Gemcorns

Type	Seeds
Placeable	✔️
Use time	15 (Very fast)
Rarity
Sell	3 SC75 CC (Amethyst); 7 SC50 CC (Topaz); 11 SC25 CC (Sapphire); 15 SC (Emerald); 22 SC50 CC (Ruby); 30 SC (Diamond/Amber)
Research	5 required

Desktop/Console/Mobile-Only Content: This information applies only to the Desktop, Console, and Mobile versions of Terraria.

Placed Gemcorns.

Gemcorns are a type of seed whose saplings grow into gem trees, and can be crafted from an Acorn and any Gem. Natural Gem Trees can be found in the Underground and Cavern layer, although they are rare. Generally speaking, chopping down a Gem Tree will yield 7-48 Stone Blocks, 0-11 Gemcorns of the tree's type, and 0-24 Gems of the tree's type (each tile of the tree has a 1/10 (10%) chance of dropping a gem, otherwise dropping 1-2 Stone Blocks, and every non-barren leaf/branch tile additionally has a 1/2 (50%) chance to drop another Gemcorn^[1]. See Growth section for detailed info.)

Crafting

Recipes

Result	Ingredients	Crafting station
Amber Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4857	Acorn Amber	By Hand
Amethyst Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4852	Acorn Amethyst
Diamond Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4856	Acorn Diamond
Emerald Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4854	Acorn Emerald
Ruby Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4855	Acorn Ruby
Sapphire Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4853	Acorn Sapphire
Topaz Gemcorn(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)Internal Item ID: 4851	Acorn Topaz

Farming

Functioning Gem Tree farm. The floor is completely Stone, with non-painted blocks spaced by three black painted ones to mark optimal spacing and places without background. Almost all background is covered with walls, except for the 2 tiles where the Gem Tree sapling occupies once placed.
Note that the absence of light sources is only for stylistic preference, as light does not affect the growth of Gemcorns at all.

The minimum requirements for a Gem Tree to grow is for it to be planted on one of two immediately adjacent Stone, Moss, or any of their biome variants at the Underground or Cavern layer, displayed by the Depth Meter. Light levels do not affect the growth of Gemcorns at all, therefore light sources can be placed nearby to help the player see better. However, placed torches will prevent tree growth (the tiles will be considered occupied for the growth conditions), so do not place any torches within two tiles to the left and right of the sapling. Once a sapling is placed, it cannot be picked back up.

Background Walls

To reduce enemy spawning in a Gem Tree farm, it is possible to place background walls in almost all of the background, except the two tiles occupied by the placed Gemcorn. Some underground enemies (and critters) will still spawn, but far fewer than with an un-walled farm. Most walls, placed behind the two tiles occupied by gemcorn saplings, will prevent its growth entirely.

However, gemcorns can grow in front of fences like other trees. They can also grow in front of natural walls. Of course, natural walls will allow enemy spawning as usual. Using fence will allow you to completely cover the farm in walls to prevent enemy spawns entirely.

Spacing

The Gemcorns must be planted with three tiles of space between saplings for both to be able to grow.

Gemcorn saplings need at least 11 blocks of open space above them, but 16 is better, and 17 will avoid the topmost leaves clipping into the ceiling. The tree size is determined every time the sapling attempts to grow, and if there are fewer than 16 blocks the attempt might fail. Thus, having fewer than 16 blocks available will effectively slow down growth, and will produce only shorter trees (which will yield fewer gems)^[2].

Growth

Gem trees growth takes about 32 in-game hours on average ^[3].

Gem trees can be 7-12 tiles high (not counting space taken up by the non-tile "leaves" at the top) consisting of 6-11 "trunk" tiles topped by one "leaf" tile, with 0-20 (depending on tree height) "branch" tiles off of the trunk (one tile per branch), totaling between 6-11 "trunk" tiles, 1 "leaf" tile, and 0-20 "branch" tiles.

