Starfruit Seeds

Starfruit Seeds

Type	Seed
Grows	Starfruit
Season	Summer
Growth Time	13 days
Oasis	400g
Cart	600 to 1,000g
Sell Price	200g

Starfruit Seeds are the seed that funds everything else on the farm. One counter sells them, the Oasis out in the Calico Desert, and the desert itself stays shut until the Vault bundles put the bus back on the road. A packet costs several times what a shelf seed at Pierre's General Store does, and it earns that back many times over, because a Starfruit put through a Keg becomes the most valuable ordinary wine in the game. Nearly two weeks of growing means a Summer field manages one crop comfortably and two only with help, so most farms end up moving the operation into the Greenhouse or onto Ginger Island where the calendar stops mattering. For a farm with Kegs and a Cellar, a desert trip with a full purse is the best use of money there is.

Growing

The packet goes into tilled soil in Summer and takes almost a fortnight across five stages. Each plant gives one Starfruit and the tile is then finished, so every round means buying or making seed again.

That length is what makes the planting date matter. A field sown on the first of Summer ripens on the fourteenth and can just manage a second round, while the fifteenth is the last day a plain sowing still finishes before Fall. Deluxe Speed-Gro changes the arithmetic, shaving off enough days to make the second round comfortable rather than frantic, and the cost of the fertiliser disappears beside the value of the fruit.

The Greenhouse removes the problem altogether. Starfruit under glass grows in any season, so a packet bought in Winter is as good as one bought in Summer, and the same holds for the farm plot on Ginger Island, where Summer crops grow all year and crows never appear.

Quality is worth chasing here more than on almost any other crop, because wine carries the fruit's grade with it. Deluxe Fertiliser on a Starfruit field is one of the few places where the expensive fertiliser plainly pays, since an iridium fruit roughly doubles the bottle it becomes.

Buying

Sandy keeps Starfruit Seeds at the Oasis counter every day of the week, in any quantity the purse will stand. The desert is a bus ride away, so the sensible pattern is one trip with everything the farm can afford rather than a stream of small visits.

Gunther parts with a single seed once fifteen donations are in the Museum cases, which is the earliest any farm sees one. Fifteen donations is a modest target, since ordinary minerals from the first few floors of the Mines cover most of it. That one seed, grown and then put through the Seed Maker, is how a farm starts a Starfruit line before it can afford the desert.

The Traveling Cart lists the packet now and then at a price far above the Oasis. That is worth taking only in a save that has not reached the desert yet.

Deep in the Skull Cavern, the treasure rooms hand these out in stacks, which makes a long run with plenty of bombs a quiet second supply.

The Seed Maker turns a harvested Starfruit back into seed, and whether that is clever depends on the Kegs. A farm without enough Kegs to process its fruit does better recycling the surplus into seed. A farm with Kegs standing idle should keep every fruit for wine and buy its seed from Sandy.

Uses

Kegs are the reason to grow it at all. A Starfruit left in a Keg becomes Starfruit Wine worth three times the fruit, the Artisan profession lifts that again, and an iridium fruit bottled on an Artisan farm reaches a figure no other wine from a Keg can match. Casks in the Cellar then age the bottles upward, so a Starfruit operation ends as a two-stage machine: Kegs for volume, Casks for grade.

One Keg processes roughly what one planted tile produces in a year, which is the number to build towards. A Greenhouse of Starfruit with too few Kegs simply piles up fruit while the season passes.

A packet of seed makes a poor present anywhere in town, so the only places for it are the soil and the Seed Maker.

Notes

Donate fifteen things to the Museum early. The free seed is small, but it starts the Seed Maker loop a whole year before the desert becomes affordable.

Carry everything to the Oasis in one trip. Seed bought by the hundred saves the fare and the day.

Keep Deluxe Speed-Gro for the Summer field and skip it under glass. In the Greenhouse the season never ends, so the money goes further on Deluxe Fertiliser and the quality it brings.

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