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• Farming & Farming Mechanics

_________________________________________________________________________ | / / | / Intro to Farming / | / / |/_________________________________________________________________________/ | | Farming is where it all begins, in more ways than one. It's the cornerstone | of the game's early development (although cows later take the crown as most | profitable), and it's likely to take the largest portion of your in-game | time. | | The concept behind farming is simple: till the soil with your hoe, plant | crop seeds, water them daily with your watering can, and wait for them to | grow. When they mature, pick the fruit or vegetable from them and sell it | (or give it, or use it in a recipe - whatever you'd like to do, though the | majority of your crops will likely end up getting sold). | | In planting crops, there are a couple aspects to pay attention to. First of | all, pay attention to seasons. Different crops grow in different seasons - | although unlike past Harvest Moon games, crops can grow in seasons other | than their "main" season. For example, strawberries - a Spring crop, can | grow in Summer as well. However, it's always more profitable to plant crops | in their "main" season, so focus on doing that. | | Secondly, there are two types of crops: there are one-time sprouting crops | and there are re-growing crops. One-time crops are crops whose soil is | returned to normal after picking them - a new crop can be planted in its | spot once it's picked. Re-growing crops are more like vines - when you pick | the fruit or vegetable, the vine stays behind and grows another fruit after | a few more days. Typically, re-growing crops are more profitable, as the | time to grow a second fruit from a single vine or stalk is usually much | shorter than the time to grow a whole-new crop. | | If this is still confusing, consider this example: potatoes vs. corn. For | potatoes, you plant a single seed in the ground, wait a few days and pull | the potato: one seed, one potato. For the corn, though, you plant a single | seed in the ground and a corn stalk grows. The corn grows from this stalk, | but when you pick the corn, the stalk remains - allowing another ear of | corn to grow a few days later. | | Farming is especially prevalent in Spring and Summer, and has become more | relevant in Fall in recent Harvest Moon games. Winter, though, is the down | season for farming - with snow on the ground, not much will grow, so make | sure you either have enough money saved up or enough animals in your barn | to keep you through winter. Unlike past Harvest Moon games, there are | Winter crops, but they aren't very profitable at all. | | Crops that grow have different qualities: Decent, Good, Perfect and | Shining. The crop quality will depend on what soil quality the crop is | planted in. There are five different qualities of soil, rating from | low-quality, light, sandy soil to high-quality, dark, muddy soil. The | better the soil quality, the higher-quality the resultant crops grown in it | will be. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ // // // Farming // // "Farming looks mighty easy when your // // plow is a pencil and you're a thousand // // miles from the corn field." -President // // Dwight D. Eisenhower // // // //___________________________________________________________________// |/ | _________________________________________________________________________ | / / | / Farming Preparation / | / / |/_________________________________________________________________________/ | | Before you plow in and start planting, you'll want to know the basics | behind tilling the land, planting crops and watering the seeds. That's what | this section is for. | | You start the game with nine turnip seeds, a hoe and a watering can. That's | all you need to start planting. Note, though, that you'll want to get more | seeds really, really soon. Maybe even right away. | |\______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Farming Basics \ | \ | Raising crops is a fairly simple system. using the hoe, you till a few | spots of soil, then plant some seeds. Water the seeds each day (unless it's | raining) and they'll begin to sprout. Keep watering them until they bare | fruit, then stand next to it and press A to pick the crop from the ground. | If you're not sure if it's ready yet, press A anyway -- you'll pick it if | it's ready. | | There are some extremely basic things you need to know about crops before | getting started: | - Crops are seasonal. If you try to plant a crop out of season, it might | sprout (I haven't confirmed if crops grow out-of-season in Animal | Parade), but it'll take longer to grow. So, check the season of your | crop. When you're buying from Marimba Farm, they'll only sell in-season | seeds, so you won't have to worry there unless you buy some seeds and | hold on to them for a while. | | - All crops are not created