Cherry Sapling

Cherry Sapling

Type	Seed
Grows	Cherry
Season	Spring
Growth Time	28 days
Pierre	3,400g
Cart	2,550 to 4,250g
Sell Price	850g

The Cherry Sapling is a big single purchase that then pays out quietly for the rest of the save. Four weeks in the ground turn it into a Cherry Tree, and from then on it drops a Cherry every day of Spring without ever being watered or replanted. Where it really earns is in a Keg, because Cherry Wine fetches several times what the raw fruit does, and a row of trees keeps a cellar busy through the season. The sapling asks for one thing in return: a ring of eight empty tiles around it until the tree is fully grown, which is the detail that catches most farms out. It also shares its fruiting season with the Apricot Sapling, so an orchard built from both gives Spring two daily harvests rather than one.

The in-game description reads: Takes 28 days to produce a mature Cherry tree. Bears fruit in the spring. Only grows if the 8 surrounding "tiles" are empty.

Growing

Growth runs through four stages across four weeks and pays no attention to the weather or the calendar. A sapling put in on a Winter morning keeps growing through the frost, and a tree that finishes outside its season simply stands and waits for Spring to come round.

That indifference is what makes the planting date a choice rather than a guess. Put one in the soil as Winter opens and it stands as a full Cherry Tree the morning Spring begins, which catches every single fruiting day of its season. Planting any time in Fall works just as well and only costs a little idle gold. The one date to avoid is early Spring, because the tree then comes of age in Summer and stands bare for almost a whole year before its first Cherry.

The clear ring is strict. While the tree is still growing, every one of the eight neighbouring tiles has to stay bare: no path, no fence, no flooring, no stone, no weed that crept back overnight. A blocked night is a night of growth thrown away, and the game says so the next morning rather than letting it slide. Clearing a generous patch before planting is cheaper than wondering later why a sapling has not moved in a fortnight.

Fruit quality climbs with the tree's age. A young Cherry Tree gives plain fruit, and the stars arrive over the following years, with the best grade taking roughly four years to show up. That slow curve is the reason to buy saplings early even when the orchard plan is unfinished: the clock only starts once the tree is in the soil.

A grown tree is not stuck where it stands. An Axe takes it down and leaves a Cherry Sapling behind along with the wood, and that sapling carries the quality grade the tree's fruit had reached. A better grade matures faster when it goes back in the ground, so moving a mature tree costs far less than starting again. Replanting does not hand back the fruit grade straight away, though, because the quality still has to climb year by year.

Set inside the Greenhouse the tree ignores seasons altogether and drops a Cherry every day of the year. Trees belong along the stone border there, which keeps every patch of soil free for crops.

Buying

Pierre's General Store keeps the Cherry Sapling on the shelf the whole year round, Winter and all, so nothing is lost by waiting. Buying it in Fall and holding it until the first of Winter is the pattern worth copying.

The Traveling Cart sometimes brings saplings along on her Friday and Sunday rounds in Cindersap Forest, and her price band for this one runs from a little under Pierre's figure to half again above it. Worth a glance in passing, never worth waiting for.

Free saplings turn up underground. Treasure rooms in the Skull Cavern occasionally hold fruit tree saplings among their stacks, and a Mystery Box opened at the Blacksmith carries a slim chance of one. Either find beats paying Pierre by a wide margin in the first year, because the quality clock starts the day the sapling goes in.

Felling a tree that already stands is the cheapest supply of all once an orchard exists, since the Axe returns the sapling rather than destroying it.

Uses

Selling the sapling back over a counter returns a quarter of what Pierre charges, so a spare is always worth more in soil than in the shipping bin. The obvious home for a spare is the Greenhouse border, where the same tree fruits in every season instead of one.

The point of the fruit is what it becomes. Cherries put into a Keg come out as Cherry Wine at a large multiple of the fruit's own value, and a Preserves Jar turns them into Cherry Jelly faster if the cellar is short on Kegs. A single mature tree supplies a steady trickle rather than a glut, so Kegs are the better fit.

As a present the sapling falls flat. Every villager who reacts to a Cherry Sapling dislikes it, so a spare belongs under glass rather than in a gift box.

Notes

Plant on the first day of Winter for a tree that is ready the moment Spring opens. Any earlier date works too, and Spring itself is the one date that wastes a year.

Keep the eight surrounding tiles bare until the trunk is clearly full size. Most stalled saplings turn out to have a path, a fence or a stray stone sitting one tile away.

Buy a second one for the Greenhouse border before worrying about the field. A tree under glass fruits every day of the year, which turns one Cherry Sapling into four seasons of Keg input.

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