Author Topic: Grafting for plants of different seasons  (Read 8783 times)

Offline MagpieC

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Grafting for plants of different seasons
« on: August 26, 2020, 09:52:04 AM »
This is my first time playing a gardener since I bought seasons and I'm seeing a problem where a grafting formula doesn't work because the parent plants don't grow in the same season. In my case its tulips & chrysanthemums to produce a bird of paradise. I took a cutting from the tulips in spring but when I went to graft it to the chrysanthemum in summer the graft option doesn't come up. Without cheating is there a reasonable way to get the bird of paradise flower (or any other plants that are supposed to be created by similar out of season grafts)? I know you can buy it directly (to give as a gift) but the point of grafting is supposed to be saving money and using time and effort instead.

Offline Brian_Z

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2020, 12:49:59 PM »
Get your chrysanthemum under a roof, and it will gain "sheltered" status.  Which means it will be active and producing flowers all year round.  You can put it in a pot in the house, or on the front porch, or even just up tight against the side of the house, if you have a bit of roof overhang.  I like to build a greenhouse- separate building with the walls full of windows, glass roof pattern, you might have to knock out the flat ceiling.

Pretty much have one of everything in here, and everything produces fruit/vegetables/flowers 56 days a year.  (I play with 14-day seasons lol)



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Offline Highlander

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #2 on: August 26, 2020, 11:56:47 PM »
@Brian_Z Nice Greenhouse

Pretty much what he said. You can extend a roof 1 tile beyond the wall or farther if you put up columns. I plant stuff in the open and move them under the eaves of the roof in buy/build. It will go from "out of season" to "sheltered" if you did it right. If you want to shelter trees, you will need to use the medium or large walls. It's pretty easy to do if you are building your own house. Some of the pre-builds are a little tricky because of foundations or how close they are to the edge of the lot.

I won't put any plants near the kitchen, because my sims will start talking to them or researching - through the walls. Drives me crazy.

I use garden planters instead of pots when I use a greenhouse. That way I can put 4 spring plants in one container and swap them out when the season changes. You can also extend the roof on the greenhouse and put plants under the eaves there. I will stick a beehive in a central spot and build the greenhouse 10 squares away from it. That way you can pollinate some of the sheltered plants.

The other thing I have done is to build a house with a 10x10 hole in it. Stick a beehive in the middle and you can pollinate most of the plants.

Be aware that there is a weird bug with plants. Sometimes they will just go dormant and usually they never grow back. It usually happens at season change, but it has happened to me at other times as well. This means I am usually at home on Saturdays at 11:59 PM to save the game just in case. It's frustrating because it is a random bug. Very hard to recreate. But it would really stink if you finally got your graft done and then lost it to this bug.

PS, if you want to look at some examples of greenhouses, Joria posted some photos in a topic below called "Sheltered Garden Experiments" There was also a picture posted by Sykoman which had an interesting space saving build.

Offline Brian_Z

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2020, 01:13:41 AM »
Yes, my picture is pretty dark, but there is a beehive in the middle there.  Bees will give all your plants within 8 squares a constant minor fertilized state, so you'll have them improve quality faster even if you don't fertilize them.
If you have Eco Living, they introduced some very cool gardening improvements.  Also hard to make out in my dark picture is the row of vertical planters, which allow you to plant 2 plants in one square.  Not everything can be planted in them, but a lot of things can.  And they can be upgraded to water and repel bugs automatically.  And the hydroponic planters, which in my pic is what everything else is planted in, will also eliminate the need to water, spray, or weed.  My sim literally just has to harvest every morning, and tend the bees.
You can extend your roofs as far as you want, and you don't HAVE to support them with columns.  But they certainly look better if you do!
I've found I can plant trees indoors with low walls, but they have to be under a peaked roof, and out in the middle where the roof is higher.  And you have to knock out the flat ceiling.

Offline MagpieC

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2020, 09:32:34 AM »
Does it take a while for the sheltered status to work or do I have to take a new cutting? I read through some of the other topics and found out about the roof but the graft option still isn't coming up even though its marked as sheltered.
I just put a roof on columns above my garden area rather than moving all the plants, its still growing in the ground rather than a planter because my sim's lifetime wish is to save as much money as possible so I feel bad every time I spend money and he's further from his goal (I know I'm getting terminology wrong but I can't open the game to check names right now as I'm working on a project and if I start the sims I'll get sucked in and waste hours).

