Farming

Farming is a feature that allows the player to sow, grow, and harvest plants and trees for resources. The Small Planter Box for small crops and the Large Planter Box for trees and large crops are necessities for farming. Fertilizer can be used to make the plants and trees yield bigger harvests.

The Church of the Light makes use of this type of green technology to better the world. The organization sells special seeds in exchange for technology that is believed to endanger the world, such as Data Discs and Small Silicon Chips. Sophie's Farm Store also sells seeds, though her store takes Gols like most other shops.

Fertilizer
While crops are growing, the player can add Fertilizer to increase the amount of crops yielded at harvest. Fertilizer can be put into an Irrigation Tower and used in conjunction with Irrigation Flooring to automatically fertilize crops. The irrigation flooring has to be put underneath all squares of both the planter boxes and the irrigation tower for the transporting of the fertilizer to work.

One Fertilizer provides 100 points when applied. One Small Planter Box can hold up to 300 Fertilizer points, one Large Planter Box can hold up to 600. Each crop planted consumes a specific amount of Fertilizer per day and requires a minimum of Fertilizer points to be happy. Crops kept happy during their whole growth period yield twice the amount the non-fertilized crops do. Trees require to be fully fertilized at all times to yield double harvest: both during the growths stage and during the harvest stage. Keeping a crop happy part of its growth time has no effect on its harvest (crops grown from Special Giant Seeds are an exception). The Fertilizer points required for each crop can be found in the table below.

Skills
The Farm Guru Gathering Skill can also be learned to potentially increase the harvest. The skill can activate when the crop is harvested to double its yield, acting as if the crop has been kept fully fertilized during its whole growth period. The Farm Guru does not stack with the Fertilizer and has no effect on fully fertilized crops.

The skill activates even if a Helper harvests the crops.

Planter Boxes
Planter boxes are tools for growing crops. Planter boxes come in two sizes: Small and Large. The Small Planter Box is used to grow smaller crops, such as Bamboo Papaya and Cotton. The Large Planter Box is used to grow trees or large crops, such as Apricot Trees and Giant Crops. Small Planter Boxes can be crafted in the Worktable and Large Planter Boxes purchased from the Church Store.

Normal crops
Each crop has a set amount of days it takes to grow. The crops only grow during their respective seasons; planting a crop in a wrong season will cause it to wither. However, fully grown but not harvested crop will stay in its planting box past the season it usually grows in.

Small Planter Box crops grow in one stage and are gone after they are harvested. On the other hand, trees grow in two stages: growth stage (time a sapling needs to reach maturity; 15 to 20 days depending on the tree) and harvest stage (time a mature tree needs to bear fruit; 4 to 8 days depending on the tree). All planted trees are persistent after harvesting their items, and will continue to produce more items after each harvest.

Seeds
Fertilizer per Day is the amount of Fertilizer points consumed per day. Each bucket of Fertilizer used on a planter box is worth 100 points.

Happy Points is the amount of Fertilizer the plant needs to have in its planter box to stay happy and give the maximum yield.

Base Harvest is listed for crops not fertilized during the growth period. Fully fertilizer crops will yield twice that amount.

Notes:
 * Crops kept happy part of the growth period still yield the base harvest, only the crops kept happy for their whole growth period yield the double harvest. It is therefore recommended to use fertilizer only if the player is sure they can keep a crop fully fertilized at all times.
 * The Farm Guru gathering skill only affects the crops that has not been fully fertilized during their whole growth period. It grants a 10-40% chance to get double yield when harvesting depending on the skill level.

One harvest crops
Profit per Day with Fertilizer Cost is calculated assuming the player purchases all fertilizer they use at Sophie's Ranch. Profit per Day w/o Fertilizer Cost does not take the Fertilizer price into account.

Multiple harvests crops
This ignores the initial cost. Fertilized harvest numbers are left out (they are always doubled). Profit per day includes the value of secondary products, and fertilized profit per day includes the fertilizer cost. Profit per day can be improved by processing the products of these crops, for example making Dried Apple Slices or Crystal Necklaces. Values were datamined.

Giant Crops
Giant Crops are grown from Special Giant Seeds, and can be sold or entered in the Autumn Festival. They have a range of sizes depending on how well the seed was kept fully fertilized during its growth period.

Special Giant Seeds can be purchased from Mysterious Man for 500 Gols each or received for free for participating in the Autumn Festival Competition.

Special Giant Seed needs to be planted into a Large Planter Box. The crop type is determined when it is planted, so the player can reset the day and plant the seed again until they get a crop they desire.