Farming



Farming is a members' skill, through which players grow crops by planting seeds at Farming patches. Different types of seeds can be planted at corresponding types of Farming patches, which are found through RuneScape. Before a Farming patch can be used players must clear away any weeds that have grown in it. Weeds will grow in any Farming patch that does not have a crop planted in it, unless the player has requested that their Farming patches be kept weed free after unlocking the ability to do this by completing the Fairytale III - Orks Rift quest.

After being planted crops will grow in real time: it is not necessary to be logged in or to remain at Farming patches for crops to grow, so players may carry out other in-game activities after planting their crops. If a player with a Farming level of less than 15 stands idly by a Farming patch for an extended period of time they will be reminded by the Farming patch spirit that they can leave their crops unattended. After a period of time, if they have not become diseased and died during the course of their growth, crops will become fully grown. Players can check the health of the crops to gain Farming experience and/or harvest from them to obtain produce.

Growth cycles
Crops do not grow continuously: each plant has a discrete set of growth stages. Plants can only advance to their next growth stage during periodically repeating five minute periods called growth stage windows. Regardless of the seed, growth stage windows last five minutes. The frequency of growth stage windows occurring is determined by the type of seed e.g. spirit trees' growth stages take 320 minutes, which includes a 5 minute growth window followed by 315 minutes of inactivity, repeated multiple times. In comparison hops' growth stages last 10 minutes, including 5 minutes of inactivity and a 5 minute growth stage window.

The cycles of growth stages all start at midnight UTC, and repeat indefinitely until the next midnight, when they begin again. The 320 minute cycle for spirit trees repeats on the second midnight. The following tables list the start times for the growth stage windows. Please note that these last for five minutes, so add 5 minutes to the start time to obtain the end time for the growth stage window. Every seed has a growth stage window from 12:00 AM to 12:05 AM.

The following is a schematic representation of the smallest unit of the growth stage windows. The green blocks represent growth stage windows, and the red blocks represent units of time in which plants cannot grow.

As well as only occurring in growth stage windows, plants only grow when the player reaches a growth tick. A player reaches a growth tick every 500 game ticks, approximately once every 5 minutes, though sometimes slightly longer due to lag. The fact that growth ticks occur at a frequency of slightly over five minutes means that most of the time a growth tick will fall into each growth window. Only when a growth tick falls within a growth window does a crop grow.

The first growth tick occurs 500 game ticks after the player logs in or logs out. Growth ticks are reset when either action occurs, meaning that nothing can grow five minutes after a player logs in or logs out. This may cause players who are constantly switching worlds to miss growth stage windows due to resetting the growth tick timer. Many other Farming actions occur with growth ticks. These include weeds growing and wood and fruit tree seedlings growing into saplings. These grow at any growth tick, so they may be treated as running on a growth stage window with a cycle period of 5 minutes.

Crops will advance a growth stage upon reaching the first growth tick that falls within a growth stage window. Thus, the first growth stage is typically less than the time between two growth stage windows for that crop. For example, herb seeds have 20 minute growth cycles. Suppose a player logs in at 6:32 and plants a seed at 6:35. A growth window for herbs will occur from 6:40 to 6:45, and the player will reach a growth tick every five minutes after logging in, at 6:37, 6:42, et cetera. Thus, assuming the player does not log out after planting the herb, they will advance a growth stage when the tick falls within the growth stage window. Nothing happens at 6:37, as it is not within a window, but the herbs will advance a growth stage at 6:42, as it is a tick within a window. The herbs will only have spent 7 minutes in the first growth stage instead of the stated 20.