equal. They have many different | characteristics: different growth times, different sale prices, | different usages. The growth times are especially important, though: | make sure there's enough time left in this season to grow the crop. | Don't plant a crop that takes 8 days to grow on the 26th of the month. | | - Some crops are multi-harvest. That means that when you pick the crop | from the ground, something will be left behind. This is the vine: keep | watering it and another crop will sprout. These are usually more | profitable because it takes much less time for the second (and third, | and fourth... | | - Crops have quality ratings. Four, to be specific: Decent, Good, Perfect | and Shining. Better-quality crops will sell for more and are more liked | by the villagers. You can find more about crop qualities in the | Mechanics section. | | - Soil has quality ratings, too. Five, to be specific: Bad, Poor, Decent, | Good, Best. The better the soil quality, the better the crop quality. | Most crops will also grow faster in better soil. More info on that is | in the Mechanics section too. | | - Hurricanes and blizzards may destroy crops. They won't wipe your field | clean, but you'll notice random crops throughout your field have | disappeared. The effect of a hurricane or blizzard is set when you go | to bed on the night when the hurricane has already been happening, so | you won't see the crops destroyed until the next day -- but that means | if too many crops are destroyed, you can reset to the previous night | (if you saved that night) and try again. | |\________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Getting Started \ | \ | When you start off, you're given a decent-sized field. You don't get to | choose it this time around, there's a single starter field. You'll already | have a few crops growing as a gift from the folks at Marimba Farm, but | you'll need to grow more (a LOT more) to succeed in the game. So let's go | over the basics. | | You might notice that there are rocks, saplings, trees or weeds in the way | of where you want to plant some crops. Isn't that annoying? To clear out | rocks, you'll need the Hammer; to clear out saplings and trees, you'll need | the Axe. | | Weeds can be taken care of with the sickle (you can check that section for | info on that as well), but can also be pulled by hand. Beware though, | pulling weeds will use a lot more stamina than slashing them with the | sickle. Weeds also have a deeper impact than just looking ugly and getting | in the way, but that will be detailed in the Mechanics section. | | Once you've cleared a bit of land to plant your crops, you need two things: | a hoe and some seeds. Equip the hoe to till the soil -- you'll notice it | changes to a hole-looking square of land. Then, equip the seeds. Each seed | you buy is enough for one single tilled square (no more six seed-packs like | in Tree of Tranquility). You can plant them one by one, or in a 3x3 square | by holding down A while the seeds are equipped, if you have more than 9 of | them. | | If you make a mistake, don't worry. You can dig seeds back up with the hoe | (though you don't actually get to plant them again) the same way you tilled | the soil. If the crops sprout, you can chop them down with the sickle like | weeds if you need to clear that land. | |\____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Buying Seeds \ | \ | The above section mentioned needing a hoe and seeds. You get the hoe | automatically, but the seeds you'll have to purchase. There are several | places in the game to purchase seeds. Most of your time will be spent at | Marimba Farm, over in the Flute Fields. They sell almost all the seeds in | the game, at the cheapest price. However, they won't stock all the seeds | initially -- you'll need to sell some crops first. | As with all shops, you can also call Marimba Farm to order seeds, but | beware: if you order the seeds by phone, you'll pay a lot more (double, I | think). Fortunately, though, you can use the phone service 24 hours a day, | 7 days a week -- so if you're in a bind and the shop is closed, give them a | call. | | Once you've moved through the plot a bit, a kid named Taylor will show up. | Taylor runs a phone-order-only seed shop. He doesn't sell any seeds you | can't get at Marimba Farm, and you'll pay the higher price. However, | there's still a benefit: Marimba Farm will add items to their inventory | slowly as you progress through the game, while Taylor will stock all the | seeds right when he moves in. So, if Marimba Farm isn't selling something | you need yet, give Taylor a ring. | | There are a few other places to buy seeds as well. Some Festivals will sell | some seeds, and there are also some seeds you can only buy at Pineapple Inn | on Toucan Island. | |\____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Seasonal Seed Mixes \ | \ | Marimba Farm and Taylor also sell Seasonal Seed Mixes. Seasonal seed mixes | are a bit of a gamble. They each can contain any type of seed for that | season -- including ones that aren't yet sold at Marimba Farm, which can be | useful if Taylor hasn't moved in. However, there's no way of determining | what the seeds will be, and mixed seed bags typically cost slightly more | than the average of the crops for the season. Plus you have to mess with | different growth times and thus wait longer to re-plant, sometimes they'll | grow multi-harvest crops that don't disappear when you pick them... | overall, they're a bit of a hassle. | | In general, you won't want to buy seasonal seed mixes for profit. But if | there's a particular crop you're hoping for that isn't yet available | elsewhere, you may as well take the gamble. | | _________________________________________________________________________ | / / | / Farming Mechanics / | / / |/_________________________________________________________________________/ | | So now you've bought some seeds, tilled the soil and planted your crops. Or | you've just got the crops that your farm started with. Whichever. Either | way, it's time to look at the best way to raise those crops. | |\________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Basic Farming Mechanics \ | \ | Each crop has a pre-set growth time for the particular type of soil it's | in. It will mature in that many days unless something slows it down. Note | that when I say "X days", it means that it will take that many days of | water before it will produce fruit. For example, if a crop takes 5 days to | grow and you plant it on the 1st, you'll get fruit on the 6th: the 5 days | of watering are the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, so on the 6th it will be | mature. | | What could slow down that growth though? Various things can slow down how | long it takes your crops to mature: | - Soil quality. Poorer soil quality will result in longer growth times | for most (but not all) crops. | - Missed watering days. Every time you miss a day of watering, the crop | will take one day longer to grow. If you miss too many, though, the | crop will die altogether. | - Nearby weeds. If a crop has a weed anywhere in the 3x3 square | surrounding it, its growth will be slowed, and the crop quality might | be lowered too. | | Take care of those things and your crops will sprout in no time. But what | about soil quality and crop quality? There's a bit more to say about | that... | |\____________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Soil & Crop Quality \ | \ | When a crop matures and gets picked, it will have a quality associated with | it: Decent, Good, Perfect or Shining. The quality is based on the type of | soil the crop grew in. | | There are five levels of soil: Bad, Poor, Decent, Good and Best. You can | identify different qualities by the color: darker spoils are better, though | it might be hard to differentiate between adjacent levels (Bad & Poor, Good | & Best, etc.) without looking at them side by side. | | Better soil quality results in faster growth times and better-quality | crops. You'll notice that there's only a subtle increase in crop quality | from soil to soil, but it does make a different in the long run. The chart | below shows the odds of getting each crop quality in each soil quality. | Note that I'm basing these numbers on only around 30 tests in each soil, so | they may change with more information. | | Soil Quality | Bad Poor Decent Good Perfect | Decent 50% 40% 30% 25% 20% | Good 30% 35% 35% 35% 30% | Perfect 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% | Shining 0% 0% 5% 5% 10% | | When you start planting crops, you'll notice that the soil qualities start | to get worse. Every couple weeks you have crops growing in a particular | soil space, the quality of that soil will drop. It might slow the growth | time of the crop by a day or two when it does this (depending on how far | along the crop was anyway), and the crop quality will be determined by the | soil quality when the crop finally matures. | | Soil quality will never go back up on its own. So what do you do when the | quality drops? Well, that's where the next section comes in. | |\__________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Fertilizer \ | \ | Fertilizer lets you raise your crop quality and can be purchased from | Marimba Farm. Each bag of fertilizer functions like a bag of seeds: one | spot per fertilizer, and if you have nine or more you can hold down A and | fertilize a 3x3 area. | | There are four different types of fertilizer: Decent Fertilizer, Good | Fertilizer, Perfect Fertilizer and Shining Fertilizer. Better fertilizers | raise the soil more levels at a time, from 1 levels for Decent Fertilizer | to 4 levels (Best soil no matter what it was previously) for Shining | Fertilizer. You won't be able to buy better fertilizers until you level | Marimba Farm up a bit but Taylor will stock all four types as soon as he moves in. | | Fertilizer is pretty expensive, but