Apple Sapling

Apple Sapling

Type	Seed
Grows	Apple
Season	Fall
Growth Time	28 days
Pierre	4,000g
Cart	3,000 to 5,000g
Sell Price	1000g

The Apple Sapling is the seed end of the Fall fruit harvest, and Pierre's General Store keeps it on the shelf in every season of the year. Four weeks pass between planting and the first Apple, and those weeks run at the same pace whatever the calendar says, so the planting date is the only lever available. Sown on the opening morning of Summer, the tree is ready to give fruit on the first day of Fall; sown once Fall has begun, it stands bare until the next one. The sapling also arrives free from several directions, among them Lewis's Prize Machine, the treasure rooms under the desert and a Mystery Box. Any Apple Tree already grown can be felled to return a sapling, which is how a tree gets moved.

Growing

The sapling needs plain, unhoed ground and a clear ring around it. Every one of the eight tiles touching the planting must stay empty of objects, paths, flooring and debris until the tree is grown. A morning message reports a night of growth lost when something is in the way, which is the game's way of pointing at a stray branch or a path tile laid too close.

Two saplings cannot share that ring, so a planned orchard works out to one tree every third tile in each direction. Marking the grid out with a couple of spare stones before any gold is spent saves tearing a row up later. Once the tree is full grown the ring stops mattering, and chests, sprinklers and paving can go right up against the trunk.

Four stages and four weeks take the sapling to a mature tree, and it keeps counting through Winter like any other season. That is what makes the sowing date arithmetic simple. A sapling in the ground on the first day of Summer matures exactly as Fall opens, and gives an Apple on every one of the season's days. Each day of delay after that costs one Apple from the first harvest. Planted during Fall itself, it finishes in Winter and waits a full year for its first fruit, which is the expensive mistake to avoid.

Tree Fertilizer belongs to the forest seeds such as the Acorn and the Pine Cone, so the four weeks stand as they are. Only the calendar can be worked with.

An Apple Tree already grown can be put somewhere else by felling it. The Axe returns a sapling matching the quality of the fruit the tree was bearing, and a sapling of better quality reaches full size faster than a plain one when it is replanted. That makes an old tree worth moving rather than abandoning.

Buying

Pierre's General Store is the dependable counter, and unlike his vegetable seeds the sapling sits there all year round. Buying it during Summer rather than Fall costs nothing extra and gets the tree into the ground at the right moment.

The Traveling Cart carries saplings on its Friday and Sunday visits. Its asking band straddles Pierre's price, so the cart is sometimes a genuine saving and sometimes a worse deal than the shop. Checking the cart before walking to Pierre's is worth the detour, but it is not worth waiting for.

Several routes hand the sapling over for nothing. The eighth prize from Lewis's Prize Machine in the Mayor's Manor is an Apple Sapling or a Pomegranate Sapling at even odds, and Prize Tickets come from marked Help Wanted quests and from completed Special Orders rather than from luck. Treasure rooms in the Skull Cavern hold fruit tree saplings among their seed stacks, Apple among them. A Mystery Box cracked open by Clint has a slim chance of a sapling as well. On a new farm, any of these arriving early is worth a great deal more than its price tag, because the tree's fruit quality clock starts the day it matures.

Uses

Selling the sapling back returns only a quarter of what Pierre asks for it, so a spare is always better off in the ground. The Greenhouse is the place for the extras: a fruit tree planted along its stone border fruits every day of the year and leaves all of the soil free for crops.

A sapling is a poor gift. Apple Saplings are disliked across almost the whole village, which is another reason a spare belongs in the Greenhouse rather than in a wrapped box.

Notes

Clear the ring before buying. A sapling bought and then left in the bag because the orchard site is still covered in branches is four weeks of growing wasted.

Plant Fall's trees in the first year if gold allows. Fruit quality rises with the years that pass after the tree matures, so the earliest planting is always the most valuable one.

