Farm Plant

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.

Wolfgang in a thriving Potato farm in Don't Starve: Together

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.

Growth time in daylight (full day of 480 seconds)

Stage	In Season		Off Season
	Low stress	High stress	Low stress	High stress
Seeds	0.375 - 0.5		0.75 - 1
Sprout	1	1.75	2	3.5
Small	0.6	1.05	1.2	2.1
Medium	0.4	0.7	0.8	1.4
Total	~2.5	~4	~5	~8

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.

After reaching the grown stage, a normal crop will rot in 4 days and a giant crop in 6 days. 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 a 4 meter 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), and 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 Weeds, Garden Detritus, or rotten crops 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 (highlighted in green in the Summary table).

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 a 1 Tile radius (4 wall units).

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 have the Chorusbox Circuit plugged in. 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
1 1	20
	15
	12
	8
	2

¹ Only usable on water, so plants have to be near a shore.

Research

Gardeneer Hat enables research on crops and weeds, which identifies 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. Thus, Weeds can be easily identified and then killed to avoid stressing other plants.

Summary

Below is a table of all farm plants, their favorite seasons (highlighted in green), 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 on the ground, but those cannot grow into Giant Crops due to the lack of nutrients and will only give seeds if they receive moisture from Rain (in Spring) or if the family condition is met by planting crop seeds in a group of at least 4.

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 Rude Interlude, 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. The number of seeds is determined by the plant's stress level while growing: lower stress yields more seeds. Between 0-2 crop-specific seeds are returned with each harvest of that crop, with a giant crop having a 25% chance to yield an extra seed. 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. For minimum stress on nearby plants, weeds should be dug up with a shovel as soon as they can be identified.

Autumn Giant Crop Combinations (self-fertilizing)

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 become Giant Crops by monocropping, or companion cropping/planting. For monocropping, if the proper nutrients are manually supplied at appropriate points throughout the growth cycle (with stress levels being maintained), the crops can become giant. Companion cropping involves certain crop combinations which either self-fertilize, and thus do not require additional nutrients to become giant crops, or unbalanced giant crop pairings, which require specific fertilizers.

Once sufficient seeds are available, companion planting becomes the easiest strategy to yield the maximum amount of food and seeds, with self-fertilizing giant crop pairings

Winter Giant Crop Combinations (self-fertilizing) Note: Garlic can substitute Asparagus.

Companion Planting

Companion Planting is the technique of planting different crops in the same tiles, either to meet each other's Nutrient needs so that little or no fertilization is required, or to create more advanced unbalanced giant crop pairings. 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.

Spring Giant Crop Combinations (self-fertilizing)

Different crop combinations are ideal for each Season to avoid Stress and slowed growth. Combinations work even if some plants grow slower, while their neighbors are harvested and replanted. The off-season "nurse" crops won't grow giant (ex: Corn + Pumpkin/Carrot + Potato in Winter, Corn won't grow).

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

• Autumn: Toma + Eggplant/Potato; Onion + Garlic + Pepper; Corn + Carrot/Pumpkin + Eggplant/Potato;
• Winter: Asparagus + Carrot/Pumpkin + Potato;
• Spring: Carrot + Watermelon; Toma + Eggplant/Potato; Dragonfruit + Durian/Garlic + Pomegranate/Onion;
• Summer: Garlic + Pomegranate/Onion + Dragonfruit/Pepper; Dragonfruit + 2 Toma;

  

  Summer Giant Crop Combinations (self-fertilizing)

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 tilling becomes difficult, or you wish to achieve certain combinations (10 mounds per tile), then the snapping tills mod can be helpful.

Weed farming

Forget-Me-Lots can be farmed for Soothing Tea. A separate garden may be left for Forget-Me-Lots, away from the main farms. They have to be harvested every 2 days, or there will be no yield.

Trivia

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

External Link

• The List of All Giant Crop, Auto Nutrient Pairings & Fertilizer Pairings by Lakhnish Monster, showing all possible giant crop pairings, both self-fertilizing and with unbalanced nutrients.
• The Giant Crop Cheat Sheet by KeshS, to be used as an easy reference guide.
• The Don't Starve Together Farm Planner, a great tool to help you visualize your farm.
• More Giant Crop Combinations examples for each season, using the Farm Planner, on the DST subreddit.
• The Starver's Guide to Self-Feeding Farms by QuartzBeam, showing crop combinations and layouts that go with them.