How to make Bone Meal in Minecraft

This Minecraft tutorial explains how to craft bone meal with screenshots and step-by-step instructions.

In Minecraft, bone meal is used as a fertilizer as well as a dye (in older versions of Minecraft). The crafting process will create 3 bone meal at a time.

bone meal

Let's explore how to make bone meal.

Supported Platforms

Bone meal is available in the following versions of Minecraft:

PlatformSupported (Version*)
Java Edition (PC/Mac) Java Edition (PC/Mac)Yes
Pocket Edition (PE) Pocket Edition (PE)Yes
Xbox 360 Xbox 360Yes
Xbox One Xbox OneYes
PS3 PS3Yes
PS4 PS4Yes
Wii U Wii UYes
Nintendo Switch Nintendo SwitchYes
Windows 10 Edition Windows 10 EditionYes
Education Edition Education EditionYes

* The version that it was added or removed, if applicable.
NOTE: Pocket Edition (PE), Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch, and Windows 10 Edition are now called Bedrock Edition. We will continue to show them individually for version history.

Where to find Bone Meal in Creative Mode

Required Materials to make Bone Meal

In Minecraft, these are the materials you can use to craft bone meal:

How to craft Bone Meal in Survival Mode

1. Open the Crafting Menu

First, open your crafting table so that you have the 3x3 crafting grid that looks like this:

3x3 crafting area

2. Add Items to make Bone Meal

In the crafting menu, you should see a crafting area that is made up of a 3x3 crafting grid. To make bone meal, you will need to place specific items in the grid. It is important that the items are placed in the exact pattern as our example images. Changing the pattern of boxes that are filled will change the item that is crafted.

There are 2 patterns you can use as a crafting recipe for bone meal:

Pattern 1

In the first row, there should be 1 bone in the first box. This crafting recipe makes 3 bone meal.

Crafting recipe for bone meal

Pattern 2

In the first row, there should be 1 bone block in the first box. This crafting recipe makes 9 bone meal.

Crafting recipe for bone meal

Now that you have filled the crafting area with the pattern, the bone meal will appear in the box to the right.

bone meal

3. Move the Bone Meal to Inventory

Once you have crafted bone meal, you need to move the new items to your inventory.

Completed bone meal

Congratulations, you have made bone meal in Minecraft!

Item ID and Name

Give Command for Bone Meal

Things to Make with Bone Meal

You can use bone meal to make items in Minecraft such as:

Things to Do with Bone Meal

Here are some activities that you can do with bone meal in Minecraft: