Crops
Crops are plants that grow wildly and can be cultivated for food and resources.
Every crop type has its specific growth times and stages. When a crop is mature, it becomes highlighted when the mouse cursor is floating over. Your plants will grow no matter where you are in the universe (you can even grow them on your ship).
Gardening
Crops can grow on any color of dirt that has been tilled with a hoe, then watered by a watering can (either a Wooden Watering Can or a Painted Watering Can), Matter Manipulator-collected Water or Healing Water (but not Swamp Water), fallen rain (as long as it is not physically blocked), or a sprinkler. The top of the tilled block must be watered; surrounding the sides and bottom with water will have no effect.
Above-ground crops require open air above the tilled dirt blocks, and if too much water accumulates, the crops will be destroyed, dropping only 1 crop seed each regardless of growth stage.
Tilling soil has another effect: it prevents monsters from spawning on those blocks.
Underwater Gardening
You can make an underwater garden, and these also need a hoe to make underwater blocks tilled. Underwater crops require extra effort, so their sell price is also higher than most open-air crops.
Underwater crops have two types, Reefpod and Coralcreep. Reefpods need to be replanted upon harvesting, while Coralcreeps do not, but both of these seeds only spawn underwater in Ocean-type planets (but not Arctic). These are also the only crops that do not benefit from a sprinkler. Toxictop is the only other crop spawning in Ocean-type planet (the Toxic biome), but it grows on the surface and is not an underwater crop.
Both of these need water above the tilled dirt blocks, and if the depth of the water above the tilled dirt blocks goes below 3 blocks, the underwater crops will be destroyed, dropping only 1 crop seed each regardless of growth stage.
Creating an environment for an underwater farm is much easier after acquiring Upgrade 1 in the Matter Manipulator expansion slot. With this, the player can collect water and place it into any artificial lake.
Players may optimize their underwater farming by using a Swimming Augment, otherwise harvesting and sowing crops will take much more time and patience. It is most easily bought from Lana Blake at the Outpost.
Collecting Seeds
You can get seeds from gathering in the wild, as a reward for completing a quest, collecting from Tenants for rent, and by stealing from tilled fields in NPC villages. Seeds available depend on planet type and tier you are collecting them on. If the "use" command does not release the seed of a plant, the Matter Manipulator will.
Destroying an immature crop will return the crop's seed. Harvesting a mature crop will drop 1 (60% chance) or 2 (40% chance) of the following: the crop's "fruit" (89% chance), 1 Plant Fibre (10% chance), and the crop's seed (1% chance). Certain crops (e.g. carrots, potatoes, wheat) will also be destroyed in the harvesting process, dropping their seeds for replanting, but other crops will revert back to stage 2.
Flowery Grass Seeds and Grass Seeds can also be planted on wet tilled soil to grow grass, but they cannot be harvested, only destroyed. Some wild plants cannot produce seeds, such as Thorny Plant and its Thorny Fruit crop, but most wild plants that produce food or resource can give seeds when harvested. Flowers which yield petals are another type of plant which gives no seed.
You can harvest Coralcreep and Reefpod seeds only underwater on Ocean planets, and Toxictop seeds only on Toxic planets.
Crop Storage
The best way to store crops depends on whether the crop is a "raw" food type, which can be eaten by itself, or an "ingredient" food type, which requires a crafting station to make it into something edible.
Crops that can be eaten "raw" (like Carrots, Pineapples, Corn, Tomatoes, Boneboo, etc.), may only store a single item per inventory slot, which rarely exceeds a pixel value of 100 or more. These crops will slowly go bad over time in the player's inventory and normal storage devices, eventually becoming inedible and useless Rotten Food. Storing these items in Refrigerated Storage objects halts this process indefinitely.
Inedible "ingredient" crops (like Rice, Wheat, Cocoa Pod, Sugar, Kelp, Mushroom, etc.) will stack in the inventory, meaning that one inventory slot will hold up to a count of 1,000 of these items. At maximum capacity, a single block in the inventory may have an indicated Pixel value of 50,000 or more. These crops have an infinite longevity and do not suffer from rotting, but cannot be consumed by themselves. Instead they must be prepared either by cooking them at a Campfire or similar object, or by combining them with other foodstuffs at a meal prep station like the Kitchen Counter or Chic Cooking Table.
Crop Replanting
When planting a crop from a seed, an overlay of the plant will appear where it will be planted once the user clicks.
There are differences between each crop type in replanting, too. Some crops (like Rice, Cocoa Pod, Cotton, Banana, Boneboo, etc.) may be harvested without requiring replanting. The majority of crops, though, (like Wheat, Potato, Carrot, Sugar, Pineapple, etc.) will destroy the plant on harvest, rendering one seed (small chance of more than one) and either one or multiple crops.
