IndiaHawker
Tiller
Reading different things on this and conflicted so coming here for help! It's to go in my greenhouse so season etc doesn't matter and sprinklers will ensure it's always watered. What should I fill my greenhouse with? Thank you!
Most profitable overall crop please?
- Thread starter IndiaHawker
- Start date
Tekalh
Tiller
The greenhouse doesn't reset every season so any regrowable plants are good.
Ancient fruit is easily the best. It takes a LONG time to get the seeds but since it's regrowable, highly valuable and can be turned to wine it is the best for the greenhouse.
Sweet gem berries (rare seeds) with fertilizer is what I use. Just remember to use your lowest values for seed makers until you get 116 for replanting if you are doing perishables.
TLDR:
Ancient Fruit is the best but you also need seed makers to set it up and kegs + cellar with caskets to make it valuable.
If you're too lazy to get kegs + cellar caskets then just use sweet gem berries (rare seeds) instead since they don't need to made to wine for best profit. You just need seed makers for that.
Ancient fruit is easily the best. It takes a LONG time to get the seeds but since it's regrowable, highly valuable and can be turned to wine it is the best for the greenhouse.
Sweet gem berries (rare seeds) with fertilizer is what I use. Just remember to use your lowest values for seed makers until you get 116 for replanting if you are doing perishables.
TLDR:
Ancient Fruit is the best but you also need seed makers to set it up and kegs + cellar with caskets to make it valuable.
If you're too lazy to get kegs + cellar caskets then just use sweet gem berries (rare seeds) instead since they don't need to made to wine for best profit. You just need seed makers for that.
imnvs
Local Legend
Sweet Gem Berries are only valuable if you're not putting them through a seed maker. If you're buying all your rare seeds from the travelling cart at 1k and you have Deluxe Fertilizer, you can make a real killing... but that's counting on some chance to be able to fill the greenhouse, and that's not a good way to go.
If you're looking at pure profit, starfruit. On a per tile basis, they make better wine for putting in your cellar than ancient fruit. Ancient fruit is easier as it regrows, however, and is the second to the starfruit only for total value per fruit.
If you're looking at pure profit and don't mind doing just a stupid amount of work? Hops. The value-increase by turning them into pale ale eclipses literally every other crop in the game... but it requires a lot of kegs and a lot of work on your part literally every day. That is far too much work if you ask me, but others do it. (You actually have to intersperse some of them with other non-trellis plants, and ancient fruit is the usual go-to for these folks.)
If you're looking at pure profit, starfruit. On a per tile basis, they make better wine for putting in your cellar than ancient fruit. Ancient fruit is easier as it regrows, however, and is the second to the starfruit only for total value per fruit.
If you're looking at pure profit and don't mind doing just a stupid amount of work? Hops. The value-increase by turning them into pale ale eclipses literally every other crop in the game... but it requires a lot of kegs and a lot of work on your part literally every day. That is far too much work if you ask me, but others do it. (You actually have to intersperse some of them with other non-trellis plants, and ancient fruit is the usual go-to for these folks.)
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Giant Octopodes
Farmer
What imnvs said. Here's the breakdown:
Starfruit - Growing 116 Starfruit costs 46400 in Seeds (Relevant because they must be replanted, and like Sweet Gem Berries you're better off buying the seeds each time) and produces 116 fruit over 9 days (assuming you're using Deluxe Speed Gro, which helps increase money per day, if growing Starfruit in the Greenhouse). These can be turned into wine, and, assuming you have Artisan, sold for 3150g. That's 365,400 per harvest. Note that these could be improved in casks, and doing so is the most profitable use of casks, but that doesn't mean it's the most profitable use of the space. Casks max out at 56 gold per day, while something like a Crystalarium will hum along at 150 gold per day if making diamonds, or 120 gold per day if making Jade, assuming you sell the Jade. Per month, you're looking at 947,720 profit. It takes 87 kegs to process them all.
Ancient Fruit - Growing 116 Ancient Fruit costs significant time and effort utilizing a seed maker, but they don't need to be replanted. Once fully grown, they're producing 1 fruit every week, so that's 267,930 per harvest. However, they grow faster and produce 4 harvests per month instead of 3, and thus fill 116 kegs. This combined with saving 139,200 means you gain more money per month from them, trading more work handling kegs for less work having to buy new seeds and replant (and occasionally throw down fertilizer). All told, you're gaining 1,071,720.
Hops - You can't grow 116 Hops plants and actually access them all. 84 is the most I can figure out how you'd fit. The rest of the space can indeed hold another crop though, let's use the Ancient Fruit example, 32 Ancient Fruit added to the mix. Neither needs to be replanted. Once fully grown, the Hops produce 1 per day, which means you're putting out 2,352 Hops per Month, which can be turned into Pale Ale, selling for 987,840. This is in addition to the 32 Ancient Fruit however, which are outputting 275,200 in profits per month, for a total of 1,263,040. This takes 32 kegs for the Ancient Fruit and 168 kegs for the rest of it, or 200 kegs total. However, it means you have to harvest crops from your greenhouse *every day* and replace the products in your kegs every other day. This means you're involved in 4,960 interactions each month, instead of 928 with Ancient Fruit.
