Farming training

This is a guide for training Farming.

Introduction
Gaining experience in the farming skill begins with harvesting of allotments, hops, and herbs and later turns into crop running to checking on the health of trees and fruit trees. The fastest and most effective training in farming requires the use of all the teleporting methods available to a player to farming patches across Runescape. Additionally, two pieces of jewellery can be helpful while crop running, namely the amulet of farming and amulet of nature as these will allow an aspiring farmer to keep tabs on farming patches. Lunar Magic is helpful for its Fishing guild and Catherby teleports as well as its cure plant and fertile soil spells, all of which are available at 87 Magic after completion of the Lunar Diplomacy quest.

It is recommended that the player become very familiar with the Farming skill and crop running pages.

Recommended quests and achievement diaries

 * Tree Gnome Village - Access to spirit trees for transportation.
 * The Grand Tree - Access to Spirit Tree in the Tree Gnome Stronghold (if you have completed the Tree Gnome Village quest) and access to the Gnome glider transportation system.
 * Fairytale I - Growing Pains - Rewarded with Magic secateurs.
 * Fairytale II - Cure a Queen - Access to Fairy ring network. (You only need to start the quest up to the point where you use the fairy rings)
 * My Arm's Big Adventure - Access to disease-free herb patch near Trollheim.
 * Complete beginner, easy and medium tasks in Lumbridge and Draynor Diary - Rewarded with Explorer's Ring which allows to recharge energy 3 times a day and quicker and free access to farming patches north of Port Sarim.
 * Complete medium tasks in Falador Diary - Falador Shield 2 provides 10% extra experience when harvesting farming patches north of Port Sarim.
 * Mourning's Ends Part I for access to Lleyta and an extra fruit tree patch.
 * Ghosts Ahoy for Ectophial (free teleport for access to full farming patch and shop).
 * Prince Ali Rescue for access to Sorceress's Garden minigame.
 * Swept Away for broomstick which allows free, unlimited teleports to Sorceress's Garden minigame.

Recommended magical items

 * Amulet of glory with charges.
 * Explorer's ring 3 - Allows quick and free access to farming patches north of Port Sarim.
 * Ring of Charos
 * Amulet of nature
 * Amulet of farming
 * Magic secateurs - Increases yield of allotments, hops, and herbs by 10%.
 * Ectophial - Allows quick and free access to farming patches northwest of Port Phasmatys.
 * Falador shield 2 or 3 - Provides 10% extra experience when harvesting farming patches north of Port Sarim.
 * Broomstick - Allows quick and free access to Sorceress's Garden Minigame.

Levels 1-14

 * Seed Table
 * Farming/Patch locations
 * Crop running

Beginners part 1
This section is intended for players that do not have the ability to transport across Runescape - usually low level players. Start off with using the allotment patch south of Falador and the hops patch north of Lumbridge.


 * Always use compost on the cleared farming patch to increase the harvest yield.
 * Plant marigolds in the flower patch but do not harvest them - your allotments are not protected until the seed is fully grown. Progressively plant the allotment seeds appropriate to your level. When growing cabbages, pay the gardener to watch over your crops because they are not protected by the marigolds. The only crops to keep are the onion and tomato harvests - these are used as payments to gardeners. The rest can be used as ingredients to make compost.
 * Herbs can be planted, starting at level 9. Gardeners do not watch over herbs so compost or supercompost should be used.
 * Plant barley seeds in the hops patch and pay the gardener to watch over them. Bypass planting hammerstone seeds and advance through to Jute seeds.
 * If you are just beginning to farm and you have some construction experience, a very fast way to level up is to buy tree saplings from the garden supplier and plant them in the garden in your house. (Note: This is very expensive; however, if you are wealthy enough you can get to level 30 farming in around 20 minutes)

Crop running
This section is intended for higher level players but are just starting to train in Farming. A vegetable run with the allotment patches north of Port Sarim, north of Catherby, and north of Ardougne are sufficient at this stage.


 * Plant marigolds in the flower patch but do not harvest them - the allotments are not protected until the flower is fully grown. Progressively plant the allotment seeds appropriate to your level and use compost to increase the harvest yield. The only crops to keep are the onion and tomato harvests - these are used as payments to gardeners. The rest can be used as ingredients to make compost.
 * When growing cabbages, pay the gardener to watch over your crops because they are not protected by marigolds. Harvest and re-plant marigolds for their monetary value.
 * Herbs- always use supercompost.
 * Hops can be ignored unless the harvests are needed as ingredients to train Cooking. Hops patches are not nearly as convenient to standard teleportation sites, have only one patch versus allotment sites which have 2 allotment, 1 flower, 1 herb patch, and a compost bin.
 * There is no need to use supercompost (except for with Herbs) or the amulet of farming at this stage. Gardeners are only needed for cabbages.