Offline Brian_Z

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #5 on: August 27, 2020, 12:01:41 PM »
Now that it's sheltered, it will start growing as if its season has just started.  I don't remember how long a chrysanthemum takes, but it should be ready by the next day.  Grafting has to be done to a mature plant, so that's why you can't do it yet, you just have to give it time to grow.  Your cutting should be fine until you use it, they never go bad.
Your sim can take comfort in the fact that his investment will pay for itself.  With his garden always in season, he'll have a lot more produce to sell!
Be aware, once you do the graft:  The chrysanthemum plant will immediately revert to a just sprouted stage.  That's normal.  Then it will grow normally again, and now it will start producing chrysanthemums and tulips every day.  And a random chance for a bird of paradise.  Rarer plants produced by grafting can take several days before you get one, depending on how lucky you are.
You can also, before grafting your tulip cutting onto the chrysanthemum, take a cutting of the chrysanthemum first.  You can graft that cutting to your tulip, and have TWO plants with a chance of producing a bird of paradise for you.  It doesn't matter if it's a cutting from tulip grafted to chrysanthemum, or vice versa, the combination of tulip and chrysanthemum will get you a bird of paradise.  It works the same way with any other grafting too, it's the combination that gets the new plant, doesn't matter which is the donor and which is the recipient.

Oh, and if you have City Living-- be sure to attend the Romance and Spice Festivals when they come up.  There will be Perfect quality plants to pick!  The Romance Festival will have Lilies when they're in season, I always have a hard time getting my hands on one of those.  And they're one of the things needed when you're trying to get Death Flowers.  I've heard a lot about what a pain it is to get a Pomegranate too, but I just buy one off the gifts menu.  The Spice Festival will have vegetables to pick, and even one grafted plant which will give you a Cowplant berry!  Be careful with those.  When they get hungry, they can kill someone.  Also, when they get hungry, they need to be fed within about 12 hours or they die.  Dead Cowplants do make a pretty cool decorative object though.

Another thing, if you have City Living-- find the Produce vendor.  There are spots all over the city where vendor stalls pop up, and it's random which ones will come up.  You might have to visit the city on a few different days before you find it.  Most of them sell food, but the Produce stall will sell you fruits and vegetables.  Maybe flowers too?  I don't remember.  It's a lot cheaper to buy one of something you don't have already, than to buy lots of seed packets hoping to get something.

Offline Sonshine

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #6 on: July 31, 2022, 01:29:44 PM »
I've never had any problems getting lilies or pomegranates. At least until now. There used to be a lily in Sylvan Grove. I can go look.



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Offline ModHunter

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #7 on: August 05, 2022, 04:45:15 AM »
I have many sims who are into gardening so this is a interesting thread to get tips.  :) I do not want to "hijack" the thread or anything but I must ask you where you did get the "garden beds" shown in your picture? Is it CC or are they from a later pack/patch? I have not seen them in my game/s.
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Offline MrsFlynn

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #8 on: August 05, 2022, 10:59:41 AM »
The planter box in Brian's screenshot is the Hydroponic Planter from Eco Lifestyle.
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Planter_bowl
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Offline ModHunter

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #9 on: August 05, 2022, 11:06:05 AM »
The planter box in Brian's screenshot is the Hydroponic Planter from Eco Lifestyle.
https://sims.fandom.com/wiki/Planter_bowl

OK, thank you. Sadly, I don't have that pack. But I just wanted to ask.  :)
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Offline Sonshine

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #10 on: October 24, 2022, 09:51:05 PM »
I don't know if Brian will see this or not, but I just got hit w/the bug he mentioned! I kept hoping that they would grow back, but he said that they won't. :(  It's a good thing I didn't have any newly grafted plants!

Edit to add: I think I just found a way to restore the lost plants. Go into buy mode, delete the plant (just a pile of dirt right now), then undo it. The plant will be back! I discovered this by accidentally deleting the wrong plant!

Offline Brian_Z

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #11 on: October 25, 2022, 03:42:34 PM »
Oh, good tip for anyone who doesn't have TM's All Cheats! 
I do have it, so when I see it happen I shift-click, Set Gardening State, Growth Sage, and Mature.

Offline oshizu

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #12 on: October 25, 2022, 06:30:39 PM »
Brian_Z

I don't have Twisted Mexican's All Cheats mod.
But I'm still able to shift click a reverted-to-dirt-clump plant then select "Set Gardening State" then "Growth Stage."
I set it to Blossoming instead of Mature, which has the same effect (I guess) of the plant becoming harvestable the next day.

This gardening glitch is SUCH a pain. It usually happens whenever my sims travel and occasionally when I reload the household from CAS.
So basically multiple times every sim-day. Grrrr.

Offline oshizu

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #13 on: December 29, 2022, 07:42:13 PM »
@Brian_Z and @Sonshine

To continue our conversation about plants reverting to dirt piles after traveling or exiting Build/Buy/CAS, I recently installed a mod that fixes this for me.
It's the "Gardening Workaround Fix" mod by LittleMissSam.  I've played a sim-week since installing it and my garden is fine now. Hurray!
What a HUGE relief that I no longer need to shift-click every plant several times a day! 

Offline Brian_Z

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Re: Grafting for plants of different seasons
« Reply #14 on: December 30, 2022, 01:05:24 PM »
Oh, nice, I'll have to look that one up!
I didn't have it happening as frequently as you were, but it did seem to happen whenever I really needed the income!