Speed-Gro
| Speed-Gro | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Type | Crafted Item |
| Recipe | Farming Level 3 |
| Produces | 5 Speed-Gro per craft |
| Sell Price | 20g |
Speed-Gro is the first fertiliser that makes crops grow faster rather than better. Mixed into tilled soil, it trims about a tenth off a crop's growing time, and the Agriculturist profession doubles that effect. It is the weakest and cheapest of the speed fertilisers, a step below Deluxe Speed-Gro and Hyper Speed-Gro. Pierre starts selling it in the middle of the first Spring, and the recipe follows soon after from the Farming skill. Used on a whole field of single-harvest crops, it can fit an extra planting into a season.
The in-game description reads: Stimulates leaf production. Guaranteed to increase growth rate by at least 10%. Mix into tilled soil.
Recipe
The recipe unlocks at Farming level 3. Each craft takes one Pine Tar and a few pieces of Moss, and it makes a small batch of Speed-Gro at once.
Pine Tar comes from a Tapper placed on a Pine Tree. It fills up in less than a week, so a few tapped pines keep the recipe supplied. Moss grows on the trunks of mature trees. A swing of the Scythe scrapes it off, and chopping a mossy tree also drops some. After a day of green rain, moss covers trees all over the valley, which is the best time to gather a large stock.
Buying is the other route. Pierre's General Store stocks Speed-Gro from the fifteenth of Spring onwards. A Bone Mill can also turn bones into Speed-Gro as one of its random results. The Spring Crops Bundle in the Pantry of the Community Center gives a stack of it as its reward.
These are the ingredients one batch needs.
| Name | Image | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Pine Tar | 
|
1 |
| Moss | 
|
5 |
Use
Speed-Gro goes onto tilled soil, either before the seed goes in or at any time after. The best moment is the day of planting. The fertiliser shortens each growth stage by a fixed amount, and stages a crop has already passed do not get any time back. Adding it late still helps, but by less than the full tenth.
Only one fertiliser can sit in a tile at a time. Speed-Gro therefore cannot be combined with a quality fertiliser in the same patch of soil. The choice comes down to what matters more for that crop: speed or quality.
The speed boost only applies to a crop's first growth. Crops that keep producing after the first harvest, such as Blueberries or Cranberries, still take their usual time between pickings.
Variants
The other fertilisers in the game, with what each one takes and where the recipe comes from.
| Name | Image | Ingredients | Recipe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic Fertilizer | 
|
Sap (2) | Farming Level 1 |
| Basic Retaining Soil | 
|
Stone (2) | Farming Level 4 |
| Deluxe Fertilizer | 
|
Iridium Bar (1), Sap (40) | Qi's Walnut Room (20) |
| Deluxe Retaining Soil | 
|
Stone (5), Fiber (3), Clay (1) | Island Trader for Cinder Shard (50) |
| Deluxe Speed-Gro | 
|
Oak Resin (1), Bone Fragment (5) | Farming Level 8 |
| Hyper Speed-Gro | 
|
Radioactive Ore (1), Bone Fragment (3), Solar Essence (1) | Qi's Walnut Room for 30 |
| Quality Fertilizer | 
|
Sap (4), Any Fish (1) | Farming Level 9 |
| Quality Retaining Soil | 
|
Stone (3), Clay (1) | Farming Level 7 |
| Tree Fertilizer | 
|
Fiber (5), Stone (5) | Foraging Level 7 |
Notes
The real value of Speed-Gro is in the calendar. A season lasts twenty-eight days, and a crop that takes just over half a season can only be grown once. Cutting a day or two off its growing time can turn one harvest into two. That effect is strongest for a farmer with the Agriculturist profession.
Speed-Gro is a gentle start. Deluxe Speed-Gro, learned later in the Farming skill, gives a much bigger boost for a little more effort.
All Crafting
Every entry in this group, with its key details.
