is a simple contraption. Seeds will grow in front of an observer. When melons and pumpkins are fully grown, a piston will push them down into a hopper, which will empty into a chest.
This farm design is completely automatic; after you build it, just sit back and watch the farm get to work! In this guide, we're going to look show you step by step how to build an automatic melon and pumpkin farm.
Where To Find Melon And Pumpkin Seeds
Prior to building this farm, you will need to have some pumpkin and melon seeds.
Pumpkins can be found in pretty much every biome, as long as there is grass. Additionally, they can grow on top of snow, so you can find pumpkins in mountain and taiga biomes.
When looking for a pumpkin, search around plains and mountain areas. Trees will not be dense here, so the pumpkins will be easy to spot from a distance.
Melons are a bit more difficult to find. They can be found naturally in jungle biomes, as well as savannah villages and woodland mansions. To quickly find a melon, try locating a village. If a village has a farming area, they may be planted here.
After finding pumpkins and melons, you will be able to craft seeds from each. Open your crafting menu, and you should be able to turn each into their given seed.
Materials Needed For A Melon And Pumpkin Farm
Now that you have your seeds, let's take a look at all the materials needed to build this farm.
- 1 hopper minecart
- 10 glass
- 1 chest
- 1 hopper
- 1 redstone block
- 1 redstone dust
- 3 powered rails
- 3 dirt blocks (and a hoe to till the dirt)
- 2 observers
- 1 piston
- 1 bucket of water
- 1 pumpkin seed
- 1 melon seed
- 11 building blocks (any block of your choice)
Steps To Make Your Automatic Melon And Pumpkin Farm
To start this build, place a chest on the ground, with a hopper attached to the top. To do this, just press shift while attaching the hopper so the chest won't open.
Next to the hopper, place a building block and a redstone block. You should have a 3x1 build.
Place a powered rail on top of each block. Remember to press shift again when placing on top of the hopper.
On either edge of the powered rail track, place two building blocks.
Use one additional building block on the back, center edge of the build. Above, you can see the setup of these building blocks.
Between the two top blocks, place three dirt blocks. They should be directly over the rails below.
With the dirt in place, attach two building blocks on either side, with a third block attached at the corners.
Overall, you should have a 'hole' formed with the blocks. Place your water in this hole. This will be the water source for the pumpkins and melons to grow.
On the building blocks next to the dirt, place two observers.
Then, place a piston directly in the center, above the water. Getting these blocks to face the right way can be a bit tricky, so feel free to use any temporary foundation blocks.
Behind the piston, place redstone dust, and then two building blocks directly behind each observer.
On the two edge pieces of dirt in front of the observers, till the ground and place your seeds. This example uses one of each, however, you can just two of the same seed if you prefer.
After the seeds are planted, enclose the growing area in glass. This will prevent the grown melon and pumpkins from flying out of the farm.
Lastly, just place your hopper minecart on the powered rails! The minecart will bounce back and forth until it is removed. If you don't want the farm to constantly run, just remove the minecart.
You can also attach a lever or button to turn the rails off. Check out our complete guide on how to use redstone for this.
Your automatic melon and pumpkin farm is now complete!
Tips For Farming Efficiency
This farm can easily be expanded by repeating the pattern. Instead of placing a 3x1 foundation, you can increase this to your desired size. The powered rail should expand as long as the farm.
Remember, the pumpkins and melons will only grow if you are nearby, so be sure to add this near your base for the best production rates.
As mentioned earlier, you can also use this farm to produce just one type of material. For example, if you aren't planning on using melon, you can set this farm to only produce pumpkin.
This farm will only work for these two items because of the way that they grow. Other fruits and vegetables grow directly out of the ground and require a new seed after each harvest. Pumpkins and melons require a space next to the seed, however, the seed will create an infinite number of resources.
The pumpkins and melons that you will receive from the farm can be traded with villagers as well. A villager with the farming profession will buy six pumpkins for an emerald, and four melons for an emerald. This is a great way to make emeralds without doing too much work.
Now that you have built this automatic pumpkin and melon farm, be sure to check out automatic farms that are essential for your Minecraft base!