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You’ve settled into your Grandpa’s old farm, and it’s only after you’ve plowed a small patch of land that you think: “What should I plant?” Which crops are the best to grow for each season? EveryStardew Valleyplayer asks themselves this at some point or another, and the answer is not as straightforward as it may seem.
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Whether you’re trying to complete the Community Center in a year or just looking to get rich quickly, you’ll need to know which crops you should try to prioritize. When you take everything into account, this becomes a complex question, and the best answer for your game will depend a lot on your play style. However, if we simply this question and look at which plants can make you the most profit, there are a few clear favorites for each season.
The Best Crops To Plant In Spring
Spring has one crop that blows every other option out of the water in terms of pure profit, and it’s likely not that much of a surprise.Strawberriesgrow relatively fast at the start of the season, and continue producing after their first harvest. On top of that, their seeds only cost 100g, which is nothing compared to the amount of money you could make from one plant.
There’s only one problem:Strawberry Seedsare only sold during the Egg Festival which happens on the 13th of Spring.This unfortunate timing means you’ll never be able to plant Strawberries right away on the first Spring of a new game. It’s rarely worth it to plant these cash crops after the Egg Festival, so most players plant their first batch of Strawberries at the start of the second Spring.
Planting Potatoes In Spring
If you need a crop that can get you through the first Spring with some extra money in your pocket, there is another option:Potatoes. While Potatoes might not sell for much,they have a few advantages that make them an excellent choice in the early game.
Potatoes plants have a chance to give two Potatoes when harvested, slightly bumping the numbers in their favor profit-wise, and on top of that,they grow quickly and are cheap to buy.This combination will let you grow a massive field of Potatoes early on in your playthrough that only expands with every harvest. The only real downside to this strategy is that you’ll have tofind a way to water all of those tubers.
Green Beans are technically a more profitable alternative to Potatoes in the first Spring, but they need to be planted on the first day to get the most value out of them, andyou’ll never have enough money at the start of the game to make a decent field of Green Beans.
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The Best Crops To Plant In Summer
Summer has a host of very profitable crops, but each one comes with a few downsides that need to be carefully weighed. Among all of them, it’s clear thatStarfruit strikes the best balance of profit and difficulty.
You can buy Starfruit Seeds at the Oasis for 400g a piece, and each plant sells for at least 750g. This makes for an incredibly profitable crop with only two real downsides. You’ll have to have access to the Desert in order to buy the seeds in bulk, andthe high initial cost of the seeds can make it difficult to fill your farm with these cash crops.However, if you can handle both of these issues, Starfruit is likely your best choice to plant in Summer.
Planting Blueberries In Summer
If the Starfruit proves too expensive or if you haven’t unlocked the Desert yet,you’ll want to fall back on the second-best Summer crop:Blueberries.Blueberries take 13 days to grow but produce more fruit every four days after that. On top of that, they can be bought at Pierre’s General Store for only 80g a piece.
If you manage to fill your farm with Blueberries, you’ll be rolling in money by the end of the season, and without the high cost to entry that Starfruit has,it’s totally possible to plant a hundred or more of these berry bushes on your first Summer.
Planting Pineapples In Summer
It has to be said that neither Blueberries nor Starfruit are the most profitable Summer crop. That title goes to the Pineapple, which, while being incredibly profitable,is also too rare to fill your farm with.To get Pineapple Seeds, you’ll need to visit Ginger Island, a late-game area that can only be accessed after completing the Community Center.
Once there, you’re able to trade oneMagma Capfor a singlePineapple Seeds, meaningyou’ll have to make your own seeds if you want to plant these thorny fruits in bulk.Overall, while they make slightly more money than Starfruit, Pineapples just aren’t worth the hassle.
The Best Crops To Plant In Fall
Fall is the final season you’ll be able to plant crops before the new year starts, so it’s especially important that you pick the best crop possible. Thankfully,Fall has a clear winner inCranberries.These berry bushes grow in seven days and produce more fruit every five days after. They produce at least two Cranberries every harvest which sell for 75g, and the seeds only cost 240g.
All in all, Cranberries are a fantastic simple plant that’s sure to fill your pockets. If you have the extra time and space,it’s also a great idea to pickle or ferment Cranberriesto squeeze some extra profit out of them as you go into Winter.
Planting Sweet Gem Berries In Fall
While in many ways, Cranberries are the obvious choice for Fall crops,the best choice in terms of profit is undeniably theSweet Gem Berry,but there’s a big problem with this crop: The seeds are, quite literally, rare.
You can buy Rare Seeds at the Traveling Cart for a steep (but still profitable) price all throughout the year in small batches. Come Fall, you can grow these seeds into Sweet Gem Berries, which are the most profitable crop in the game. However, since you can’t buy more than five Rare Seeds at a time,you’ll need to make your own seedsif you want to fill your fields with this dazzling crop.
The high-profit margins make this crop an appealing choice, butthe rarity of the seeds makes it less than viable at most stages in the game.Buy and plant what rare seeds you may when you first start your farm and keep Sweet Gem Berries in mind when you reach the late game.
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The Best Crop For All Seasons
Obviously, you’re able to’t plant any crops outside in Winterexcept forage seeds, so let’s use this space to talk about one crop that is arguably the best to plant all year round:Ancient Fruit.
Ancient Fruit comes from Ancient Seeds, which you can find while mining. This light blue fruit can grow all year round, and while it takes a full season to grow,it sells for much more than many crops in the game,outperforming both Starfruit and Cranberries in terms of profit.
Technically, the best crop to plant all year round is Ancient Fruit, but it shares the same general issue as Sweet Gem Berries. Getting Ancient Seeds is hard work, andit’ll likely take you multiple seasons to build up a reasonable amount of themlet alone fill every available spot on the farm. For that reason, you should think of Ancient Fruit as an end goal rather than a true money-making strategy in the early game.
