Gardening in Ranch Simulator
(Greenhouses, Best Crops and Income)

Gardening in Ranch Simulator is one of the many ways of making income.

In this guide, you will learn everything you need to know about Crops and Greenhouses for optimal income.

If you're looking for a guide on Fields and Crops you can grow on them, check our Guide on Farming instead.

Tutorial

To plant the seeds of your crops you need to build Crop Plots.

You can either place them inside a Greenhouse that you build or just by themselves on the ground of your ranch.

If you choose to grow your crops inside a Greenhouse, its roof needs to be made with glass for the plants to get the sunlight.

Use the Greenhouse Blueprints to build a Greenhouse:

First, the Wood Foundation then the Greenhouse Walls and Door Frame and finally, the Greenhouse Roof.

Build the Crop Plots inside the Greenhouse.

There are Small Crop Plots (space for one crop) and Large Crop Plots (space for 2 crops). We are going to build large ones only.

Put them beside each other so they're easier to water with Sprinklers and leave some space between them so you can harvest the plants when they're ready.

Buy Sprinklers from the General Store or the Hardware Store to have them water your plants automatically.

You put the Sprinklers on the Crop Plots.
1 Sprinkler can cover up to 8 crops if you put 4 Large Crop Plots together and put the sprinkler in the middle.

Build a Windmill near your greenhouse as a source of water for the Sprinklers.

Left mouse click on the Windmill to check its range and make sure all the sprinklers are covered.

Buy Seeds from the General Store.
(We will talk about the best ones down below)

Plant them in the Crop Plots and activate the Sprinklers.

Note: You only need to activate the Sprinklers one time after you plant the seeds, they activate automatically afterwards until the plants die.

Your seeds are now growing.

Let's explain the Plant Icons meanings from top to bottom:

Drops Icon: This shows if the plant has been watered, if not it will stop growing and start withering.

Arrow Icon: This shows the amount of fertilizer remaining for the plant (more info on fertilizer down below)

Growth Icon: The plant can be harvested when this reaches 100.

Withered Crop Icon: When this reaches 100, the plant dies.
The value increases if the plant has not been watered, if it is ready for harvest or if it is sick.
There is a chance that a plant would die right after you harvest it.

Sun Icon: This means the plant is getting the sunlight it needs to grow (more info on sunlight down below).

Heart Icon: This means the plant is healthy (more info on sick plants down below).

When your plants are ready for harvest, use an Egg Basket to pick up your fruits or vegetables.

Note: Always pick your crops using Egg Baskets, Coolers can hold 24 items only while Baskets can hold 40.

Sunlight

The plants need sunlight to grow. The way this works in the game is that the part of the roof right above the plant needs to be made with glass (Greenhouse Roof).

If a plant is not getting sunlight, the Sun Icon will turn into a Covered Sun Icon and the growth of the plant will slow down.

Fix this by building a Greenhouse Roof above the plant and watering it afterwards.

Fertilizer

The Fertilizer is not necessary for the plants to grow; it is just used to speed up the growth time of a plant.

There are 2 ways to acquire it:

1- Buy it from the General Store (Costs $100 and can be used 14 times).
2- Make it using the Composter that you buy from the General Store (Costs $250).

The make a Fertilizer, use the Composter to pick up your livestock feces and it will start making it over time.

If you fill the Composter to the max, you will earn the "Recycling" Achievement.

When enough fertilizer is made, pick the composter and use it on your crops.
0.5 of Fertilizer is used per plant.

Know that late in the game, you don't need to waste your time or money on fertilizer, it is better to focus on other work while your plants are growing.

Sick Plants and Medicine

Sometimes, a plant would get sick while growing, you would know that from the Heart Icon changing to a Germs Icon.

A plant would stop growing while sick and if the Withering meter reaches 100, it will die.

To cure it, use Agricultural Medicine that you buy from the General Store (Costs $100 and can be used 8 times).

Crops Growth and Multiple Harvests

• Plants only grow during daytime, at 8PM, they stop until the next day.

• Plants growth time is in real time; it doesn't matter what in-game daylight time you have set in your game settings.

• There is a small chance that a plant would die after a harvest, if it doesn't, you can keep harvesting it until it does.
This does not apply to Cabbages as they can be harvested once only.

Crops Growth Time, Yield and Prices

Here are the crops, their prices, how many you can harvest per plant and how much time they take to grow:

Crop	Price of 1 Unit	Yield per Harvest	Growth Time (Real Time)
Cabbage	$5	1	12 Minutes
Watermelon	$7	1	17.5 Minutes
Bell Peppers	$2	5	25 Minutes
Strawberries	$4	4	25 Minutes
Tomatoes	$6	4	46.5 Minutes
Pumpkin	$10	1	46.5 Minutes
Pineapple	$30	1	70 Minutes
Grapes	$20	3	105 Minutes

Best Crop

Let's figure out the most profitable crop:

• Cabbages grow too fast and they can be harvested once only.

• Watermelons and Pumpkins cannot get picked up using a cooler or a basket and the yield is one per harvest only.

What we have left is Bell Peppers, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Pineapples and Grapes.

Grapes take the longest time to grow so let's take that time and see what the other crops can make in the same amount of time:

Equation: Unit Price x Yield = Price in Time of 1 Crop.

• Grapes:
$20 x 3 = $60 in 105 Minutes.

• Pineapples:
$30 in 70 Minutes ➔ x2 ➔ $60 in 140 Minutes.
(loses to grapes)

• Tomatoes:
$6 x 4 = $24 in 46.5 Minutes ➔ x2 ➔ $48 in 93 Minutes.
(loses to grapes)

• Strawberries:
$4 x 4 = $16 in 25 Minutes ➔ x4 ➔ $64 in 100 Minutes.
(loses to grapes because you need to harvest 4 times for the same amount)

• Bell Peppers:
$2 x 5 = $10 in 25 Minutes ➔ x4 ➔ $40 in 100 Minutes.
(loses to grapes)

Grapes best crop confirmed.

Income

The income you can make gardening depends on how many crops you plant.

For example, by planting 8 Grapes Seeds you can harvest 24 Grapes which is $480 on the first harvest after 105 Minutes.

If you plant 40 you can harvest 120 Grapes (3 Baskets) which is $2400 on the first harvest.

Gardening require a lot of money and effort to put in place if you choose to build a greenhouse, if you're looking to make money starting up, Honey Production and Oil Extraction are definitely better ways.

For more details, check our Guide on Best Items to Sell.

Achievement

To earn the "Gardener" Achievement, you just need to plant 10 Plants in Crop Plots.

The End

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