Note that the more kegs you have, the more tile opportunity cost you have. You have 113 extra tiles unused in the Starfruit calculations vs the Hops one. You could have replaced all of those with the aforementioned Crystalariums. 113 extra Crystalariums outputting at 150 gold per day would have given you an extra 474,600 per month, so Starfruit plus Crystalariums would give you 1,422,320 per month vs the Hops 1,263,040. The Ancient Fruit has room for 84 vs Hops, so 352,800 extra can be tacked on there, putting it back on top at 1,424,520.
tl;dr: All 3 of those options will make you boatloads of money, assuming you process all crops accordingly. Grow what makes you happy.
Starfruit - Growing 116 Starfruit costs 46400 in Seeds (Relevant because they must be replanted, and like Sweet Gem Berries you're better off buying the seeds each time) and produces 116 fruit over 9 days (assuming you're using Deluxe Speed Gro, which helps increase money per day, if growing Starfruit in the Greenhouse). These can be turned into wine, and, assuming you have Artisan, sold for 3150g. That's 365,400 per harvest. Note that these could be improved in casks, and doing so is the most profitable use of casks, but that doesn't mean it's the most profitable use of the space. Casks max out at 56 gold per day, while something like a Crystalarium will hum along at 150 gold per day if making diamonds, or 120 gold per day if making Jade, assuming you sell the Jade. Per month, you're looking at 947,720 profit. It takes 87 kegs to process them all.
Ancient Fruit - Growing 116 Ancient Fruit costs significant time and effort utilizing a seed maker, but they don't need to be replanted. Once fully grown, they're producing 1 fruit every week, so that's 267,930 per harvest. However, they grow faster and produce 4 harvests per month instead of 3, and thus fill 116 kegs. This combined with saving 139,200 means you gain more money per month from them, trading more work handling kegs for less work having to buy new seeds and replant (and occasionally throw down fertilizer). All told, you're gaining 1,071,720.
Hops - You can't grow 116 Hops plants and actually access them all. 84 is the most I can figure out how you'd fit. The rest of the space can indeed hold another crop though, let's use the Ancient Fruit example, 32 Ancient Fruit added to the mix. Neither needs to be replanted. Once fully grown, the Hops produce 1 per day, which means you're putting out 2,352 Hops per Month, which can be turned into Pale Ale, selling for 987,840. This is in addition to the 32 Ancient Fruit however, which are outputting 275,200 in profits per month, for a total of 1,263,040. This takes 32 kegs for the Ancient Fruit and 168 kegs for the rest of it, or 200 kegs total. However, it means you have to harvest crops from your greenhouse *every day* and replace the products in your kegs every other day. This means you're involved in 4,960 interactions each month, instead of 928 with Ancient Fruit.
Note that the more kegs you have, the more tile opportunity cost you have. You have 113 extra tiles unused in the Starfruit calculations vs the Hops one. You could have replaced all of those with the aforementioned Crystalariums. 113 extra Crystalariums outputting at 150 gold per day would have given you an extra 474,600 per month, so Starfruit plus Crystalariums would give you 1,422,320 per month vs the Hops 1,263,040. The Ancient Fruit has room for 84 vs Hops, so 352,800 extra can be tacked on there, putting it back on top at 1,424,520.
tl;dr: All 3 of those options will make you boatloads of money, assuming you process all crops accordingly. Grow what makes you happy.
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Rhiannon
Farmer
I use four iridium sprinklers in my greenhouse. 24 plants around each one. three are ancient fruit and one starfruit. All go in casks to make wine and then to my basement casks to age. The starfruit is a bit of a pain as I have to make sure I keep enough for making wine AND enough for making more seeds to replant. But the profit is way more than the ancient fruit. Thus, I do both. But the ancient fruit is by far the easiest thing. I have never had to replant or refertilize them. They just continue to give me a ton of valuable fruit every week. I have so much of it, I often toss some in my canning shed and make jelly.
Elenna101
Farmer
BTW, money-wise you're a lot better off turning all the starfruit into wine and buying the seeds from Sandy. One starfruit is worth 2,250 when turned into wine (before aging). On average, seed makers give two seeds per plant. So you can turn the starfruit into wine, get 2,250, and then spend 800 of that to buy two seeds, which is obviously more profitable than turning the starfruit into two seeds.
(Also, IMO buying seeds is much less of a pain since you can just buy a lot of them at once and you don't have to sit around waiting for seed makers or think about how many starfruit to keep.)
Rhiannon
Farmer
I understand your point Elenna101. I am more into making my farm self sufficient without buying any seeds. I don't mind the time involved in turning produce into seeds, growing the plants, making the wine, aging the wine. Money isn't a problem for me. After buying the clock, I have 2.2 mil in the bank. BUT for the topic of this post, I understand what you are saying.
Lew Zealand
Helper
Maximum profit is a philosophical consideration as you may find that chasing filthy lucre destroys your enjoyment of the game. The upside of that is it allows you to move onto another game in your endless profit maximization queue, but that all sounds too tiring to me. BTW I hear that Cookie Clicker has a good angle on compound investment strategies.
