Farm Plant (2024)

Exclusive to:

This page covers the farming system added in the Reap What You Sow update to Don't Starve Together. For information on the system found in the Base Game (along with its DLCs), please use the "Farming" page instead.

Gardening Farm Plants is exclusive to Don't Starve Together, introduced in Return of Them. Gardening turns Seeds into Vegetables, Fruits, and Crop Seeds.

Farm Plants[]

Farm Plants are obtained by planting Seeds into Farm Soil. The seeds have a chance to produce different plants based on the Season.

Plants have 5 growth stages: Seed, Sprout, Small, Medium and Grown. At each new stage, the plant may gain #Stress points depending on its condition. The total accumulated stress changes the output of a grown plant:

• 0 to 1 stress point: becomes a Giant Crop
• 2 to 6 stress points: 1 fruit/vegetable and 2 crop seeds
• 7 to 11 stress points: 1 fruit/vegetable and 1 crop seed
• 12 or more: 1 fruit/vegetable (no seeds)

Only the stress gained at the beginning of each growth stage counts.

Plants also grow faster with less stress. Growth is twice as fast if the season is one of the plant's favorite seasons. Unlike Trees, Saplings and other world-spawned plants, farm plants only grow in the presence of daylight, i.e. during day and dusk on the surface, under Cave Lights, Lux Aeterna, or near a Dwarf Star.

All seeds have a random germination time from 0.75 to 1 day off-season and twice as fast in-season. Random seeds only determine what they grow after germination, with a 20% chance of being a Weed.

Normal products stay 4 days on the plant before rotting and giant products stay 6 days on the plant. If they have been planted by Wormwood, they last 50% longer before spoiling. After 4 to 5 days of rotting, a non-giant plant grows back and the new plant cannot become giant.

If there are 15 or more fully grown or rotten plants within 4 metres radius, the Lord of the Fruit Flies may appear. A Fruit Fly has a 5% chance to spawn when a player picks a non-giant rotten farm plant.

Farm plants are immune to Smoldering as long as they are on wet ground.

Stress[]

There are 7 sources of stress for farm plants. The condition of the plant is checked at the beginning of each new stage (sprout, small, medium and growth), it can accumulate up to 28 stress points.

Nutrients[]

See also: Nutrient

There are 3 types of Nutrients and each farm soil tile contains some amount of each nutrient. At the end of each growth stage, farm plants consume and produce nutrients. If the farm soil tile contains fewer nutrients than the plant requires, the plant accumulates 1 stress point and produces fewer nutrients itself.Weeds only consume nutrient and produce none. Fertilizer can be used to increase nutrients in the ground. Because only farm soil tiles can contain nutrients, seeds planted by Wormwood on other tiles will always accumulate 4 nutrient stress points. Nutrient levels can be made easier to see by wearing the Premier Gardeneer Hat. Wormwood can naturally see nutrient levels without the aid of the hat.

Moisture[]

At each stage, if the plant was on wet ground for less than 10% of the time since the previous stage, it accumulates 1 stress point.

• Each tile has its own moisture, from 0 to 100 points; a non-zero moisture value makes it "wet ground".
• Each use of a Watering Can, a Waterfowl Can or a Water Balloon will add 25 points of moisture. Ice melting will add 20 points of moisture. Rain increases moisture at up to 1.5 points per second depending on the rain rate.
• Moisture naturally decreases, depending on the world temperature, with no drying below 0° to 0.05 points per seconds above 70°, regardless of the time of day.
• Additional plants will drain more moisture per second, regardless of there being any daylight.
• The moisture will never become less than the world wetness, no matter how many plants are on the farm soil tile.

It suffices to water a tile once per stage. Because only farm soil tiles can be Watered, seeds planted by Wormwood on other tiles will accumulate 4 moisture stress points if there is no rain.

Growing under a Dwarf Star reduces water consumption by up to 33% due to earlier maturity.

Killjoys[]

At the end of each growth stage, the plant accumulates 1 stress point if there are rotten plants, Garden Detritus, rotten giant crops, or weeds within 1.5 Tiles.

