User:Tinuvael/Gardening

This page contains the data I've collected gardening over the past few years. I've also merged my results into the various pot and seed pages, but this page will contain more detailed information, including plant/feed/harvest times, as well the theories I have collected over time.

Gardening Theory
Elemental Day Order (Weak Element)  > >  >   >   >   >   >   >

Gardening Tips
Day To Plant

To grow items, plant To grow crystals, plant
 * 1) when the element of the seed and the day are the same, or
 * 2) when the element of the seed is strong versus the element of the day.
 * 1) on Lightsday or Darksday, or
 * 2) when the element of the feed crystal (seed?) is weak versus the element of the day.

Day To Fertilize

You should feed the plant on one of two days:
 * 1) The day with the same element as the crystal.
 * 2) The day whose element is weak versus the element of the crystal.

Day To Harvest


 * The closer to the full moon that you harvest, the larger the yield of your harvest. Unless you want to harvest Rock Salt, you should not harvest on the day when the element of the seed and the feed crystal is strong versus the element of the day (e.g. don't harvest Fire Ore on Iceday). Exception: If you are working with saplings and missed a crystal feeding or didn't build up enough elemental energy (see below), you might want to harvest on a weak day (specifically, the day weak to the feed crystal) to boost the elemental power of the plant. Conversely, if you have built up too much elemental energy (see below), it's actually suggested to harvest on the day that is strong to the element you've been pushing (e.g. harvest Fire Ore on Watersday) to decrease your chances of ruining your harvest.

Checking Plants


 * There is considerable debate over whether or not checking on certain days as opposed to others has any sort of effect on end result and yield. Some people claim that, when growing elemental ores, it is possible to "oversaturate" your saplings with your target element, thus resulting in other things. Perhaps this is a result of not giving your plants enough of an element; Pikko indicates that you need very strong elemental power in Tree Saplings to grow ores.


 * It is not clear to me how much examining constitutes oversaturation. I haven't ever seen Little Worms from an ore harvest. In any case, checking on my plants once per day on the element of the crystal seems to yield 0-2 ores (but usually at least one). I haven't ever produced more than two ores on any one harvest. Generally, I have the best luck with Earth Ores, but that may be because my ore gardener (Fitzy-Witzy) has a Mog House filled with overwhelming Earth energy. (Consequently, Lightning Ore is the only ore I'm reluctant to try for. Well, that and I've been avoiding Light Ore and Dark Ore as well... :3)


 * According to Ariah, whose page is unfortunately no longer available, it is possible to get a much higher yield &mdash; up to 6 Fire Ores out of 10 pots! It sounds like Ariah suggests checking plants twice per day, with the majority of examines occuring on the elemental day you're trying to imbue in your plant. She had best results with Fire Ore, Ice Ore, and Dark Ore using Porcelain Flowerpots. She also wore three pieces of the Field/Worker Gear (everything but the Gloves improves Harvesting results) while examining. It's important to note that she specifically says not to wear the gear when actually harvesting your plants, but that wearing them while examining will speed up the growth cycle by a small amount. I can't say for sure, but the speed up seems to be true. It's also rumored to boost your chance of growing ore, but I'm not sure there's any way to prove that.


 * Another rumor Ariah mentioned is that you can get an added boost to your average yield (her claim was roughly 10%) by harvesting from the city of your pots' origin. The obvious correlations are Bastok→Brass Flowerpot, San d'Oria→Ceramic Flowerpot, and Windurst→Earthen Flowerpot since that is where you can purchase them from an NPC. Supposedly Porcelain Flowerpots are linked to Jeuno, which does make some bit of sense. No theories on the Arcane or Wooden Flowerpots yet.

Moghancement and Mog House Energy


 * Ariah filled her Mog House with 22 Maple Tables (I produced a similar strength with fewer Oak Tables) to produce an overwhelming Gardening Moghancement; the purpose of this is to prolong the growth cycle of your plants to lower your chance of wilting.


 * Between the Gardening Moghancement and harvesting gear, you are supposed to be able to control when your plants will be ready for feedings and harvesting and can time those points to be right around a Full Moon. On Fitzy-Witzy, 10 Oak Tables + 10 Porcelain Flowerpots gives him overwhelming power (120) with the Gardening Moghancement, and every new phase of the growth cycle happens two Full Moon phases apart.