Every crop may be reduced to its seed form with the Matter Manipulator, with the exception of the Thorny Plant, which renders no seeds upon destruction.
Maximizing Profit
Taking into consideration only raw crop materials, a farm composed entirely of Boneboo Seed will net you the most money.
Preparing food in any way, though, increases its value, which makes this a more advantageous area of interest. If using the products to craft food (and thus increasing their value), a more effective farm is one with 1 Boneboo Seed, 2 Feathercrown Seed, 2 Oculemon Seed, 2 Neonmelon Seed and 2 Toxictop Seed. Using these materials you can produce the Ultimate Juice which costs 
1,200. This means that of the ingredients has a medium cost of 240. Producing 2 every 40 minutes means that each seed is worth 12 per minute.
Taking into consideration simply time, the player interested in cash will harvest rice, cocoa, and cotton. These materials do not require constantly selling once inventory is full, as these items are stackable, and they allow the greatest cash/hour-of-player-time ratio.
Optimizing Production
A player really interested in optimizing their farm crops will look into sprinklers and the Terramart Shipment Launcher.
Decoration
There are a number of decorative items available for your farm.
Users may build a Scarecrow, if they desire, but it will not affect crop production. Birds are more interested in eating the Player than in eating the player's crops.
Fences (made from Wood, Pipe, or Copper) are another similar vanity item for farms (wooden fences generally preferred for the above-ground farms, pipe-fences generally preferred for the underwater farms). These may block monsters from entering, when placed in the foreground, but they do not prevent monsters from spawning. Tilling the soil with a hoe, however, does prevent monsters from spawning in the tilled areas, except flying ones.
Achievements
Farming is related to two achievements.
| Name | Description | Requirements | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Simple Life | Harvest a crop. See what happens when you eat it. |
Harvest a crop. |
|
Starbound Valley | Harvest 30 unique crops. Start thinking about who you'd like to romance and that barn extension. |
Harvest 30 crops. |
Husbandry is related to one achievement. Although, you will only be able to accomplish this achievement with creatures maintained by NPC's.
| Name | Description | Requirements | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Too Heavy to Kick | Destroy a robot chicken. Don't try to eat it. |
Kill a Robot Chicken. |
Valid Soils
The list of blocks on which crop can be grown is smaller than the list of blocks on which saplings can be placed - this is because not all soils can be tilled into farmland in which crop seeds can be planted. The following blocks can all be tilled into farmland suitable for growing crops:
These blocks, though not seen in the game except when spawned in with admin commands, used to also be tillable (they were made untillable in Version 1.2.2):
When tilled, Mud, Wet Dirt and Clay become wet farmland while Dirt, Corrupt Dirt, and Dry Dirt become dry farmland as of Version 1.2.2. (Before version 1.2.2, all tillable blocks except for Dirt became wet farmland when tilled.)
Farm Animals
Farm Animals are a type of unique monsters hatched from eggs purchased at Terramart. They allow players to harvest monster drop materials without engaging in combat. Each egg type hatches a different animals, each with unique resources for harvest. Animals can be relocated with a Relocator. They can be killed by lava and hostile monsters.
They work just like crops in that they're grown (from an egg, not a seed) and once they reach maturity they can be harvested for resources. But they differ in other ways, too: they're purchasable from an NPC and the space limit for animals is only for unhatched creatures.
Since the items from these animals are useful and rare, but poorly valued, they are not useful a cash crop. For instance, they provide the crafting items required for terraforming, which are not purchasable.
Crop Images and Average Growth Times
The harvest times displayed are averages, for exact time ranges see the table in the next section.
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- Note: The first "rotten" frame in these gifs is currently not used ingame. When planted, the first "healthy" frame is shown, then transitioning to a growth frame, then the final frame that is ready to harvest.
Exact Growth Times and Prices
These are the growth duration numbers, in seconds, for each seed to reach the next stage of growth.
Stage 1 is from planting until the first change in visual. Stage 2 is from then until its next change in visual, and Stage 3 is from then until it is ready to harvest (and its change to the final visual). Some crops do not have a 3rd stage, and are ready to harvest after its 2nd stage.
Each phase has a minimum and maximum time to change to next phase stated in seconds. This makes the overall growth time vary. Adding all of the minimum times gives a total minimum time for the crop to be ready to harvest, likewise for the maximum times.