Season[]

At the end of each growth stage, if the current season is not one of the plant's favorites, the plant accumulates 1 stress point.

Additionally, Crops will grow twice as quickly when grown during their preferred Seasons.

Family[]

At the end of each growth stage, the plant accumulates 1 stress point if there are less than 4, including the one checking, of the same type within 4m.

Overcrowding[]

At the end of each growth stage, the plant accumulates 1 stress point if there are more than 10 farm plants or weeds on the same tile.

Happiness[]

At each growth stage, if the plant was not attended to since the last stage, the plant accumulates 1 stress point.Plants can be attended to manually by the player (unless playing as Wes as he is unable to talk) or by using items that attend to all plants within their range (see table).

Plants can be attended to by a Friendly Fruit Fly. Wormwood tends all plants within 4m when he has bloomed (6m after learning the Farmhand Skill). WX-78 can tend all plants within a range of 12m if they has plugged in the Chorusbox Circuit. Catching Fire or being attacked by enemy Fruit Flies will undo tending on plants, and the plant will need to be attended to again to avoid stress.

Item	Range (metres)
	25
	20
	15
	12
	2

Research[]

Gardeneer hat enables research on crops and weeds, which identify crops, weeds, and seeds in current and future games. Each stage of the crop, and seed, is researchable. Plant registry is accessible by right-clicking on the hat. Among the more useful research is weeds, because the easier they are identified and then killed to avoid stress to other plants.

Summary[]

Below is a table of all farm plants, their favorite seasons, their nutrient effect (negative is consumption; positive is production), and their drink rate.

Seed	Grown	Harvest	Crop	Season and chance from random seed (the right seasons are green)				Nutrient per stage			Drink Rate per second
	Random	Random	Random	NA	NA	NA	NA	0	0	0	0.02
			Toma Root	13.2%	8.2%	12.4%	15.7%	-2	-2	+4	0.035
			Eggplant	2.7%	6.6%	5%	3.2%	+2	+2	-4	0.02
			Potato	13.2%	16.4%	12.4%	7.9%	+2	+2	-4	0.0075
			Dragon fruit	1.4%	1.7%	2.5%	3.2%	+4	+4	-8	0.02
			Pepper	2.7%	1.7%	1.3%	3.2%	+4	+4	-8	0.0075
			Carrot	13.2%	16.4%	12.4%	7.9%	+2	-4	+2	0.0075
			Pumpkin	5.3%	6.6%	2.5%	3.2%	+2	-4	+2	0.02
			Onion	2.7%	1.7%	2.5%	3.2%	+4	-8	+4	0.02
			Pomegranate	1.4%	1.7%	2.5%	3.2%	+4	-8	+4	0.02
			Asparagus	2.7%	6.6%	5%	3.2%	-4	+2	+2	0.0075
			Corn	13.2%	8.2%	12.4%	15.7%	-4	+2	+2	0.0075
			Durian	1.4%	1.7%	2.5%	1.6%	-8	+4	+4	0.0075
			Garlic	2.7%	3.3%	2.5%	3.2%	-8	+4	+4	0.0075
			Watermelon	2.7%	3.3%	5%	6.3%	-2	+4	-2	0.035
None			Forget-me-Lots	15.4%	15.4%	15.4%	15.4%	-2	-2	-2	0.02
None			Fire Nettles	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	-2	-2	-2	0.02
None			Tillweed	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	-2	-2	-2	0.02
None		None	Spiny Bindweed	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	1.54%	-2	-2	-2	0.02

Farming Strategy[]

Seeds must be gathered to produce a supply for planting. Wormwood can plant seeds anywhere, but other characters must start by crafting and deploying a Garden Digamajig. Seeds can be planted in the mounds left by the Digamajig and will grow even if left untended, possibly even producing a seed or two at harvest. Once mature, plants must be harvested within a few days or they will rot. Rotted plants will eventually regrow (as the same kind of plant) but cannot grow giant after rotting.

This relatively carefree approach may be suitable for growing random vegetables for crock pot filler, a single tomato for a Startling Soliloquy, or a single potato for Astroggles. For more serious food production, crop stress is typically minimized in order to produce more crop-specific seeds, and potentially Giant Crops.

