Chorus Plant Bonsai Training

If you've played Minecraft 1.9, you may have noticed that they introduced a new plant in the "End". The purple Chorus Plants are tall and wispy flower-bearing stalks that grow rather irregularly when they spawn naturally. Breaking the flowers with your fists will yield Chorus Fruits, which when consumed will randomly teleport the player to a different location within a 10 block radius. If you break the flower with a pair of shears, it will drop as a Chorus Flower block that can be used to seed a new chorus plant.

A look at the Chorus Plant forest in the expanded End

Breaking the stalk of a Chorus Plant can occasionally yield Chorus Fruits, and breaking or redirecting the stalk in the wrong location can cause significant parts of the plant to disappear. Much like the stubborn bonsai tree, the Chorus Plant seems almost UN-tameable and can be rather frustrating to work with initially. However, with patience, knowledge, and persistence, you can train the Chorus Plant to grow in some pretty incredible shapes and patterns!

Getting Started

If you want Chorus Plants in survival mode, you first have to make it to the End and then you have to get to the secret extension of the End which is only unlocked after you fight the Dragon and beat the game. This takes a considerable amount of work, so unless you're a Pro you should probably start working with Chorus Plants in Creative mode. Once you hone in on your skills in cultivating the Chorus bonsai, you can grow them resourcefully and with confidence in Survival.

The only two items that you need in your inventory are End Stone and Chorus Flower. Place one End Stone where you want the base of your plant to be. Pick a location with open space in all directions so your plant can freely grow and you can expand it's area if necessary. Now place a Chorus Flower on the End Stone and brew a cup of tea! The rate at which Chorus Flowers grow is random, but in my experience it is much quicker than most plants. However, while they may grow quickly, they do not always grow in the direction that you want. This is where the patience and persistence come in.

Once the plant starts to grow, what it will do is unpredictable. It can go straight up, split into several directions, or grow out to one side. Once it starts growing you can exhibit some control on the shape by pruning the flowers with shears and replacing the flower where you want it to grow. There are a few tips to keep in mind while working with chorus plants.

• Chorus flowers cannot be placed directly beside another chorus flower
• If a chorus flower grows into a space adjacent to another stalk, it can cause the stalk to break and everything above that point to crumble
• Stems can only extend out one block in any direction without going up
• Breaking a dead flower connected to a junction that supports other stems can cause the plant to collapse

Sometimes Chorus Flowers will quit growing, turn darker, and 'die' - see examples of dead flowers on the C, S, and T in the "rebeeccc CHEST SHOP" image above. This can happen after the original flower has grown several blocks, or it can happen without moving at all. If the flower turns dark and dies without moving from the location where it was placed, this usually means that the stalk doesn't want to grow in this direction - usually because another block is too close to it.

While it is easiest to start training Chorus Plants by keeping them in a 2D plane like the photos above, the real beauty of Chorus Plants and bonsai trees is that they can grow in three dimensions. Once you get the hang of how the plants grow and where to place the flowers to make the shapes you want, don't be afraid to expand out behind and in front of the plant. You can make some really interesting shapes and patterns with enough patience and persistence. Imagine adding a dragon-shaped Chorus Plant to an End-Village or creating a special boss out of Chorus Plants that morph into different shapes as the battle progresses!

The possibilities are nearly limitless once you learn the few simple rules of training a Chorus Plant. As with its bonsai inspiration, a zen-like feeling of accomplishment is felt once the plant is successfully trained and trimmed to your satisfaction. It may not be as easy or quick as placing blocks, but learning to train the Chorus Plant is a truly rewarding experience and is guaranteed to level-up your Yogi Master XP!