Green dye is one of the few dyes in Minecraft that you cannot get from a flower. There is no green flower to put in a crafting grid, which is why so many players get stuck the first time they want green wool, green concrete or a green banner. The answer is cactus and a furnace. This guide shows exactly how to make green dye in Minecraft, where to find cactus, how to build a cactus farm so you never run out, the other ways to get green dye, and every recipe that uses it.
Quick answer: how to make green dye in Minecraft
- Collect cactus from a desert or badlands biome.
- Craft or place a furnace (8 cobblestone around the edge of a crafting table grid).
- Put the cactus in the top slot of the furnace.
- Put fuel such as coal, charcoal or wooden planks in the bottom slot.
- Wait 10 seconds per cactus and take the green dye from the output slot.
One cactus gives one green dye. The recipe is the same in Java Edition, Bedrock Edition and on every console. Smelting cactus also gives a small amount of experience, so a big batch of green dye levels you up a little too.
How to get green dye: every method
1. Smelt cactus (the main method)
Smelting is the only way to make green dye yourself. A regular furnace is the tool you need. The smoker only cooks food and the blast furnace only smelts ores, armor and tools, so neither of them accepts cactus. If you want to speed things up, place several furnaces side by side and split your cactus between them, or use hoppers to feed them automatically.
2. Buy it from a wandering trader
Wandering traders sometimes offer green dye in exchange for one emerald. The offer is random, so you cannot count on it, but it is a handy shortcut if you meet a trader early in a world before you have found a desert.
3. Find it in chests
Dyes sometimes turn up in village chests. It is not a reliable source for green, but check every chest you loot because dyes stack up to 64 and are always useful.
Can you craft green dye from other dyes?
No. Unlike orange, lime, cyan or purple, green is a base dye in Minecraft and cannot be mixed from yellow and blue. If you see a guide that tells you to combine yellow and blue dye, it is wrong for Minecraft, even though that works with real paint.
Where to find cactus
Cactus grows naturally in deserts and badlands (mesa) biomes. It appears as tall green columns, usually one to three blocks high, standing on sand or red sand. Desert villages often have cactus nearby too. Break the cactus with your hand or any tool; it breaks instantly. Watch out, because touching cactus deals damage, so stand beside it rather than on top of it, and do not walk into it while you are low on health.
When a cactus block is broken, every cactus block above it pops off as an item as well. Collect the floating items quickly, especially in a desert, because nearby cactus can destroy items that touch it.
How to grow cactus and build a cactus farm
Cactus can be planted on sand or red sand anywhere, not just in deserts. It does not need water or light to grow, which makes it one of the easiest plants to farm. It does have one rule: no block can touch a cactus on its sides. If you place a block next to a growing cactus, or if the cactus grows next to a block, the new piece breaks off and drops as an item.
Simple manual farm
- Place sand blocks in a checkerboard pattern, leaving one empty space between each sand block.
- Plant one cactus on each sand block.
- Come back regularly and break the second and third blocks, leaving the bottom block to regrow.
Automatic cactus farm
The rule that breaks cactus can work in your favor. Place sand on a platform, plant cactus, and put a fence or any non-solid block at the height of the second cactus block, diagonally offset so it touches the cactus only when it grows. When the cactus grows to two blocks, the new top piece touches the block and breaks off as an item. Let the items fall into a water stream that carries them into a hopper, and connect the hopper to a furnace. Now cactus smelts into green dye on its own while you are nearby. Add a hopper under the furnace that leads to a chest, and you have a fully automatic green dye farm.
Cactus grows faster when you are close by, because it only grows in loaded chunks. Build your farm near your base so it keeps working while you play.
What green dye is used for
- Green wool and carpet: combine green dye with white wool, or use it on a sheep to dye it green. A green sheep regrows green wool every time you shear it.
- Green stained glass and panes: surround one green dye with eight glass blocks. See how to make glass.
- Green terracotta: surround one green dye with eight terracotta blocks, then smelt it for green glazed terracotta. See how to make terracotta.
- Green concrete powder: 4 sand, 4 gravel and 1 green dye make 8 concrete powder, which turns into green concrete when it touches water. See how to make concrete.
- Lime dye: combine green dye with white dye to make 2 lime dye.
- Cyan dye: combine green dye with blue dye to make 2 cyan dye. See how to make cyan dye.
- Banners and patterns: use green dye on a loom to add green patterns, or craft a green banner from green wool.
- Leather armor: combine leather armor with green dye in a crafting grid to color it.
- Beds, candles, shulker boxes and firework stars: green dye colors all of these.
- Signs: use green dye on a sign to change the text color.
Java vs Bedrock differences
Making green dye works the same in both editions. The main difference is in automatic farms: hopper and water behavior differ slightly, so follow a farm design built for your edition. On Bedrock you can also use bone meal on some plants that Java does not allow, but bone meal does nothing for cactus in either edition, so a cactus farm grows at the same natural speed everywhere.
Tips for getting lots of green dye fast
- Bring a stack of fuel and two or three furnaces on your first desert trip and smelt cactus on the spot.
- Use a furnace and fuel calculator to see how much coal you need for a big batch.
- Dye a few sheep green early. A pen of green sheep and a pair of shears gives you green wool forever without spending more dye.
- Keep cactus in a chest, not in your inventory near lava or fire, and never drop it near other cactus.
For every other color, see the full Minecraft dye guide, which covers all 16 dyes and where each one comes from.
FAQ
How do you get green dye in Minecraft without a furnace?
The only other ways are buying it from a wandering trader or finding it in a chest, such as a village chest. Making it yourself always needs a furnace, because green dye comes from smelting cactus.
Can you make green dye with yellow and blue dye?
No. In Minecraft green is a base dye and cannot be mixed from other dyes. You have to smelt cactus.
How much green dye does one cactus make?
One cactus block smelts into one green dye.
Can you smelt cactus in a smoker or blast furnace?
No. Only the regular furnace smelts cactus into green dye. The smoker cooks food and the blast furnace smelts ores and metal items.
What is the difference between green dye and lime dye?
Green dye is a darker green made from cactus. Lime dye is a light green made by combining green dye with white dye, or by smelting a sea pickle.
Checked by the Game Respawned editorial team against the current Java and Bedrock versions. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.