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Hops Starter

Hops Starter
Hops Starter
Type Seed
Grows Hops
Season Summer
Growth Time 11 days
Pierre 60g
JojaMart 75g
Cart 100 to 1,000g
Sell Price 30g

Hops Starter is a single purchase for a Summer tile, and the vine it raises is the most relentless producer on the farm: once mature it hands over a Hops every morning until the season ends. That turns the usual seed question upside down. The sowing date matters far less here than two other things, the walking lanes between the trellis rows and the number of Kegs waiting at the far end, because raw Hops fetches very little while Pale Ale fetches a great deal. Of the two shops that stock it, Pierre's General Store asks the less, and a Seed Maker fed with the harvest makes every year after the first one free. A farm that plants a wide field before building the Kegs ends up with chests full of cones and nothing to show for them.


Growing

The climb up the trellis takes the better part of two weeks. After that the vine refills overnight, and one tile keeps yielding a cone each morning until the season closes.

Daily regrowth makes the calendar forgiving. Each day of delay costs one cone rather than a whole harvest, and the seventeenth of Summer is the last morning a starter still reaches maturity before the season turns. Even a vine sown that late gives a useful run of pickings.

Speed-Gro and the Agriculturist profession shorten that climb, but neither can hurry a plant that already produces every day, so their whole benefit is in starting the daily run earlier.

The trellis dictates the field plan. A Hops tile blocks movement from the moment it sprouts, so a solid rectangle of vines locks the farmer out of its own interior. Two planted columns to one clear column is the arrangement that works, with the clear columns running where the sprinklers sit so that watering and walking use the same gaps. Once Summer ends the dead frames can be walked through, which comes too late for a field already planted wrongly.

Under glass the vine never dies back. A Hops tile in the Greenhouse or on Ginger Island gives a cone a day all year round, which is the quiet engine behind any large Keg operation.

Buying

Pierre's General Store carries the starter through Summer, and JojaMart sells the identical item for more.

The Magic Shop Boat offers it out of season. The boat visits the beach for three Winter nights and brings out Summer seeds on the middle one, Hops Starter among them, for what Pierre asks. Buying then means a Summer trellis is sitting in a chest before the thaw.

The Traveling Cart lists the starter occasionally at prices well above the shop, which is only worth a glance for a farm in a hurry.

The Seed Maker closes the loop. Harvested Hops put into the machine come back as starters, and since a planted vine needs no replanting, those spares go into the Greenhouse, out to Ginger Island, or straight into the shipping bin.

Uses

The Seed Maker is the only machine that deals in the starter, taking cones in and giving starters out. On some runs it also returns Mixed Seeds, and on rare ones a packet of Ancient Seeds, so a glut of cones is better fed through the machine than shipped raw.

Turning cones into starters is a genuine selling strategy for a farm short of Kegs. Over a counter a starter is worth distinctly more than the cone it was made from, and the machine turns a batch round in a few minutes, which rescues the part of a harvest the brewing cannot keep up with.

A starter makes a poor gift. Seed packets go down badly throughout the village, so a bottle of the finished drink is what gets handed over instead.

Notes

Count the Kegs before counting the tiles. A Keg needs about a day and a half for each bottle while a vine gives a cone a day, so a field wants closer to two Kegs for every vine to keep pace with it.

Give the Greenhouse a tile of its own the week it is restored. A cone a day through Winter keeps the Kegs working when the outdoor field is bare.

Pick the last cones on the final day of Summer. A ripe cone left on the vine is lost when the season changes, and the vine goes with it.

Leave the Keg recipe until Farming level eight is close. The recipe arrives with that level, and a Hops field planted before any Kegs exist is simply a slow way of storing cheap cones.

All Seeds

Every entry in this group, with its key details.

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