 * I haven't read anything on how much the actual element filling your Mog House affects yields. In my experience, I have the best chance getting 2 ores when I'm growing Earth Ore, but I haven't tried growing Lightning Ore yet to see if it's more difficult to get even one. Unfortunately, -based furnishings are the only ones that give the Gardening Moghancement with reasonable strength; all others are only 1 or 2 of their element, so it would be difficult to get an overwhelming Gardening Moghancement with anything but.

Glowrates


 * The strangest theory I read on Ariah's website talked about something called Glowrates. If you watch a plant that has bloomed and is ready to harvest, it glows in a very specific way. With Tree Saplings, she claims that there are ten different possibilities, but really only the central 3 are the most important to note:
 * Glowrate 4 : strong glow, quick pulses, one thick sparkle at the stem/top of the fruit &mdash; possible to get an ore but most likely the same yield as glowrate 3 (e.g. lots of Cinnamon and Ice Clusters).
 * Glowrate 5 : strong glow, quick pulses, tons of sparkles around the fruit and not one thick sparkle &mdash; optimal for ores but still only about a 20-40% chance of getting ores. The moon makes the biggest difference still but glowrate 5 is the only way to max out your harvest.
 * Glowrate 6 : same as glowrate 4 except sparkles all around the fruit, but less of them than glowrate 5 &mdash; possible to get an ore but most likely the same yield as glowrate 7 (the mirror of 3).


 * I can verify that when you go into the Gardening menu, exit out, and then go back into it that the glowrate changes. Sometimes it also changes after I examine my plants. Leaving my Mog House seems to reset it to the original glowrate I saw the first time. I have seen what she describes as Glowrate 4 and possibly 6 as well, but I have never seen the elusive and optimal 5, much to my dismay. Ariah claims that if you harvest on the perfect day, you won't be able to get any other glowrate. Perhaps this means I haven't had enough elemental power in my plants to produce the desired effect. She warns agains checking too much on the harvesting day, because that can ultimately bring you all the way down to glowrate 10 with absolutely no chance of ore. I'm not sure how true this is, as I've only ever been able to force a single change upon my glowrate. Maybe I'm not observant enough. =)


 * Of course, there isthe difficulty of checking for the optimal glowrate and actually harvesting from the "optimal city" when you're using Porcelain Flowerpots. Ariah points out that you should go to your actual Mog House to get a glowrate 5, and then get to Jeuno to harvest. Since she says that a glowrate of 5 will never change if you can get it, this seems like a reasonable thing to do.

Other Observations


 * Rock Salt indicates that you did not give your plant enough elemental power to produce an item; Little Worms mean that you oversaturated your seeds with too much of the element. If you look at the individual seed charts (linked above in the Seed Element chart), you can see how that can be used to determine a seed's element. For example, Grain seeds can yield Rock Salt if they are not fed a crystal or if they are fed a Water Crystal; they can yield Little Worms when fed a Fire Crystal. Since beats  in the [[media:Chart_elements.jpg|elemental wheel]], Grain Seeds must be fire-based. That is not to say that it isn't possible to get these two items with any other combination, just that it's much less likely, which the result charts seem to indicate.


 * When dealing with crops where the element of the seed and the element of the crystals fed are related, it is probably necessary to take special care about the days you plant/feed/harvest. Doing so could avoid getting Rock Salt and Little Worms... unless that's the desired outcome. ;-)


 * Based on this information, I have to question the widely accepted elements of some of the seeds. Unfortunately, the data on the charts is too sparse to be sure, but here is what I've noticed:
 * Tree Cuttings : Rock Salt appears with the most frequency under the +  feeding, leading me to believe they are actually a -based seed. Pikko shows that she got them from x2, x2, and x2.
 * Tree Saplings : Rock Salt appears only under the section (both with one or two crystals), leading me to believe the are actually a -based seed. Pikko's single result also indicates this.
 * Cactus Stems : Little Worms only appear under the +  feeding; however, there is so little data that I hesitate to form any sort of opinion, but that might indicate they are a -based seed. Pikko shows that she harvested them from a x2 and a x2 feeding, so at this point I'm not going to say anything much. =)