Gardening Guide Updated

[Playalot]

@Tixxis , that's a good point. I used mostly fish (gone foul lol ) to fertilize or a fruit that is at least two stages better then the plant I'm fertilizing. I've tried a few more game files and it has happened in all of them. I haven't travelled at all in two of those test files just to see if traveling was causing it.

@Carl , That's probably just what it is. I do know that other fruit/vegetables can cycle down in price while in a sims inventory but I just haven't seen it happen while on a plant before.  I was hoping the orb plant was supposed to 'work' this way but I'm chalking it up to another one of those strange things that seem to happen in the game and moving on for the sake of sanity!    Shame. It is quite a cool animation and sort of made sense considering it is an 'alien' plant. Oh well.


Complete side issue, but I discovered that if you get a plant that just won't produce a harvest, if you type in 'testingcheats on' and then just type 'testingcheats off' that the plant will then be harvestable. Of course that's no use for challenges but might save a lot of frustration in an ordinary game.

[Playalot]

@Carl , we are getting quite a few questions regarding finding various wild plants. I wonder if it's worth highlighting the fact that your sim has to actively be on the lot in the neighborhood where the wild plant you want grows.
I think simmers get confused and look around with the camera and then leave expecting the wild plants to grow when they are somewhere else/ in another neighborhood.

[Carl]

Heck, I'd forgotten to even test if they grow while you're away, though I might have mentioned it. I guess it's just been a while. I typically get a cutting then never mess with a wild plant again. So I may need to reemphasize that they do not grow unless you're on the active lot eh? Thanks.

[Playalot]

Yep, well active in the neighborhood where the wild plant you want grows. Doesn't actually matter which lot your sim is on... in that particular neighborhood. 

[Carl]

I kinda get this, since one of the big memory/cpu hogs from the Sims 3 days was not just the open world but having everything computing all the time. Growing plants takes resources, as do many other things.

Hey I don't miss stereos being on in other lots and needing a Mod to turn them off lol. 

Edit: got this in, thanks again. I am working on some quick guides so had time to slip it in and change up the section on wild plants a bit.

[Franki]

Sorry removed previous post, the bonsai buds take a couple of sim days to actually show up, they aren't as instantaneous as the birds of paradise.

[ClayMask]

Sorry removed previous post, the bonsai buds take a couple of sim days to actually show up, they aren't as instantaneous as the birds of paradise.

You can see if any new plants were made if you hold your mouse over the plant you've just grafted another plant on.  If a new plant type is produced, it will show up in the middle of the list of plants your hybrid consists of.

[ClayMask]

I checked the time for an apple tree from planting to harvestable three times, and got between 80 and 81 hours each time.  This was without a planter or pot, which would speed up the time very slightly, and without super green thumb, which would cut it in half.  Maybe the growth times have been changed since the gardening guide was originally posted?  Or is it possible that the posted times are for a Sim with super green thumb?

[Carl]

@ClayMask just tested and yep, it's green thumb. It was the first guide for the game I did, and we didn't realize the power of that reward yet. I'm glad it didn't go a full year unnoticed, but will have to double all values when I can.

[Playalot]

The times for growth don't double without Green Thumb instead they seem to be grouped around various growth times.

Planters:

Apples: Cutting available 19 hrs after planting    Harvestable 81 hrs after planting
Grapes:Cutting available 28 hrs after planting    Harvestable ?? (game crashed)  *so longer than 85 hours
Carrots:Cutting available 7 hrs after planting     Harvestable 31 hrs after planting
Mushrooms:     Harvestable 59 hrs after planting
Parsley:Cutting available 12 hrs after planting    Harvestable 31 hrs after planting
Daisy:Cutting available 14 hrs after planting    Harvestable 58 hrs after planting
Chrysanthemum: Cutting available 14 hrs after planting    Harvestable 59 hrs after planting


Ground:

Apples: Cutting available 19 hrs after planting    Harvestable 85 hrs after planting
Grapes:Cutting available 28 hrs after planting    Harvestable ?? (Game crashed)
Carrots:Cutting available 7 hrs after planting    Harvestable 31 hrs after planting
Mushrooms:      Harvestable 59 hrs after planting
Parsley:Cutting available 7 hrs after planting    Harvestable 31 hrs after planting
Daisy:Cutting available 12 hrs after planting    Harvestable 58 hrs after planting
Chrysanthemum:Cutting available 14 hrs after planting    Harvestable 59 hrs after planting

While I haven't posted the exact minutes as well, the planters gave a few minutes bonus but no more than 30 mins faster. So for example the exact timing for Daisy in a planter was 57 hours and 54 mins, I rounded it up to 58 hours.

Where the difference was really seen was how long it took the plants to actually grow the produce. The times above are from the first produce on each plant. From there I timed it till each plant had all 10 produce available.

Parsley and carrots took 41 hours to have 10 harvestables growing on the plant in a planter.
Parsley and carrots took 47 hours to have 10 harvestables growing on the plant in the ground.

While it's not much of a difference , it is enough to make a difference in the long run if your sim harvests each plant at the optimal time.


I've run through this scenario a few times and couldn't exactly replicate these times... *shrug* least these times will give a rough guesstimate until you go through it yourself Carl. Each time I used normal plants and a new sim with no traits or emotions that would help with gardening in an obvious way. Unfortunately I didn't include grapes until my last try and I'm a bit over watching plants grow for now... it's kinda like watching paint dry. 

[Carl]

Appreciate the info, Playalot. Might be a while before I can dig in to get all values myself. What I'll do is edit in that the times are with green thumb, and highlight the effect of planters. I think that's a major flaw as it's not mentioned anywhere in the guide.

[oshizu]

I noticed today that the growth time for the Cow Berry is listed on the Gardening Guide as "24 hours."
I've never had a cow berry grow into a cowplant that quickly. Always takes several days.


Edited to add: Also, the value is listed as N/A but the Cow Berries also display a $20 value in my game file. (no doubt due to a patch)

[meubanks]

An additional note on the bonsai bush. The plant is bugged so that it cannot be converted to a decorative plant once it is evolved beyond excellent. This is a longstanding issue that has still not been fixed as of my most recent test. I don't personally care so much, because the gardening plant is identical to the one that you can buy in build/buy mode. I normally evolve the plants up to perfect because the berries sell for a good price, but the conversion bug is worth knowing about. Fixing it doesn't seem to be a high priority on the developer's part. If you want to convert them, don't evolve them past excellent.

[Playalot]

At last we have a fix for the bonsai tree! Yay!
http://www.carls-sims-4-guide.com/forum/index.php?topic=27322.0