There are five different types of vegetables -- cabbages, carrots, garlic, leeks, and onions. There is only one type of fruit growable from seeds thus far, watermelons. Fruits and Vegetables are used to feed livestock, in cooking, and to produce ash. Watermelons, while similar to vegetables, are a fruit with their own quirks.
Vegetables and Watermelons are grown from seeds. Every University of Worship will give each citizen (with a paid account) one packet of four seeds of a random type of vegetable. You may visit as many universities as you wish to accumulate many seeds. Under normal circumstances, one seed is returned for every one planted.
All vegetables are grown in the same fashion: Plant a seed in the appropriate terrain, and water the plant that appears. Every time the plant grows larger, water it again. After the fourth watering, the plant will reach maturity and may be harvested. If a plant is not watered, it will shrink; if it shrinks too far, it will die leaving behind a single seed. If a plant is overwatered (watered twice before it grows), it will die (going back to a seed).
Vegetable yields from 1 to 25 per harvest have been reported. Vegetable harvests vary based on location, time, avatar, and possibly other factors. In this Age, vegetables do not appear to be shy -- they grow as well with several people nearby as in the middle of the desert. Vegetable yields tracking and analysis can be found at Vegetable Yields. Importantly, if you are looking for a good growth spot in your own location, you will do well to check at 200-600 coordinate intervals. Find a spot and add to the info!
Below are details and exceptions specific to each vegetable.
Cabbages are grown on grassy soil. Yield varies by place, but is consistent between people. Yield varies from 1 to 25 cabbage per seed. In many locations, cabbage and leek yields are the same.
Nia reports a yield of 24 cabbages at a spot near 39, -1900. Other cabbage yields can be found on the Vegetable Yields data page. *This was not me, but i won't delete it untill I check it out :) Nia
Props to Akhmet for figuring out the trick to cabbage seeds. In order to duplicate cabbage seeds, you need to grow 51 sets of them without killing any by overwatering. You may grow these sets at different locations, and you may grow other vegetables with them. At 26 sets, you'll begin collecting 3 more cabbages per harvest. Once you get up to 51, you'll gain an extra seed, but your cabbage yield will reset. It is possible that you will gain additional seeds on harvests after 52.
Note: After 52 harvests without overwatering you will not gain additional cabbages per harvest any longer. In order to once more gain additional cabbage per harvest you must overwater 1 cabbage to restart the cycle, then grow 26 sets without overwatering.
As a historical note, Ahkmet first reported that the cabbages needed to be grown "perfectly" -- without any shrinkage or overwatering -- to benefit from increased yield and extra seeds. Trucidation reports that he had success in getting the increased cabbage yield despite some of his cabbages shrinking. Gimli verified this, and additionally reported that letting a plant go back to a seed by under-watering does not affect yield.
I grew 60 cabbage plants in a row without overwatering yesterday, and didn't get any increased yield or extra seeds. This had worked for me before, so it seems something changed... -Knives
Carrots are grown on grassy soil. Carrot yields go up at certain times of day, in one or more bands that sweep across Egypt. These bands do not repeat on a strict 24 Egypt-hour cycle. Additional research is required to understand carrot growth bands. Some notes are preserved in this section.
A reliable method of reproducing carrot seeds has been found by Coug and Suma.
Extra Seeds:
Extra Carrots:
This method works if the base carrot yield is 8 per seed and even if the carrot "wave" is passing your location.
Graph showing how carrot yield rose and fell in one location over a full Egypt day: CarrotGrowth
[Testing done with carrots at approx. 5-7 PM Egypt Time:
3 people around, Male planting and harvesting, 1+1 yield.
2 people around, Female planting and harvesting, 1+1 yield.
2 people around, Female planting, male Harvesting, 1+1 yield.
2 people around, Male planting, female harvesting, 1+1 yield. - Joshua Nighthawk]
1 person around, male planting and harvesting 9+1 yield. 8:00 pm game time. - Rent-A-Pig]
Carrot harvests beginning around 2am egypt time, Red Sea Oasis, Both shores of Nile, Male and female gender characters, occasional company at both locations:
Carrot yields rose (and eventually fell) every 15 game minutes or so. Started at 5+1, increased to 6+1, 7+1, 8+1, 9+1, 10+1, 11+1,12+1, 11+1, 10+1, 9+1, 8+1, 7+1, 8+1, 9+1, 10+1, 11+1, 12+1, 13+1, 14+1, 13+1, 12+1, 11+1, 10+1, 9+1, 8+1, 7+1, 6+1, 5+1, 6+1, 7+1, 8+1, 9+1
This crescendo/decrescendo pattern in carrot yields continued till around 10am game time when, from sheer exhaustion and offline production satisfied we quit.
The pattern was occuring similarly for 2 guildmates approximately 100 coordinates north of my Nile location. No worthwhile carrot yield for a 4th character (1+1) about 50 coordinates west of the Nile. Production in same time period prior game day was 1+1.
