How to Get Mycelium in Minecraft

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: Find mycelium in a mushroom fields biome and mine it with Silk Touch. Without Silk Touch it drops dirt. Place the collected block beside ordinary dirt with enough light and it can spread, giving you a renewable supply.

What you need

Silk Touch tool (a shovel is fastest)
Access to a mushroom fields biome
Ordinary dirt and enough light for spreading

Step by step

Find a mushroom fields biome and look for the purple-grey ground beneath the mushrooms.
Collect at least one mycelium block with a Silk Touch tool. A shovel is fastest; mining by hand or without the enchantment gives dirt.
At your base, place the mycelium beside ordinary dirt. Coarse dirt, rooted dirt and podzol are not valid spread targets.
Keep light level at least nine above the source mycelium and at least four above the target dirt, with no light-blocking cover on the dirt.
Wait for random ticks to spread mycelium, then collect extra blocks with Silk Touch while leaving a source block to continue spreading.
Use the blocks for mushrooms and Nether fungi at any light level. Avoid covering your source with opaque blocks: mycelium can die and revert to dirt.

Java vs Bedrock

The Silk Touch and spread methods work in Java and Bedrock. Mycelium cannot be tilled directly into farmland: first use a shovel to make dirt path, then a hoe. Sniffers cannot dig on mycelium, even though they can dig on some other soil blocks.

Versions: javabedrock

Frequently asked questions

Can I craft mycelium?

No. Start with a block from mushroom fields collected using Silk Touch, then let it spread to ordinary dirt.

Why is my mycelium not spreading?

Check that the target is ordinary dirt, the source has light level nine or higher above it, the target has at least four, and the target has no light-blocking cover. Spreading also needs random ticks, so it is not instant.

Does mycelium make any biome safe from monsters?

The block does not turn your location into mushroom fields. The biome and the ground block are separate, so replacing your base floor with mycelium does not give it mushroom-fields spawning rules.

Why did mycelium turn into dirt?

Covering it with an opaque block can kill it when it receives a random tick. Keep your source exposed and sufficiently lit if you want it to keep spreading.