In SDV, maximizing the Greenhouse has 3 popular tradeoffs as explained by the wonderful posts here and it really comes down to what you want to do in-game:
1. Play SDV roughly balanced in all its facets: Ancient Fruit, Keg into Wine, age in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar, sell what doesn't fit.
2. Play SDV in utter profit maximizing mode: Hops, with StarFruit filling the gaps, Keg every day into Pale Ale & the rest to Wine, age the Wine in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar. Editorial: this is too much effort
3. Play SDV in lotsa profit (but maybe tolerable in terms of effort?): Starfruit only, Keg into Wine, age in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar. Buy seeds maybe 500-1000 at a time from Sandy so you're only there every Season or two.
I do #1, it's boring but works and gives you time do other things in the game like go to bed early. #2 sounds like a stick to the eye, but it's possible. If it was only Hops, I *might* try to Min/Max that just to see how many and of which gauge sticks properly fit in an eye socket. You know, for Science. But needing to add the Starfruit to truly maximize the Greenhouse's potential makes that wayyy too complicated for my pea brain. #3 I will probably try to see just how much effort goes into Starfruit only as it's really not a huge increase in effort since the Stars grow for longer than the Ancients, and planting 116-119 seeds less often than once a week may not be too terrible. Remembering which day to check will be a chore/annoyance/properly delegated to someone else, though.
The funny thing is that by the time I figure out how to maximize profit in the game, I no longer need it as I find the price of the Golden Clock to be an extravagant misuse of zeroes which otherwise should describe my energy expenditure.
In SDV, maximizing the Greenhouse has 3 popular tradeoffs as explained by the wonderful posts here and it really comes down to what you want to do in-game:
1. Play SDV roughly balanced in all its facets: Ancient Fruit, Keg into Wine, age in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar, sell what doesn't fit.
2. Play SDV in utter profit maximizing mode: Hops, with StarFruit filling the gaps, Keg every day into Pale Ale & the rest to Wine, age the Wine in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar. Editorial: this is too much effort
3. Play SDV in lotsa profit (but maybe tolerable in terms of effort?): Starfruit only, Keg into Wine, age in Casks as much as fits in the Cellar. Buy seeds maybe 500-1000 at a time from Sandy so you're only there every Season or two.
I do #1, it's boring but works and gives you time do other things in the game like go to bed early. #2 sounds like a stick to the eye, but it's possible. If it was only Hops, I *might* try to Min/Max that just to see how many and of which gauge sticks properly fit in an eye socket. You know, for Science. But needing to add the Starfruit to truly maximize the Greenhouse's potential makes that wayyy too complicated for my pea brain. #3 I will probably try to see just how much effort goes into Starfruit only as it's really not a huge increase in effort since the Stars grow for longer than the Ancients, and planting 116-119 seeds less often than once a week may not be too terrible. Remembering which day to check will be a chore/annoyance/properly delegated to someone else, though.
The funny thing is that by the time I figure out how to maximize profit in the game, I no longer need it as I find the price of the Golden Clock to be an extravagant misuse of zeroes which otherwise should describe my energy expenditure.
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Tom
Farmer
All I know is that on the third week of first Summer, I suddenly feel very rich when my Keg recipe comes in, and I start shipping Pale Ale from daily Hops harvests. Of course that takes planning (for level-ups and tree-taps) and mining from the beginning. So it's not a first farm thing. Here's a walk-through for that.
Tom
Farmer
Appropriately balanced post bordering on definitive.
I did try #3, and as you suggest, it was okay as long as I used my PDF calendar (messy version here) to schedule my harvests.
Giant Octopodes
Farmer
Does this mean my typical use of the Greenhouse is unpopular? Because though I do grow Ancient Fruit (as well as coffee and peppers), none of the Ancient Fruit from my greenhouse go into Kegs. Rather, they serve a different purpose. Once my current farm is at an appropriate phase I'll share pictures which will make that clear if you haven't already guessed what that purpose is :-)
Lew Zealand
Helper
LOL, I have no idea what you have in store (I am extremely bad at inference and guessing, plus I love the surprise) but I can't wait 'til I find out!
Worblehat
Planter
Just pointing out that all these calculations based on 116 spaces used in the greenhouse are an early-endgame calculation (if that phrasing makes sense). You'll be using all 120 with Deluxe Retaining Soil later on. Or perhaps 119 if you're doing something where some other fertilizer is worth more than one space in the greenhouse.
imnvs
Local Legend
I planted my greenhouse before realizing that the rules for fertilizer worked differently out there... which means having to tear down all my ancient fruit, tear out the fertilizer and start all over. Too much work.
Tearing down 1 plant and planting a 4 new ones when switching to iridium sprinklers with pressure nozzles for only 1 tile used up... that 1 tile is worth all the work and sanity I'm saving.
PoppyForPenny
Farmer
Pomegranate trees are also a good money maker in the greenhouse.
imnvs
Local Legend
Bananas are the most expensive fruit tree, just by a little bit. Pomegranate and peach are tied for 2nd most expensive. Mangoes are just barely behind in 3rd place.
That's why I have more banana trees than any other fruit tree.