Assumptions-
I got a yeild of 11+1 around 3am Egypt time, which slowly decreased until 5:33am Egpyt time to a yeild of 4+1 at which point I stopped growing carrots. This was around location 1538, 2219 (not exactly, but that's my guild hall and I was close). Could someone perhaps set up an application we can plus time/loc/yeild and try and predict this band that goes across Egypt? --DaTwinkDaddy?
I spent 3 hours growing carrots trying to time these bands. All grown in the same spot. All times are RL The yeild started at 12 carrots and over the next 20 minutes steadily reduced to 1 carrot. It stayed at 1 carrot for the next 30 minutes. It then rose to 4 carrots and dropped quickly back down to 1 carrot. For the next 2 hours the yeild stayed at 1 carrot, then I gave up. Nia
does this traveling band move E->W or N->S or what? -- shajarat
Andius and I stumbled across how the bands work. While growing carrots at 16 per, Andius ran south about 100-150 co-ords to see when band would reach him. He discovered he was getting 5. He followed his growth SE to another spot of 16. It appears the bands are roughly 256 co-ords apart from center to center. They move either in a SE, or a SW direction which appears to alternate. They seem to move roughly 3 co-ords south to each 1 co-ord west or east. I was only able to track 4 bands alternating but they seem to all follow this pattern. I haven't done any research into times the bands appear or how fast they move yet, however 15 minutes stated above for a band to move 256 co-ords seems about right.
N.B. this hypothesis accurately explain's Nia's findings. If Nia was on say band A (lets just say its going sw), then band B 15 minutes north of Nia (moving SE) would probalby miss. Then 15 minutes later (30 minutes total), Nia gets 4 carrots, as Band C (also moving SW) catches her came in the trailing edge of the band.
The bands that move SW or SE together (every other one) seem to keep their centers on the same e/w loc. So you can't just expect to wait 30 minutes to get the next 16 carrot spot, as it will likely be 100 co-ords or so west (or east ) of you. --- Takatok
Question: These bands are moving areas, arent them? So cant there be any connection between them and the clouds I sometimes see floating in the air? -MecFiGerth
Carrots "bonus" field is a moving none related to time, same place u get 1:1 carrots, u can get different time up to 18:1, if u wanna find out when its good time to do carrots, grow when once / hour and look, if its under 5, then wait more. i never do if its under 10, can wait and do someother veggies while waiting carrots field to go bigger. Fin
| User growing output data pages |
| Niseg's Carrots growing times and outputs |
On my first try growing carrots I got a yield of 23+1 at 6 am in Sinai. During the next half hour of Egypt-time this yield decreased a little until I got 21+1. I will try if I can repeat this at the same time on a different day. Fadil
Garlic is grown on sandy soil. Yield varies by place, time, and avatar. Two avatars may not have the same yield of garlic at the same place at the same time. It was previously reported that garlic growth was affected by the number of people nearby, however, this claim has been discounted. It appears that garlic has peak growth times during which +3 yield is obtained.
Jodpar reports that he recieved extra garlic seeds when planting garlic near onions during the peak yield. Additional testing is required.
Garlic yield seems simply location dependant, I tested in a line along the nile; from 875,7075 to 880,7165 gave 9+1seed, <7075 gave 8+1, >7165 gave 6+1. I couldn't test east/west well due to lack of sand, but there was no junction at 795,7075/7076. All tests done with only me in speaking distance, varying numbers of people in the distance. Testing done 11pm-1am Egypt Time. I will test some more after some sleep. --Nhimdahl
[Testing done with garlic at approx. 5-7 PM Egypt Time:
22 people around, Male planting and harvesting, 1+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting and harvesting, 1+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting, male harvesting, 1+1 yield.
2 people aroun, Male planting, female harvesting, 1+1 yield.
2 people around, Male planting and harvesting 4 seeds, female planting and harvesting 4 seeds, 1+1 yield on all. - JoshuaNighthawk]
I managed to grow some extra garlic seeds. I was growing some onions right next to the nile during the high yeild period for them. Next to them I had a couple of garlic plants growing. They managed to provide me with extra seeds for each garlic plant. This occured twice in succession. After that the higher yield for the onions ended and I got no more garlic seeds. I am not sure if this was just a co-incidence. But will try next time I can. .... Jodpar
Esme was planting garlic with a yield of 5 - when one person (male or female) got within 50 coords, she got a yield of 8 (+3). Two people in 50 coords returned the yield to 5. This was highly reproducible (many tests over ~30mins). Might need further testing on the people-near theory. -- FaceAnkh
Leeks are grown on sandy soil. Yield varies by place. Yield is often the same as for cabbages.
No method for repoducing leek seeds has been publicly described.
[Testing done with leeks at approx. 5-7 PM Egypt Time:
22 people around, Male planting and harvesting, 3+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting and harvesting, 3+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting, male harvesting, 3+1 yield.