Here are the exact growth times for each stage, in seconds, followed by the total time from planting until ready to harvest. Each range (200-220) is the minimum and maximum time.
| Seed name | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Total | Minutes | Seed Price | Goods Price | Replanted | Price/Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Automato Seed | 280-320 | 280-320 | 1,170-1,230 | 1,730-1,870 | ~ 28.8-31.2 | 20 |
80 |
N | 2.6
|
| Avesmingo Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 38 |
150 |
N | 3.3
|
| Banana Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 30 |
120 |
N | 2.6
|
| Beakseed Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 23 |
90 |
N | 2
|
| Boltbulb Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 30 |
120 |
Y | 6
| |
| Boneboo Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 40 |
160 |
N | 8
| |
| Carrot Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 15 |
60 |
Y | 3
| |
| Chilli Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 50 |
210 |
N | 4.6
|
| Cocoa Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 23 |
90 |
N | 2
|
| Coffee Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 23 |
90 |
N | 2
|
| Coralcreep Seed | 280-320 | 280-320 | 1,170-1,230 | 1,730-1,870 | ~ 28.8-31.2 | 25 |
100 |
N | 3
|
| Corn Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 15 |
60 |
N | 1.3
|
| Cotton Seed | 280-320 | 280-320 | 1,170-1,230 | 1,730-1,870 | ~ 28.8-31.2 | 10 |
10 |
N | 0.3
|
| Currentcorn Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 20 |
80 |
Y | 4
| |
| Diodia Seed | 870-930 | 870-930 | 1,740-1860 | ~ 29-31 | 45 |
180 |
Y | 6
| |
| Dirturchin Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 25 |
100 |
Y | 5
| |
| Eggshoot Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 30 |
120 |
Y | 6
| |
| Feathercrown Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 30 |
120 |
Y | 3
| |
| Grape Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 30 |
120 |
N | 2.6
|
| Kiwi Seed | 1,170-1230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 30 |
120 |
Y | 3
| |
| Neonmelon Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 70 |
280 |
Y | 7
| |
| Oculemon Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 50 |
200 |
Y | 5
| |
| Pearlpea Seed | 280-320 | 280-320 | 1,170-1230 | 1,730-1,870 | ~ 28.8-31.2 | 10 |
40 |
N | 1.3
|
| Pineapple Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 40 |
160 |
Y | 4
| |
| Potato Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 20 |
80 |
Y | 2
| |
| Pussplum Seed | 870-930 | 870-930 | 1,740-1,860 | ~ 29-31 | 38 |
150 |
Y | 5
| |
| Reefpod Seed | 870-930 | 870-930 | 1,740-1,860 | ~ 29-31 | 38 |
150 |
Y | 5
| |
| Rice Seed | 430-470 | 430-470 | 1,740-1,860 | 2,600-2,800 | ~ 43.3-46.7 | 15 |
60 |
N | 1.3
|
| Sugarcane Seed | 870-930 | 870-930 | 1,740-1,860 | ~ 29-31 | 23 |
90 |
Y | 3
| |
| Tomato Seed | 280-320 | 280-320 | 1,170-1,230 | 1,730-1,870 | ~ 28.8-31.2 | 15 |
60 |
N | 2
|
| Toxictop Seed | 1,170-1,230 | 1,170-1,230 | 2,340-2,460 | ~ 39-41 | 50 |
200 |
Y | 5
| |
| Wartweed Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 35 |
140 |
Y | 7
| |
| Wheat Seed | 570-630 | 570-630 | 1,140-1,260 | ~ 19-21 | 10 |
40 |
Y | 2
|
Unobtainable Crops
These seeds cannot be acquired through normal means.
| Seed name | Stage 1 | Stage 2 | Stage 3 | Total | Minutes | Seed Price | Goods Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Flower | 600 | 600 | 1,200 | 20 | 0 |
0
| |
| Crystal Plant Seed | 2,820 | 2,820 | 5,640 | 94 | 0 |
0
| |
| Mushroom Seed | 2,820 | 2,820 | 5,640 | 94 | 0 |
0
| |
| Red Flower | 600 | 600 | 1,200 | 20 | 0 |
0
| |
| Spring Flower | 600 | 600 | 1,200 | 20 | 0 |
0
| |
| Yellow Flower | 600 | 600 | 1,200 | 20 | 0 |
0
|
Farm Animal Images
Bugs and Quirks
- Weather is randomized on beaming down to a planet, so a player can simply beam onto and then out of a planet until it is a raining, and then simply walk across the screen to water their crops, without ever having to use the watering can.
- Heavy rain and storms will water crops, but only when the player is present for the rainfall. This is an implementation quirk of weather.
- NPCs in villages own crops and consider it stealing if you take their crops using a tool such as a matter manipulator or pickaxe. However, they do not consider it stealing to simply harvest the crops by interacting with them.
- Thorny Plant and its Thorny Fruit crop do not produce seeds upon destruction of the plant.