All Seeds

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

Name	Grows	Season	Pierre
Acorn	Oak Tree	All	-
Amaranth Seeds	Amaranth	Fall	70g
Ancient Seeds	Ancient Fruit	Spring; Summer; Fall	-
Apple Sapling	Apple	Fall	4,000g
Apricot Sapling	Apricot	Spring	2,000g
Artichoke Seeds	Artichoke	Fall	30g (Year 2+)
Banana Sapling	Banana	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Bean Starter	Green Bean	Spring	60g
Beet Seeds	Beet	Fall	-
Blue Grass Starter	Blue Grass	Spring; Summer; Fall	-
Blueberry Seeds	Blueberry	Summer	80g
Bok Choy Seeds	Bok Choy	Fall	50g
Broccoli Seeds	Broccoli	Fall	-
Cactus Seeds	Cactus Fruit	All	-
Carrot Seeds	Carrot	Spring	-
Cauliflower Seeds	Cauliflower	Spring	80g
Cherry Sapling	Cherry	Spring	3,400g
Coffee Bean	-	Spring; Summer	-
Corn Seeds	Corn	Summer; Fall	150g
Cranberry Seeds	Cranberries	Fall	240g
Eggplant Seeds	Eggplant	Fall	20g
Fairy Seeds	Fairy Rose	Fall	200g
Fall Seeds	Blackberry, Common Mushroom, Hazelnut, or Wild Plum	Fall	-
Fiber Seeds	Fiber	All	-
Garlic Seeds	Garlic	Spring	40g (Year 2+)
Grape Starter	Grape	Fall	60g
Grass Starter	Grass	Spring; Summer; Fall	100g
Hops Starter	Hops	Summer	60g
Jazz Seeds	Blue Jazz	Spring	30g
Kale Seeds	Kale	Spring	70g
Mahogany Seed	Mahogany Tree	All	-
Mango Sapling	Mango	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Maple Seed	Maple Tree	All	-
Melon Seeds	Melon	Summer	80g
Mixed Flower Seeds	Varies	Spring Summer Fall	-
Mixed Seeds	Varies	Spring Summer Fall	-
Mossy Seed	Green Rain Tree	All	-
Mushroom Tree Seed	Mushroom Tree	All	-
Mystic Tree Seed	Mystic Tree	All	-
Orange Sapling	Orange	Summer	4,000g
Parsnip Seeds	Parsnip	Spring	20g
Peach Sapling	Peach	Summer	6,000g
Pepper Seeds	Hot Pepper	Summer	40g
Pine Cone	Pine Tree	All	-
Pineapple Seeds	Pineapple	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Pomegranate Sapling	Pomegranate	Fall	6,000g
Poppy Seeds	Poppy	Summer	100g
Potato Seeds	Potato	Spring	50g
Powdermelon Seeds	Powdermelon	Winter	-
Pumpkin Seeds	Pumpkin	Fall	100g
Qi Bean	Qi Fruit	All	-
Radish Seeds	Radish	Summer	40g
Rare Seed	Sweet Gem Berry	Fall	-
Red Cabbage Seeds	Red Cabbage	Summer	100g (Year 2+)
Rhubarb Seeds	Rhubarb	Spring	-
Rice Shoot	Unmilled Rice	Spring	40g
Spangle Seeds	Summer Spangle	Summer	50g
Spring Seeds	Wild Horseradish, Daffodil,; Leek, or Dandelion	Spring	-
Starfruit Seeds	Starfruit	Summer	-
Strawberry Seeds	Strawberry	Spring	-
Summer Seeds	Grape, Spice Berry,; or Sweet Pea	Summer	-
Summer Squash Seeds	Summer Squash	Summer	-
Sunflower Seeds	Sunflower	Summer; Fall	200g
Taro Tuber	Taro Root	All on Ginger Island; Summer in Stardew Valley	-
Tea Sapling	Tea Leaves	All	-
Tomato Seeds	Tomato	Summer	50g
Tulip Bulb	Tulip	Spring	20g
Wheat Seeds	Wheat	Summer; Fall	10g
Winter Seeds	Crocus, Crystal Fruit,; Snow Yam, or Winter Root	Winter	-
Yam Seeds	Yam	Fall	60g