only if you let yourself get behind. | When you get enough money, raise the soil quality for every soil you're | using to the maximum level, and then just use Decent Fertilizer every | couple weeks to bring it back up. | |\____________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Crops vs. Herbs and Flowers \ | \ | There are three types of seeds that you can buy: crops, herbs and flowers. | The vast majority of your seed purchases will be crops: these are the most | profitable of the growable items, and are affected by soil quality. | | That last note is the key difference between crops and herbs/flowers; while | crops are affected by soil quality, herbs and flowers do not have quality | levels. Every herb grown will be of the same quality, as well as every | flower - the only drawback to planting flowers and herbs in poor quality | soil is in the growth time. | | Between herbs and flowers, the main difference is in consumption: mainly, | herbs can be consumed, whereas flowers cannot. Both can be used for dyeing | yarn, and both can be sold, though neither are nearly as profitable as | crops. | | Note that if you want to keep flowers alive after they're fully grown (for | honey, for example), you still need to water them each day. If you notice | that your flowers are brown one day, pick them immediately - they'll | disappear before the next day. The only way to get Honey is to keep flowers | growing until you see bees buzzing around them. | | _________________________________________________________________________ | / / | / Trees / | / / |/_________________________________________________________________________/ | | Not only do you have some crops when you get started, but you'll find out | you also have a few trees. They might get in your way later in the game, | but for starters they're a nice little profit supplement. | | | Trees are a close cousin to crops. Like crops, you'll plant trees by | tilling a square of land and using the tree seed (well, sapling) on the | tilled spot, and like crops, fruits are rated on a quality scale from | Decent to Shining. The similarities end there though. | |\______________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ | Tree Mechanics \ | \ | First of all, let's take care of the basic mechanics behind trees, | especially compared to crops: | | - Crops are temporary, but trees are permanent. Once you plant a tree, it | will stay alive year-round until you cut it down with your axe. | - Trees will take a couple months to grow to full maturity, but will grow | faster in better soil. They'll start producing fruit about halfway | through their total growth process, and will produce more and more as | they get to be fully-grown. | - You don't need to water trees. Ever. At all. Not when you plant them, | not when they're grown up, not ever. They'll grow up on their own. | - Trees can't, however, be planted side-by-side. With anything. Every | space bordering the tree trunk must be empty and tillable (meaning a | tree can't be planted in the corner of a plot, either). If there's | anything within the 3x3 square that surrounds the tree trunk, the tree | will stop growing until that's cleared. That includes weeds, crops, | rocks and other trees. So, keep an eye on the tree as it grows and make | sure to get rid of any weeds that spring up next to the trunk. If you | plant anything in the 3x3 area surrounding a full-grown tree, it won't | sprout. | - Trees have seasons too. While crops will only grow in certain seasons, | trees will only produce fruit in certain seasons. | - When a tree is in season, you can shake the tree to get fruits to fall | out. The fruits won't "stack" from day to day, so a missed day of | shaking means you might miss some fruit altogether. Shake a tree by | leaning against it -- you'll see it bend, and any fruit available for | the day will fall. | - Young trees will give one fruit per day, while full-grown trees will | give two. | - In the long run, trees are more profitable than crops in terms of the | amount of work you put into them. However, it's harder to maximize that | profit with a lot of trees: in the space it takes to keep two trees | that produce fruit for one season each, you can plant three bags of | crops every season. Still, though, later in the game, planting an | orchard of trees on the spare plots is a low-work high-reward way to | make more money. | - Note that Hali trees are sold by Marimba Farm, but don't produce any | fruit. They're used just for lumber. | | That just about covers it for tree mechanics -- now, you're probably | interested in which tree is the best. Put simply, Apple Trees. They're the | most expensive sapling but they pay for themselves quickly, and sell for | the most at every quality level except Shining (Shining Chestnuts and | Coffee Beans sell for more than Shining Apples), but you won't be getting | that many Shining fruits anyway. For detailed pricing information, though, | check the next section. |