Disease and death
Occasionally crops can become diseased. This can happen when they reach a growth tick that falls within a growth stage window, instead of the crop advancing a growth stage. A diseased plant cannot advance a growth stage until it is cured; it will either remain diseased or die. The chance of a diseased plant dying at the following growth tick that falls in a growth stage window is roughly 50%. If a crop dies it must be dug up, using a spade, before new plants can be planted in the patch. Even if cured, a plant which has been diseased cannot advance a growth stage until the next growth tick that falls in a growth stage window, meaning that the plant will take at least one extra cycle to grow. Diseased herb, flower, allotment, hops, belladonna, cactus, mushroom, and jade vine patches can be treated with plant cure to restore the crop to health. Diseased trees and bushes can be restored by pruning them with secateurs. Players who have access to Lunar spells may alternatively use the Cure Plant spell to treat diseased plants. The Remote Farm Lunar spell, which is unlocked as a reward from playing Livid Farm, can be used to view plants' status as well as to cure any diseased Farming patch. An amulet of farming or amulet of nature can be attuned to a specific Farming patch and will alert the player if a plant growing in the patch becomes diseased. Both amulets may also be rubbed to check whether or not a plant is still healthy. The amulet of nature offers players a teleport to its attuned patch if the patch becomes diseased. Treating a Farming patch with a bucket of compost or supercompost before planting a crop reduces the chance of it becoming diseased during all growth cycles. The Fertile Soil spell can also be used to treat a patch with supercompost; unlike buckets of compost this can be applied after a crop has been planted. Watering allotment, flower, and hops patches with a watering can prevents the risk of disease occurring at the end of that growth cycle. During the next growth cycle, the plant goes from being watered back to normal and is at risk of becoming diseased unless it is watered again.

To prevent death entirely players can pay the gardeners found at cactus, tree, fruit tree, bush, allotment, hop, spirit tree, jade vine, calquat tree and elder tree patches to prevent plants growing in these patches from dying. The payments required are typically produce from crops and are different for each type of plant. Payment is required each time that the player plants a new plant in a patch. Noted payments are accepted. It is not possible to protect belladonna or mushroom patches in this way, as gardeners are not present at these locations. Additionally gardeners cannot be paid to take care of herb or flower patches. The evil turnip patch and special herb patch at Trollheim are immune from disease, as are poison ivy bushes. The mushroom patch at Canifis will not become diseased if the player has completed the medium set of Morytania tasks.

Tools
The tools required for Farming may be purchased at Farming shops or from the Grand Exchange.

Tool leprechauns
Tool leprechauns are found at nearly every Farming patch in the game. Players can store and later withdraw 6 basic Farming tools from them. Tool leprechauns can also be used to store a maximum of 255 empty buckets, 255 buckets of compost, 255 buckets of supercompost, 255 plant cures and 5 scarecrows. Harvested produce may be used on a tool leprechaun to note it. Leprechauns will not note logs from any source. Tool leprechauns (and elves) can be paid to automatically use compost or super compost on patches when the player is tending to them given that compost or super compost is stored with them.

Allotments
There are four allotments in RuneScape: south of Falador, north of Catherby, north-east of Ardougne and north-east of Canifis. Each full allotment patch contains:


 * 2 allotment patches
 * 1 flower patch
 * 1 herb patch
 * 1 compost bin

Wielding a Falador shield 2 or better while farming the Farming patches at the allotment south of Falador gives 10% additional Farming experience.

Allotment
3 allotment seeds are needed to plant in each allotment patch. If paying a gardener to protect their crops, players must pay the gardener to protect each of the allotment patches within an allotment separately. The presence of a specific fully grown flower can protect particular allotment patches from getting diseased, as an alternative to paying a gardener to protect the patch. White lilies protect all kinds of allotment patches. Fully grown allotment patches can be harvested by clicking on the fully grown crops; harvests vary between 3 and 56 crops. After a patch has been harvested, it is cleared for re-planting. An additional single allotment patch can be found on Harmony Island, which be accessed after completing the Great Brain Robbery quest. A single allotment patch in Taverley can be used only to grow potatoes; this patch cannot get diseased.

Flower
A single flower seed is needed to plant in a flower patch. Most flowers yield 1 flower when harvested; this clears the patch. There is an additional flower patch in the Wilderness that may only be used to grow limpwurts.

