The pot is empty
Match the crop to the room before anything else: a crop needs its light every day it grows and dies on a day colder than it takes. The crops list has both numbers per crop, and what to plant turns them into a choice. Then use a fertiliser: it is the only thing that changes the grow time itself.
Something is wrong with a pot
The game calls it a crop anomaly and names three: Pests, Weeds, Drought. Each pot carries 50%, 50% and 20% for them, the same on every crop, and the panel’s own buttons clear them: Remove Pests, Remove Weeds, Water. A planter can hold them off instead: 13 do, at 20% on the ordinary boxes and 80% on the resistant pots, and Hydroponic Station (Large) holds off all three completely while it has power.
The crop is ripe
You have 108 hours before it starts to go, and 24 hours after that until it is gone. What is left then is fertiliser rather than food: Basic Fertilizer on 11 crops, Premium Organic Fertilizer on 3 crops, Compound Fertilizer on 20 crops. Harvesting on time is worth more than any planter.
I want more out of the same pot
Three levers, in order of how much they give: a fertiliser (Basic Fertilizer +30% speed, Compound Fertilizer +50% speed, Premium Organic Fertilizer +100% speed), a planter that grows faster (9 of the 14 planters below do, up to +50% speed), and Farming levels, which add +40% to the perfect roll by the top level, taking it from 20% to 60%, and cut the anomaly chances by 40%.
Open the crops list Every crop with its grow time, the light and cold it needs, what it yields and what it leaves if it withers.
What a crop brings of its own
Most of growing is the same whatever you plant. What a crop actually decides is short:
| What the crop decides | Range |
|---|---|
| Grow time | 1.3 days (Spinach) to 7.5 days (Matsutake) |
| Cells it fills | 1 to 4 |
| Light it needs | 0 to 2 |
| Cold it survives | 0 to 3 |
| Units a harvest returns | 1 to 3, and 2 to 4 on a perfect roll |
| Farming experience | 30 to 450 a harvest |
| What it leaves if it withers | Basic Fertilizer, Premium Organic Fertilizer, Compound Fertilizer |
Yield alone is not the measure. What decides whether a crop earns its cells is the Satiety it returns per cell per day, and on that Spinach leads at 3.38. What to plant ranks every crop that way; the mushrooms are grown for the dark room and for cooking rather than for eating raw, which is why they sit low on it.
What every pot shares
| What it is | The figure | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Pests | 50% | The chance the pot rolls pests when the game checks it |
| Weeds | 50% | The chance it rolls weeds on the same check |
| Drought | 20% | The chance it rolls drought |
| A perfect harvest | 20% | An extra unit and, on most crops, a seed |
| A seed back | 50% | Every crop can return its own seed, so a line can pay for itself |
| The ripe window | 108 hours | How long a ripe crop stands before it starts to decay |
| Decay | 24 hours | From the end of the window to nothing but fertiliser |
What moves those figures
| Planter | Price | Cells | Pests | Weeds | Drought | Growing speed | Needs power |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clay Flowerpot (Small) | $15 | 1 | 20% | 20% | none | nothing | no |
| Temperature-Stable Grow Box (Small) | $20 | 1 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 2 |
| Plant Grow Box (Small) | $25 | 1 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 1 |
| Clay Flowerpot (Medium) | $25 | 2 | 20% | 20% | none | nothing | no |
| Fertilized Flowerpot (Small) | $30 | 1 | none | none | none | +30% speed | no |
| Temperature-Stable Grow Box (Medium) | $40 | 2 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 3 |
| Plant Grow Box (Medium) | $50 | 2 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 3 |
| Clay Flowerpot (Large) | $50 | 4 | 20% | 20% | none | nothing | no |
| Pest-Resistant Flowerpot (Medium) | $50 | 2 | 80% | none | none | nothing | no |
| Exquisite Flowerpot (Medium) | $50 | 2 | 20% | none | none | +20% speed | no |
| Temperature-Stable Grow Box (Large) | $80 | 4 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 4 |
| Weed-Resistant Flowerpot (Large) | $80 | 4 | none | 80% | none | nothing | no |
| Plant Grow Box (Large) | $100 | 4 | 20% | 20% | none | +30% speed | yes, a draw of 4 |
| Hydroponic Station (Large) | $150 | 4 | 100% | 100% | 100% | +50% speed | yes, a draw of 6 |
The strongest is Hydroponic Station (Large), which holds off all three completely. It draws 6 power while it runs, and its light and heat stop with the power, so it belongs in a house whose generator is already settled; what it takes to keep the lights on has that budget. The resistant pots hold off 80% of one anomaly for no power at all, and the ordinary boxes 20% of two.
| Fertiliser | Price | Speed | Off the grow time | Matsutake, 7.5 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Fertilizer | $3 | +30% speed | 23% | 5.8 days |
| Compound Fertilizer | $5 | +50% speed | 33% | 5.0 days |
| Premium Organic Fertilizer | $10 | +100% speed | 50% | 3.8 days |
Farming levels move the two rolls rather than the time. In the game’s own words: level 2, Unlocks planting overview in the main interface. Crop Anomaly (Pests/Weeds/Drought) Chance -20% Perfect Planting Chance +10%; level 4, Crop Anomaly Chance -20% → -30% Perfect Planting Chance +20% → +30%; level 5, Crop Anomaly Chance -30% → -40% Perfect Planting Chance +30% → +40%.
What to do
- Plant to the room: the light a crop needs every day, and the cold it survives on the day the forecast turns.
- Fertilise. Premium Organic Fertilizer Fertilizer Satiety +10 200 g 1×1 cells 50.0 Satiety/kg $10 Keeps indefinitely Speed +100% at $10 is +100% speed, which takes 50% off the grow time, the only figure that shortens a crop.
- Buy a planter for what it holds off, not for its size. Hydroponic Station (Large) holds all three off completely but draws 6 power while it runs; with no generator to spare, the 80% resistant pots cost nothing to run.
- Harvest inside 108 hours. After that you have 24 hours before the crop is fertiliser.
- Keep the seed. Every crop returns its own at 50%, so a planted line pays for itself if you replant from it.
Quick reference
- Grow time: 1.3 to 7.5 days, minus 50% with the best fertiliser.
- Anomalies: Pests, Weeds, Drought at 50%, 50%, 20% a check.
- Perfect roll: 20%. Seed back: 50%.
- Ripe window: 108 hours, then 24 hours of decay.
- Withers into: Basic Fertilizer, Premium Organic Fertilizer, Compound Fertilizer.