2 people around, Male planting, female harvesting, 3+1 yield.
2 people around, Male planting and harvesting 4 seeds, 3+1 yield on all. - JoshuaNighthawk]
Onions are grown on sandy soil. Onions grow at a steady pace, in the order in which they are watered. Onions will not die if they are accidentally watered before growing. Onions grow in the order in which they are watered. Yield varies by place and time. Like garlic, onion yields increase at certain times by a fixed amount, above the base yield. The amount of the fixed increase seems to be region based, with reported increases of 3 to 7.
1 extra onion seed can be obtained from the first onion planting anytime in a 30-60 game minute window after the time of increased yields falls off back to normal. It seems that only 1 seed can be obtained per person for any particular cycle.
Sept 12, 2004: I did a planting of onions starting at about 3 am every 30 minutes game time. I found that between the hours of 6:30 AM and 8:30 AM game time, I received a +3 onion harvest from my normal amount. PLace: In Nile Delta by the nile river, south of the U of Arch, next to the takeskot court, I received normally 6 onions per harvest. Between those hours I received 9 onions per harvest. I stopped after 8:30 AM, so if anyone wants to conitue, post your finding here.
[Testing done with onions at approx. 5-7 PM Egypt Time:
22 people around, Male planting and harvesting, 4+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting and harvesting, 4+1 yield.
22 people around, Female planting, male harvesting, 4+1 yield.
2 perople around, Male planting, female harvesting, 4+1 yield. These tests with onions were probably useless since most people now think it's the time of day that causes extra seed yields. Oh well. - JoshuaNighthawk]
I (ArmEagle) was growing today before approx 11AM and got 8 onions per seed at a spot. Then after approx 11AM I got 11. This tiem dependant harvest conforms with the time dependant seed production. Onions also no longer seem to shrink if you overwater them.I put 20 water on an onion in one stage still grew.--Kellerjudo
There is a periodic global "onion boost" where the yield of all onion plants increases. Differences in yield appear to be region-based, with most regions getting a +3 boost and others getting 4-7. It lasts for about six in-game hours. It does not start and end exactly on the hour - the first five of eight onions planted at 10:02AM game time (the end of a boost) produced 7 onions 1 seed and the last three produced the normal harvest of 4 onions 1 seed.
On Akhet I-27, from 11AM to noon game time, onions produced one extra seed per person as described above. The first onion planted during that time produced the normal yield and 2 seeds. It is unknown whether seed times are always one game-hour after boost times, or if they're on independent timers.
On Akhet IV-25, right around 2 PM game time, onion seed produced 13+1 yield.--Ancano
In my compound north of Fool's Paradise, I get a 17/1 yield and 20/1 yield when planting after 6 PM game time. I will check for the extra seed next time I happen to do onions after 6 PM -- Ellistraee
| Boost Times | Seed Times | Coords | Output | |||
| Date | Start | End | Start | End | Coords | Output |
| Akhet I-27 | ? | ~10:05 AM | 11:00 AM | 12:00 PM | ||
| Akhet II-22 | 2:45 AM | 3:45 AM | 4:45 AM | 5:30 AM | ||
| Akhet II-28 | ? | 11:21 AM | ?? | ?? | ||
| Akhet III-6 | 6:59 AM | 8:25 AM | ?? | ?? | 740,-7739 | 7+1 |
| Akhet III-29 | ? | 1:49 AM | <2:29 AM | ?? | 1528,-792 | 7+1 |
| Akhet IV-13 | ? | ? | <8:59 AM | ?? |
[Note: on Akhet III-29, seed time started less than an hour after boost time - Sharrow]
Data on onion times should be placed here so we can make an effort to determine a pattern. It appears that seed times appear exactly one game-hour after a boost. As near as can be determined right now, onions depend mainly upon this 'boost' period and the geographical location, with 'bands' of onion growth looking to be distributed fairly randomly. For example, it appears that Sinai is an inefficient place to grow onions; with the exception of the lower Nile coast, one only gains 6 per harvest normally.
Yes all they are real. Seeds were handed out at about 9PM EST on Sept. 24.
Known Facts
Here's a table describing the typical watering cycle you'll go through using this method:
| G1 | G2 | G3 | G4 | Yield |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 6 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 9 |
| 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
| 4 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 12 |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 18 |
| 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 15 |
Note: Last night a guild member(male)and I(male) planted garlic, onion, then garlic, we recived no seeds. The guild member told me that another person found they gained seeds out of one of the vegtables(I assume garlic) when a female character was planting onions near by. Can anybody confirm this?
Note: I have heard rumors that planting seeds near naturally growing mushrooms provides higher seed outputs. No comment on vegie output. Kileran
I was growing 2 garlics and 1 onion and managed to produce two onion seeds and the regular yield (2 garlics, 4 onion) =) I will try to repeat this.(Sekhemkare)