User:Tom Haws

Hello. :-) I am Tom (Wikipedia:User:Hawstom, 2003). Semi-retired civil engineer and erstwhile web programmer. First Stardew Valley Wiki (English) contribution 13 July 2019. Thank you for visiting.

Ancient Fruit

Facts about Ancient Fruit

• Outdoors, Ancient Fruit planted with Deluxe Speed-Gro on Spring 1 through Spring 6 gives 9 annual harvests. And it has an Artisan Good sell value second only to Starfruit, which is available for three Summer harvests.
• Because Ancient Seeds cannot be bought, each Ancient Seed artifact discovered must (assuming two seeds on average per fruit) be cultivated for 3 seasons (12 weeks) with no income to produce 87 plants (Week 0:1, 1, 1, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 15, 25, 39, 57, Week 12:87). While this can be rewarding and fun, it's a significant delay. And it can only be done either in the Greenhouse or through your second year.
• Discovering Ancient Seed artifacts is not extremely rare. This significantly helps build up an Ancient Fruit crop population. So it's not unrealistic to have a significant crop by your second Summer.
• In the Greenhouse, after the preparation and lead time required to ramp Ancient Fruit up, it is more work and Kegs and only 9.6% more ongoing income than Starfruit with Deluxe Speed-Gro (assuming—not verified—DSG can be added continuously to Starfruit in the Greenhouse every 3 harvests or 4 weeks).
• It's very expensive to replace a mature Greenhouse Ancient Fruit plant. It's probably best not to start Ancient Fruit in the Greenhouse unless you plan to leave it there.

Advice about Ancient Fruit

Through your first Winter, Ancient Fruit is a seed crop, not an income crop. By your second Winter and Spring, it's easy to have all the Ancient Fruit crops you want to grow.

Until you have all the Ancient Fruit crops you currently want, plant all the Ancient Seeds you can. But

• Don't plant Ancient Seeds outside after Fall 6 with Deluxe Speed-Gro or Summer 28 without.
• Don't plant Ancient Seeds in your Greenhouse unless you want to keep them there a long time (forever).
• In your first year, convert all Ancient Fruit to Ancient Seeds and hold until next Spring unless you decide (based on the facts above) you want Ancient Fruit permanently in your Greenhouse.

Ancient Fruit calendar using Deluxe Speed-Gro

• Your last outdoor harvest day is Sunday Fall 28.
• Sunday is your regular Ancient Fruit harvest day.
• Sunday Summer 7 is probably your first Ancient Fruit harvest day and one of 8 outdoor Sunday harvests this year.
• Saturday Spring 13 is your first Ancient Fruit planting day with Deluxe Speed-Gro you get for completing the Spring Crops Bundle in the Pantry.
• Sunday Spring 7 is your first Ancient Fruit "plant by" date unless you wait for Deluxe Speed-Gro.

In your first year, you can use the 13 Parsnip + 1 Cauliflower + 1 Green Bean start to get 20 Deluxe Speed-Gro for completing the Spring Crops Bundle in the Pantry on Spring 13.

You can use this reward to harvest 20 additional Strawberry, which are useful for income and for gifts. But if you have Kegs ready, Hops will start producing comparatively vast income early in Summer, and you may want to use this Deluxe Speed-Gro for your Ancient Seeds to squeeze in every Ancient Fruit harvest possible before Winter.

Deluxe Speed-Gro saves you 6 days (22 vs. 28) to first Ancient Fruit harvest. Assuming you get the reward mentioned above on Spring 13 (the day of the Egg Festival), you would save any Ancient Seeds you get on Spring 8 or later to plant with Deluxe Speed-Gro on Saturday Spring 13 after you get home from the Egg Festival to harvest first on Sunday Summer 7. You would plant any Ancient Seeds you get before Spring 8 on Sunday Spring 7 to also harvest on Sunday Summer 7.