Herb
A herb seed can planted in a herb patch. Harvests range between 3 and 18 grimy herbs. Using supercompost and magic secateurs a player will gain an average of 7.5 grimy herbs when harvesting a herb patch, with a range of between 5 and 27 grimy herbs. Additionally using juju farming potions, which give the player a 1/3 chance of harvesting 2 grimy herbs at once while their effect is active, the player will harvest an average of 10 grimy herbs per patch. An additional herb patch is located in the Crwys district of Prifddinas. After completing My Arm's Big Adventure players can use the special herb patch, which never becomes diseased, at Trollheim.

Hops
There are four hops patches: north of Lumbridge, north of McGrubor's Wood, Yanille and Entrana. 4 hop seeds, or 3 jute seeds, are needed to plant in each hops patch. Harvests vary between 3 and 46 hops. After a hops patch has been harvested it will be cleared for re-planting.

Bush
There are 5 bush patches: west of the Champion's Guild, Rimmington, south of Ardougne, south-west of Etceteria and in the Crwys district of Prifddinas. One bush seed is needed to plant a bush. All bushes except poison ivy are susceptible to disease. A player can check the health of and then harvest berries from fully grown bushes, except barberry and wishing well bushes. This is done by hand and yields 4 berries. Unless a bush is dug up it will continue to regrow berries over time.

Trees
There are 6 tree patches: at Lumbridge, Varrock Castle, Falador Park, Taverley, Gnome Stronghold and in the Trahaearn district of Prifddinas. As with fruit tree, calquat tree and elder tree seeds, before a tree seed can be planted it must be used on a plant pot filled with soil to create a seedling. The seedling then needs to be watered. After a few minutes the seedling will turn into a sapling, which can be planted in a tree patch.

A fully grown tree acts similarly to the trees that are used in the Woodcutting skill. After checking a tree's health players can cut it down using a hatchet to receive logs. As with non-player grown trees, there is a chance of a farmed tree dropping bird's nests. Once a tree is cut down it will leave a tree stump, which be left to respawn or dug up to gain tree roots and to clear the patch. Players who do not wish to cut down and dig up a tree can use the right-click “clear” option on the tree to instantly remove it. Gardeners can also instantly remove a tree if they are paid. There are some differences between player grown trees and non-player grown trees:


 * Players may instantly re-grow a farmed tree using the Hydra's special ability.
 * The beaver familiar's multichip ability cannot be used on these types of trees.
 * After the Evil Tree Distraction and Diversion, the leprechaun's magic of decreasing the probability of a tree falling down does not work on player-grown trees.
 * If a player cuts down a farmed tree and logs out before the tree regrows, it will remain a stump.

Fruit tree
There are 7 fruit tree patches: at Gnome Stronghold, east of Catherby, west of Tree Gnome Village, Brimhaven, Lletya, Herblore Habitat and in the Meilyr clan district of Prifddinas. As with tree, calquat tree and elder tree seeds, before a fruit tree seed can be planted it must be used on a plant pot filled with soil to create a seedling. The seedling then needs to be watered. After a few minutes the seedling will turn into a sapling, which can be planted in a tree patch. Once a fruit tree is fully grown the player may check its health and harvest it to receive 6 fruit. A fruit tree will continue to grow fruit over time, unless it is cut down and its stump dug up, with a new fruit regenerating every 45 minutes.

Cactus
The single cactus patch in Al-Kharid will regenerate their produce over time, creating a new crop every 20 minutes. After completion of the hard set of Desert tasks the cactus patch will no longer get diseased and will give double cactus spines and potato cactus when harvesting from a cactus or potato cactus.

Mushroom
There are two mushrooms patches, one in Canifis and one in Tirannwn. Completion of the medium set of Tirannwn tasks is required to use the Tirannwn patch. After completing the medium set of Morytania tasks the Canifis mushroom patch will no longer get diseased. A single spore is needed to plant in a mushroom patch. A fully grown mushroom patch can be harvested to obtain 6 bittercap mushrooms or 9 morchella mushrooms; this clears the patch. After completion of the elite set of Morytania tasks the harvest from mushroom patches is doubled.