At first, generic seeds are planted to see what they produce. 0-4 crop-specific seeds are be returned with each harvest of that crop (more for giant crops). The number of seeds is determined by the plant's stress level while growing: lower stress yields more seeds. Wearing a Seed Pack-It while harvesting is a great help in managing inventory and keeps the seeds fresh twice as long, just like an Ice Box (but not eternally like Bundling Wrap). A grown crop can also be fed to a bird in return for a single seed of that crop type.

Some seeds are weed seeds. Forget-Me-Lots can also spawn spontaneously. For minimum stress on nearby plants, weeds should be dug up with a shovel as soon as they can be identified.

Once at least 4 seeds of the desired crop are obtained, they can be grown together as a "family" for lower stress which will yield more seeds and possibly giant crops.

Crops can be grown giant by monocropping if the proper nutrients are manually supplied at appropriate points throughout the growth cycle. Companion cropping without adding nutrients may be sufficient to produce Giant Crops. Any strategy between those two can be used to minimize plant stress, but some combination of fertilizing before planting and planning appropriate companion crops for the season is typical.

Companion Planting[]

Companion Planting is the technique of planting different crops in the same tile to meet each other's Nutrient needs so that little or no fertilization is required. The Summary Table is critical for finding the best crops to balance each other. For best results, the plots need to have non-zero amounts of each nutrient to begin with.

Different crop combinations are ideal for each Season to avoid Stress and slowed growth. Combinations work even if some plants are grow slower while their neighbors are harvested and replanted (possibly growing giant twice!). The off-season "nurse" crops won't grow giant.

Here are some typical crop combinations. The best combination is the one that meet the payer's produce needs. Plant at least 4 of each plant. All ratios are 1:1 (or 1:1:1) unless specified.

• Warly: summer or fall: pepper, onion, garlic
• Warly: summer or fall: 1 pepper, 1 onion, 2 corn
• Warly/Any: spring or summer: dragon fruit, onion, garlic
• Warly/Any: spring: 1 dragon fruit, 1 onion, 2 asparagus
• Warly: summer or fall: 1 pepper, 2 toma root
• Warly: spring or summer: 1 pepper, 2 toma root
• Warly/Wurt: spring or summer: 1 dragon fruit, 2 toma root
• Wurt: spring or summer: pumpkin, watermelon
• Any: spring: 2 carrot, 1 watermelon (grows the most carrots for Rabbit Hutches in any given space)
• Any: fall, winter, or spring: 2 carrot, 2 potato, 1 garlic

Nutrients are calculated per-tile, not in a radius around each plant, so be mindful to have the right proportion of plants in each tile, while also connecting the plants to their families in other tiles. This is most easily accomplished by tilling 3 mounds/tile and planting rows.

If space is a premium, it's possible to till and plant 10 mounds/tile for 1:1 pairings. There are only four, 1:1 crop pairings that stand to benefit from this: Toma-Root/Potato, Toma-Root/Eggplant, Watermelon/Carrot and Watermelon/Pumpkin.

Here are some valid gardens that don't worry about fertilizer or companion plantings:

• Any: any season: Forget-Me-Lots in a separate garden for Soothing Tea
• Any: any season: plant any random seeds and make Spicy Vegetable Stinger from the results.

Weed farming[]

Forget-me-lot may be farmed for Soothing Tea. A plot of farm turfs, separate from the main farmland may be left for forget-me-lot to grow. They have to be harvested about every 2 days or else the weed will be too old to be harvested.

Directly farming tomato and onion for Salsa Fresca will be better because they have a lenient harvesting schedule, salsa fresca last longer, and ice is relatively inexpensive.

Trivia[]

• The Farm Plants were introduced in the Reap What You Sow update.

External Link[]

• The Starver's Guide to Self-Feeding Farms by QuartzBeam, showing crop combinations and layouts that go with them.
• The List of All Giant Crop, Auto Nutrient Pairings & Fertilizer Pairings by Lakhnish Monster, showing possible giant crop pairings, both self-fertilizing and with unbalanced nutrients.