Levels 15-30
This is the point where a crop running is used to gain efficient experience in farming.
 * Seed Table
 * Farming/Patch locations
 * Crop running

Beginners part II
Continue to use the same patches as before. However, the player should improve his ability to teleport to additional allotment and hops sites.


 * Tree runs can be performed by running to them instead of teleporting, exclude visiting the Gnome Stronghold tree patch unless you are able to use tree spirits from Tree Gnome Village.
 * Include the allotment and hops patches on your way to each tree run patch.
 * Bank all armour and equipment before starting a run to increase running distance and decrease the travel time between tree patches.
 * Plant sweetcorn seeds at level 20 and use supercompost to increase the yield. Pay the gardener to watch over the crops until a scarecrow can be used to protect it from disease at level 23.
 * At level 26, do not plant sweetcorn seeds anymore. Remove the scarecrow and plant a Limpwurt seed in the flower patch instead. Go back to planting tomato seeds and using compost in the allotment patch. This time, pay the gardener to watch over the tomatoes.
 * Carry the Falador shield to patch south of Falador for 10% increase per item harvested.

Crop running
The main focus here should be on tree runs and incorporate fruit tree runs (see crop running) at level 27.


 * Wait to plant sweetcorn seeds until level 23 when a scarecrow can be used to protect the sweetcorn from disease since hops were relatively ignored. At this point use supercompost to increase the yield.
 * At level 26, do not plant sweetcorn seeds anymore. Remove the scarecrow and plant a Limpwurt seed in the flower patch instead. Go back to planting tomato seeds and using compost in the allotment patch. This time, pay the gardener to watch over the tomatoes.
 * Perform vegetable runs between tree runs.
 * Start a fruit tree run at level 27 with apple seeds.
 * At level 30, start planting willow seeds in your tree runs.
 * Carry the Falador shield 2 or Falador shield 3 to the patch north of Port Sarim for 10% increase in experience per item harvested.

Levels 31-48
At this point, running to each patch is no longer practical.


 * Seed Table
 * Farming/Patch locations
 * Crop running


 * Continue to progress through allotments, using supercompost to treat the soil.
 * Include allotment patch in Port Phasmatys to the vegetable run.
 * Requires Ectophial.
 * At level 31, when planting strawberries, plant Limpwurt seeds in the flower patch.
 * At level 36, include bush runs with Dwellberry seeds. Three vegetable runs can be performed between each bush runs.
 * Perform bush runs between tree runs.
 * Watermelons can either be used as an ingredient for supercompost or sold on the Grand Exchange.
 * Perform your Tree Run immediately after logging in. Plant the tree seed which will grow during the time you plan on playing. Perform a tree run right before you log off and plant the highest tree seed you are able.

Levels 49-99
At this point, time is the limiting factor in quickly gaining experience because wood trees and fruit trees take several hours to grow (see Seed Table). These levels are dominated by the availability of seeds which are rare and expensive. It is recommended to constantly check the Grand Exchange for the next two higher level tree/fruit tree seeds and bank them.


 * Seed Table
 * Farming/Patch locations
 * Crop running


 * Add the bush run and hops run to your training (see crop running).
 * To access the fairy rings, partially complete Fairytale II - Cure a Queen with 49 Farming.
 * A typical sequence would be - fruit tree run, several vegetable runs and hops runs between each bush run, several bush runs between each tree run.
 * Supercompost should be used to increase the yield on allotments, herbs, and hops. (Lunar spell fertile soil can also be used)
 * Special seeds should be ignored unless they are to used to train the Herblore skill with the exception of Calquat tree seeds.
 * Include Calquat trees in your fruit tree run at level 72.
 * It is recommended that you DO NOT pay the gardener to watch over trees above maple, as the death rate is no higher than 14 percent for yew and Magic trees
 * Gardener payments are recommended for fruit trees, as the disease rate is much higher than that of regular trees

Other tips for training
Crop running sessions can easily be combined with both Slayer tasks and general Questing. Simply come back after having finished a quest or task, and see how your crops have grown while you were gone! Once a player gets into such a 'routine', they may find themselves raising not only Farming, but also Slayer and Quest points.

During running, high alching is a good way to fill the gaps. This yields a substantial amount of magic experience and makes running less boring. However, this does take away inventory space which can be crucial. Wielding a staff while running and then switching to magic secateurs when necessary may be a hassle.

The minigame, Vinesweeper, is also a good way to gain quick experience when you are done running. If you are experienced playing this game it will barely cost you any money.

If you are having trouble making the money for tree and fruit tree seeds, try planting toadflax in all of your herb patches. These herbs yield the most profit from each patch and only cost 1k per seed, this minimizes losses in the event that the herb patch dies. It is advised to use super compost and magic secateurs for maximum profit. These combine to average around 7.3 herbs per patch over time with disease deaths included. Please note that death rate does not vary among different herb plants.