What's a Zero-tick Farm in Minecraft? All You Need to Know.

A zero-tick farm is an exploit (now patched in newer versions) that allowed instant crop growth, historically causing server lag and performance issues. By manipulating how Minecraft handled block updates, players could force crops like sugarcane, bamboo, and cactus to grow instantly, bypassing normal growth timers and creating farms that produced resources hundreds of times faster than intended. While incredibly efficient, these farms often tanked server performance and were eventually patched in version 1.16.​

How Zero-tick Farms Worked

Zero-tick farms exploited a bug in how Minecraft processed block updates when pistons moved blocks. The mechanism relied on replacing the block underneath a plant within a single game tick (1/20th of a second):​

The Exploit Process

1. A piston instantly pushed dirt under a plant (sugarcane, cactus, bamboo)​
2. During the piston's movement, Minecraft created a temporary "Block 36" placeholder​
3. The plant received an update and checked the block beneath it​
4. Finding Block 36 instead of dirt, the plant thought it was no longer supported and prepared to "pop off"​
5. Before popping, the dirt block finished moving into place​
6. The plant detected dirt again and grew instantly instead of breaking​

This process happened so fast (zero ticks) that the plant received conflicting update signals—causing it to grow a full stage immediately rather than waiting for the normal random tick.​

What Could Be Zero-ticked

The exploit worked on crops that grow on top of themselves:​

• Sugarcane: Instant growth to 3 blocks high
• Cactus: Instant growth upward​
• Bamboo: Instant growth to maximum height
• Kelp: Instant underwater growth​
• Vines: Instant spreading​
• Chorus flower: Instant branching​

Regular crops like wheat, carrots, and potatoes couldn't be zero-ticked because they don't grow upward—they progress through growth stages on the same block.

Why Zero-tick Farms Caused Lag

While zero-tick farms were efficient for players, they destroyed server performance:​

Block Update Spam

Each piston cycle triggered hundreds of block updates per second:​

• Piston extends → 10+ block updates
• Crops grow instantly → 5+ updates per crop
• Piston retracts → 10+ more updates
• Multiplied across dozens of pistons → thousands of updates per second

This overwhelmed the server tick processor, causing TPS drops and lag.​

Entity Spawning

Instantly-grown sugarcane/bamboo immediately broke and spawned item entities:​

• 20+ item entities spawned per second per farm
• Hoppers struggled to collect items fast enough
• Hundreds of entities clogged the server's entity tracker​

Ironically, despite causing server lag, zero-tick farms were sometimes the only farms that still worked on extremely laggy servers because they didn't rely on random ticks.​

When Zero-tick Was Patched

Zero-tick farms were officially patched in snapshot 20w12a (March 2020), which became part of Minecraft 1.16. The fix changed how plants received block updates during piston movements, preventing the conflicting signals that caused instant growth.​

Version History

• Pre-1.16 (Java Edition): Zero-tick farms fully functional
• 1.16+ (Java Edition): Zero-tick patched, farms no longer work​
• Bedrock Edition: Zero-tick mechanics still work due to different piston behavior

Some players loved zero-tick farms for their efficiency, while others celebrated their removal for eliminating unfair advantages and server-killing lag.

Restoring Zero-tick Farms (Mods)

For players who want zero-tick functionality on modern versions, mods exist to restore the exploit:​

Un-patch Zero Tick Farms (Fabric mod):

• Restores zero-tick behavior on 1.16+ servers​
• Configurable per crop type (sugarcane, bamboo, cactus, etc.)​
• Server-side only, clients don't need to install it​

Zero-tick on Bedrock Edition

Bedrock Edition still supports zero-tick-style farms because its piston mechanics work differently than Java Edition. Bedrock players can build "zero-tick" sugarcane and bamboo farms that use observer-piston clocks to force rapid growth.​

However, Bedrock zero-tick farms don't use the exact same exploit as they rely on observer update mechanics unique to Bedrock's redstone behavior.

The Legacy of Zero-tick Farms

Zero-tick farms represented peak technical Minecraft where clever players exploiting unintended game behavior to create absurdly efficient farms. However, they also highlighted the balance between player creativity and server stability:​

Pros:

• Incredibly efficient resource production​
• Worked even on laggy servers where normal farms failed​
• Showcased the technical Minecraft community's ingenuity​

Cons:

• Caused severe server lag and TPS drops​
• Created unfair advantages on multiplayer servers
• Trivialized resource gathering progression​

Most players agree the patch was necessary for server health, even if it removed a beloved exploit.

Alternatives to Zero-tick Farms

With zero-tick patched, efficient farms now use legitimate methods:

• Observer-based bamboo farms: Detect growth and break bamboo automatically
• Flying machine sugarcane harvesters: Move along rows breaking mature crops
• Traditional piston farms: Use normal random ticks with efficient collection systems

These farms are slower than zero-tick but don't destroy server performance.​

Zero-tick farms were an exploit that allowed instant crop growth by manipulating block update timing during piston movements. While incredibly efficient, they caused severe server lag by spamming block updates and spawning hundreds of item entities per second.

Mojang patched zero-tick in Minecraft 1.16, restoring balance and server stability, though Bedrock Edition still supports similar mechanics due to different redstone behavior.