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[Quietust]

Trees need unmined soil in the layer below. Shrubs might take a while to show up. How long has it been?

please stop saying that, i've had plenty of trees grow with a rock layer beneath them

Did you have at least 1 unmined soil tile within a certain radius of the tile below said tree? If so, how close was it?

[Dante`]

I know if you dig a ditch trees will grow, I've never tested how far down and with varying degrees of wetness. Its just something I've noticed. (I have damn tree's growing IN MY MOAT. Happened before I flooded it and I forgot to cut them down.  Its damn wierd!

[XSI]

If you're thinking of trees needing a full tile of something under them, I think that trees need either soil OR sedimentary tiles under them, some bit away. Otherwise I can safely claim it's wrong, with a fortress that has no soil layers, and trees growing on the sedimentary layers(Claystone or something, not sure what it was exactly, but there was only a thin surface layer of soil)

Trees have a tendency to grow where you least want them, including towercaps growing in the new trade depot "Fire extinguisher".

[cephalo]

After a couple of days, my little test patch of obsidian cast that is 1 z level above the normal tree level has grass but no shrubs or trees, just like on my tower top. I wonder if I can stop trees from growing on natural soil by building and removing constructions. I'll try that next out in the forest.

[Saber Cherry]

Nope.  I accidentally spilled huge amounts of water all over my pretty broadleaf forest, making everything muddy.  The mud stayed for years, and everything was brown and ugly...  finally, I rehabilitated the area by building rock roads over it, then deconstructing them.  The surface is returned to a devegetated natural state (initially furrowed, but then the furrows go away).  Eventually, grass, shrubs, saplings, and trees return, and it is now once again a productive forest.  Well, it was productive before, just the trees that grew were ugly brown.

[Quietust]

There's a much easier way to remove mud from soil floors - build a dirt road.

[Saber Cherry]

Dirt roads and farms work fine on pure dirt.  But if you have little patches of rock poking through, they will stay muddy.

[cephalo]

I concur that saplings and shrubs have appeared on my latest test patch. So either the soil walls at -1 z and nearby are required, or there is a limited number of z levels that the game checks for tree growth, in hopes of saving processing time.

I do have a place of obsidian cast that is the same level as the forest, I will try that next.

[cephalo]

Ok, I made a test patch on the obsidian cast that had some soil walls nearby on the z level below. Directly underneath was more obsidian, but within a couple of tiles was soil. I did get a sapling. So there's nothing involved with obsidian casting by itself that prevent's tree growth.

[UndergroundTree]

You need unmined soil under where you're trying to grow trees. No rock. Also no floor panels over the trees. Direct outdoor.

[Quietust]

Also no floor panels over the trees. Direct outdoor.

This is not true - I've had trees grow inside a roofed greenhouse without problems. In fact, right now I have a pine sapling growing inside my magma pump stack (under the walkable tile of the pump at ground level), and the tile is "Inside Light Above Ground".

[cephalo]

You need unmined soil under where you're trying to grow trees. No rock. Also no floor panels over the trees. Direct outdoor.

Actually on my latest test patch there is only obsidian rock directly under the patch. The nearest soil wall is two tiles south of my sapling. Under the sapling is an obsidian wall, and to a one tile radius around that wall is also obsidian.

[UndergroundTree]

Also no floor panels over the trees. Direct outdoor.

This is not true - I've had trees grow inside a roofed greenhouse without problems. In fact, right now I have a pine sapling growing inside my magma pump stack (under the walkable tile of the pump at ground level), and the tile is "Inside Light Above Ground".

Did the sapling start growing before the floor tiles were up? I've tested tiling over a underground tree farm, and it stopped sapling growth, but didn't kill them.

Actually on my latest test patch there is only obsidian rock directly under the patch. The nearest soil wall is two tiles south of my sapling. Under the sapling is an obsidian wall, and to a one tile radius around that wall is also obsidian.

maybe obsidian doesn't count as regular rock? I've had them not grow over chalk. (every fortress I have gets a underground tree farm)

[cephalo]

Well, all the stuff I'm talking about is above ground trees and shrubs. There may be different rules for underground tower-caps and such.

[UndergroundTree]

I am talking about above ground trees, but underground. I joined the forum after I found a highwood growing two z-levels down along with half adozen saplins