Other patches
The following plants may only be grown in their specific patches:

Herblore Habitat
Players can use their Farming skill to plant at the patches within Herblore Habitat. This contains patches for growing vine blossoms, vine herbs and vine bushes as well as a regular fruit tree patch.

Mushrooms
At level 90 Farming, players can forage for Wushanko mushrooms on named islands within the Arc, and at level 94 Farming, players can forage for Wushanko mushrooms on the Uncharted Isles. 41.7 Farming experience is awarded per harvest.

Temporary boosts

 * A Pork pie will boost Farming (and Summoning) by 5, made using the Cooking skill.
 * A Garden pie will boost Farming by 3, made using the Cooking skill.
 * A Stranger plant will boost Farming by 1 + 4% of the players Farming level. Above Farming level 75 this equates to a boost of at least 4, which means it is better than a garden pie.
 * A pigswill provides a +3 boost. The matured version provides a +4 boost.
 * A brown spicy stew has a chance of boosting or lowering Farming by anywhere from 1 to 6 (available as a result of the Evil Dave sub quest of Recipe for Disaster). However, a boost of 6 is extremely rare and should never be relied upon.
 * A cider will boost Farming by 1, brewed using the Cooking skill. Also lowers Attack and Strength by 2.
 * A Mature cider will boost Farming by 2, brewed using the Cooking skill. If used for a boost during a quest involving combat, bring a restore potion since it reduces some melee stats.
 * A Dreadfowl will boost Farming by 1 (this bonus does not apply when using a brown spicy stew).
 * A Compost mound will boost Farming by 1 + 2% of the players Farming level.
 * A Giant ent can possibly double the yield of cacti, fruit trees, nightshade, and berries you have grown. The average bonus is a 50% yield boost. However, you do not receive additional experience for the additional yielded items.
 * A Juju farming potion can possibly double the yield of herbs. The average bonus is a 33% yield boost. However, you do not receive additional experience for the additional yielded items.
 * Operating the farming cape will boost Farming by 1 from 99 to 100.
 * A Wolpertinger will double the yield and experience from harvesting berries.

No Farming boost is stackable with another as of present. Only the highest boost works, unless it is a negative boost from Spicy Stew.

Players may also consider that squashing a Grand seed pod will have a temporary lowering effect to Farming by 5 levels. The reason given in the dialogue box is "Plants seem hostile to you for killing seeds from the Grand Tree."

If players do not have the required Farming level when they harvest a crop, they will not receive experience. Thus, if a player plans to harvest a crop they do not have the required Farming level for, they should re-boost their stats. However, a player can check the health of a tree and receive experience even without the required level.

Trivia

 * For a few weeks before the Farming skill was released in July 2005, all herb seeds were simply named 'herb seeds' and different types of seeds would form different stacks in players' inventories and banks.
 * Within the first several days upon release of the Farming Skill, players would plant seeds followed by quickly digging them up and replanting to gain quick Farming experience at a low level. Jagex realised this and later removed it from the game. The update only allowed players to dig up an allotment once it was fully grown, diseased, or dead.
 * The leprechaun can store up to 255 buckets of composts and supercomposts which is the largest number storable in 1 unsigned byte.
 * When planting plants in your house garden (or Formal Garden) you will get the same amount of Farming xp as well as Construction xp. When using Farming it does not allow you to plant more Garden Plants or Formal Garden Plants.
 * When you have planted something in a Member's server and did not harvest your yields and then you return to Non-Member's, your plants will still be there even though you cannot harvest them.
 * If the player chooses to pay a farmer to look after their crops, and have both noted and unnoted forms in inventory, the farmer would always take the unnoted ones.
 * When Farming was released, the login screen was changed temporarily. Vines hung from the top of the screen covering most of the wall, and some ivy was growing along the floor. The pillars were replaced with curved trees.