The best part of Stardew Valley is making a farm that runs like an efficient machine. For many people, the objective is typically to make as much of a profit as possible, and that means having a solid rotation of crops to generate income for you.
But just like in real life, crops in Stardew Valley take a surprising amount of maintenance. You might find that your crops are wilting despite your best efforts.
So, why do crops die in Stardew Valley? I’ll dive into the topic briefly in this post, as well as provide you some extra tips for keeping your crops healthy. You’ll be well on your way to becoming the richest person in Pelican Town.
Crop Maintenance Tips
Raising crops takes a little time and effort on your part. First of all, you need to start by choosing crops that are seasonal. You can determine which season a crop grows in by reading the information for its seeds in your inventory or at the store.
Once you have your crops selected, designate an area on your farm for them. For the most part, you can walk through all your crops to reach them individually, which means you can usually plant them close together.
There are some exceptions to this with plants that require trellises, such as grapes, green beans, and hops. If you’re planting those crops, make sure you arrange your garden in such a way that you can easily access all of them. I recommend spacing these ones out or putting non-trellis crops between them.
After planting, be sure to put a scarecrow nearby your crops. Each scarecrow has a range of 17×17 tiles, and they stop crows from eating the fruits of your labor.
Don’t forget to water your crops each day, too. You can do this with a watering can in the early game, but I strongly recommend building sprinklers as soon as you can and interspersing them throughout your garden. It will save you a lot of time and energy.
Note, however, that your crops won’t die if you don’t water them – they just won’t grow. In a similar vein, crops also can’t be overwatered, so if you manually water your crops and you’re worried you forgot to do so one day, you can water them again just to be safe.
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Why Do Crops Die in Stardew Valley?
Even if you care for your crops virtually perfectly, you might notice that they’re withering. Why is that happening? Well, there are essentially only two reasons your crops die in Stardew Valley: they’re no longer in season or they were struck by lightning.
Remember, your crops are seasonal. Even if they’re perfectly healthy, the moment the season changes to something they’re not meant to grow in, they’ll die. The solution is to make sure you check the proper seasons for each seed and plant them with enough time to grow in their specified season.
As for lightning strikes, this could happen to your crops during a storm. You can’t control whether or not there’s going to be storm, of course, but you can control where the lightning strikes by putting up a lightning rod. This will keep your crops safe.
You could also argue that your crops die when they’re overtaken by weeds. However, they don’t exactly die – they just become the weed. Be sure to check your garden frequently for weeds and uproot them before they usurp your garden’s place.
How Do You Get Rid of Dead Plants in Stardew Valley?
Let’s say the worst has happened, and you’ve got a bunch of dead plants where your garden used to be. You’ll want to make room to grow more unless you’ve given up entirely.
Put down your pickaxe or your axe. Using your scythe will allow you to quickly get rid of your dead plants without expending precious energy, so swing away with your scythe instead.
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What Happens if You Don’t Harvest Crops in Stardew Valley?
What if you have a day where, although your crops have fully grown, you just feel too lazy to go out and harvest them? The answer will reassure you: as long as it’s not the end of the season, you can leave them.
Your fully grown crops won’t die if you don’t harvest them right away, nor will they fall to the ground and rot or anything. However, they are still vulnerable to lightning if you don’t have a lightning rod set up and they can still die if the season changes.
So before stalling your harvest, check the date and make sure you have a lightning rod.
Wrap Up
Hopefully, this helped you get your crops in order. Once you work out a system on your farm, maintaining your crops is pretty easy. It can be somewhat time-consuming, especially when it’s time to harvest them, but I think it’s ultimately worth it. When you get to a point where you can make wine from your fruit or make preservatives, it can be an extremely lucrative venture.
Got any other questions about operating your virtual farmstead? Drop a comment below and we’ll get back to you, or you can keep checking back for more Stardew Valley posts.