Mushroom Tree Seed

Mushroom Tree Seed

Type	Seed
Grows	Mushroom Tree
Season	All
Growth Time	Variable
Sell Price	100g

The Mushroom Tree Seed is a late-game purchase that pays for itself in Purple Mushrooms. Mr. Qi stocks it in the Walnut Room, the back room on Ginger Island whose door asks for a hundred Golden Walnuts, and Qi Gems pay for it rather than gold. Planted on the farm it grows a Mushroom Tree, and a Tapper on that tree produces mushrooms far faster than any syrup tree produces syrup. One seed is enough to start with, because a grown Mushroom Tree scatters seeds of its own onto nearby ground. A spare seed also tailors into the Star Helmet, a hat that comes from nowhere else at a Sewing Machine.

Growing

Like every wild tree seed, this one goes onto plain untilled ground and never asks for water. The eight tiles around a young tree matter: a seedling touching a fully grown tree, corners included, stops advancing, so leaving a clear tile between plantings keeps the whole grove moving and leaves room to walk through it with a bucket and an Axe.

A grown Mushroom Tree is worth tapping rather than felling. In Spring and Summer a Tapper on it is ready every second day, and in Fall it fills every single day, which is several times the pace of an Oak or a Maple. A Heavy Tapper gives no extra speed on this tree at all, so the plain Tapper is the correct fitting and the Heavy ones belong on the syrup trees instead. The tree rests through Winter and gives nothing until Spring returns, which makes a planting finished before Fall the most productive one.

Which mushroom appears depends on the one taken before it. Common Mushrooms are the default, and harvesting on the tenth or the twentieth day of a season sets the next one up to be a Purple Mushroom. Taking that Purple Mushroom then queues a Red Mushroom, and during Fall a Red tends to be followed by another Red. Marking those two dates in each season is the key to running a mushroom grove.

A grove grows itself once a single tree matures. Mature trees drop a seed onto open ground within a few tiles most nights, and those seeds sprout into young Mushroom Trees. That spread is the only free supply, because chopping a Mushroom Tree down drops mushrooms and never a seed. Keeping bare tiles around the first tree is therefore an investment: paving or fencing the ground around it shuts the spread down.

Buying

Qi's Walnut Room holds the only counter that sells this seed, and the room itself is the gate. A hundred Golden Walnuts gathered across Ginger Island open the door, which puts the seed firmly out of reach of a young farm.

Qi Gems are the currency. Switching on the Shrine of Challenge fills the caverns with monsters that drop them, the orders on Mr. Qi's Special Orders Board pay out in them, and once every parrot has been paid off a Golden Walnut converts into a pair of Gems. A walnut or two therefore covers a seed with change left over, which makes the price trivial for anyone who has already opened the room.

One seed is all the shop needs to sell. The first tree's own seed spread provides every tree after it, so a grove of a dozen can be traced back to a single purchase, and the gems saved are better spent on the Hopper or the Heavy Tapper recipe.

Mushroom Trees also appear on a farm with no purchase at all. From the second day of Fall, a fully grown common tree standing without a Tapper on it can turn into a Mushroom Tree overnight, and the grove that follows spreads seeds exactly like a bought one. Leaving a few untapped Oaks and Maples standing through Fall is the free route to the first tree.

Uses

Feeding Cloth to a Sewing Machine with this seed on the spool produces the Star Helmet, a red hat spotted with stars. Either machine will do the job: Emily and Haley's, at 2 Willow Lane, or the one that arrives as the reward for the Rock Rejuvenation order. The seed doubles as a red colour in the dye pots standing beside it.

Planting beats every other use for a spare. A second tree doubles the mushroom supply, and the mushrooms themselves feed the Life Elixir recipe, the Exotic Foraging Bundle and a long list of dishes.

A villager handed a mushroom seed is unimpressed. Everyone in Pelican Town who has an opinion dislikes it.

Notes

Plant the first seed before Fall begins. Fall is the season when the Tapper fills daily, and a tree that is still growing misses the best month of the year.

Leave bare earth around the grove rather than paving it. A seed can only land on open ground, and that scatter is the only way the grove grows.

Keep a Tapper on any common tree worth protecting. The Fall change takes untapped trees only, which means a Tapper is both a harvest and a lock.

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