The trunk length is uniformly distributed, while branch tiles are generated from the top down with a 30% chance of generating at each height (10% each for left branch, right branch, or double branch). Branch tiles cannot generate off of the leaf tile or bottom tile of the tree, and if a branch generated on the above tile and attempts to generate on the current tile while sharing a side, the game will reroll the branch generation one time. Branches have a 2/3 (66.67%) chance to have leaves and a 1/3 (33.33%) chance to be barren, while the leaf tile has a 1/13 (7.69%) chance to be barren.

"Trunk", "leaf", and "branch" tiles drop either 1 Gem (10% chance) or 1-2 Stone Blocks (remaining 90% chance). "Leaf" and "branch" tiles also drop 1 Gemcorn 50% of the time if the leaf/branch tile is not barren (barren branches/leaves are fully colored stony gray, containing no visible "gem leaves").

As a rough approximation, a gem tree will drop 1.46 Gems, 19.7 Stone, and 2.15 Gemcorns. This is the average output over several gem trees, and individual gem trees have very high variance in their returns. Individual gem trees may not give any Gems or Gemcorns back at all.

Tips

Using different-colored gem torches or Gemspark Blocks beneath each sapling can be a good way to indicate which type of tree is planted where. Alternatively, paint can be used on the other blocks (as in the picture above); a Gemcorn planted on a painted block will sprout into a painted Gem Tree (just as it would with other types of trees) that could instead make it difficult to see the type of gem due to the coloring.
- However, using the Illuminant Coating on the actual blocks where Gem Trees are planted could help to tell the gems apart, since it causes the trees and the colored gems on it be fully visible, regardless of lighting (or lack thereof).
Gemcorns can be sold for the value of their respective gem.
While Gemcorns can be planted on mossy stone, the outgrowths of moss can block the sapling's growth. Furthermore, while a single stroke of a pickaxe will normally remove moss from Stone, this does not work if a Gem Tree has grown on the block. (Moss can still be removed from beneath a sapling)
The required empty 3 adjacent Stone Blocks to where the sapling will be planted can be hammered to eliminate waste via accidentally planting Gemcorns too close together as they cannot be planted on hammered blocks. The Smart Cursor function can also be used to avoid this.
Gemcorns cannot be placed in a space occupied by water. If water is placed after the Gemcorn is planted, it will not grow.

History

Desktop version

Desktop 1.4.0.1: Introduced.

Console version

Console 1.4.0.5.4.1: Introduced.

Nintendo Switch version

Switch 1.4.0.5.5: Introduced.

Mobile version

Mobile 1.4.0.5.0: Introduced.

References

↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.2.3 source code, method SetGemTreeDrops() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.2.3 source code, method GrowTreeWithSettings() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.
↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method UpdateWorld_UndergroundTile() in Terraria.Worldgen.cs. Underground tile updates happen anywhere between the surface line and true bottom of the world, which accounts for about 70% of the total world size. The update number per tick is 0.0015% of the total world size, and the sapling can grow from either tile being updated, with a 20% chance of attempting to grow each update. The chances of the sapling growing each tick is about (0.0015%*worldArea)/(70%*worldArea)*20%*2 = 8.571×10^-6. This means the average time for a gem tree to grow would be 1/(8.571×10^-6) = 116667 ticks, or 116667/60/60 = 32.4 in-game hours

[sourcecode_1-1] Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.2.3 source code, method SetGemTreeDrops() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.

[sourcecode_2-2] Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.2.3 source code, method GrowTreeWithSettings() in Terraria.WorldGen.cs. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.

[sourcecode_3-3] Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.9 source code, method UpdateWorld_UndergroundTile() in Terraria.Worldgen.cs. Underground tile updates happen anywhere between the surface line and true bottom of the world, which accounts for about 70% of the total world size. The update number per tick is 0.0015% of the total world size, and the sapling can grow from either tile being updated, with a 20% chance of attempting to grow each update. The chances of the sapling growing each tick is about (0.0015%*worldArea)/(70%*worldArea)*20%*2 = 8.571×10^-6. This means the average time for a gem tree to grow would be 1/(8.571×10^-6) = 116667 ticks, or 116667/60/60 = 32.4 in-game hours

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[2]

[3]

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