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Farming in Depth - Agricultural Guide

Introduction to TFC Agriculture

Farming in TerraFirmaCraft (TFC), and by extension Gravitas², is a detailed and rewarding system, moving beyond simple vanilla mechanics. Successfully cultivating crops and fruit-bearing plants requires understanding their specific needs regarding temperature, hydration, soil nutrients, and seasonality. This guide will provide an in-depth look at these systems to help you establish a thriving agricultural base.

Basic Farming Principles

Obtaining Seeds & Tools

  • Seeds: To start growing crops, you’ll first need Seeds. These are primarily obtained by finding and breaking Wild Crops scattered throughout the world.
    • When a fully mature domesticated crop dies (either due to weather, old age, or being left to rot), it will often go to seed, dropping more seeds for future planting.
    • Seeds are also useful as Bait for some traps or fishing.
  • Hoe: A Hoe is essential for preparing farmland. A Stone Hoe can be knapped from Pebbles and a Stick in the early game.
    • Hoes function similarly to vanilla: Right Button on Dirt or Grass blocks to turn them into Farmland.
    • They can also be used to convert Rooted Dirt (often found under trees) back into regular Dirt.

Growing Conditions

  1. Farmland: All standard crops need to be planted on tilled Farmland.
  2. Temperature: Each crop has an optimal temperature range for growth. If the ambient temperature is too hot or too cold, the plant may grow slowly, fail to mature, or die.
    • Check individual crop entries (or the TFC Guidebook) for specific temperature needs.
    • Temperature is influenced by season, time of day, Y-level, and the overall climate of the region.
  3. Hydration (Keeping Hydrated): Plants need water to grow.
    • Checking Hydration: To see the hydration of any specific farmland block or crop, you must have a Hoe in hand and look at the block. A tooltip will show the current hydration as a percentage from 0% to 100%.
    • Factors: Based on the Rainfall in the area, the ground may have some latent moisture. However, this may not be enough, especially for water-intensive crops.
    • Different plants have different hydration needs (a percentage range). They can be under-watered or over-watered, both of which can hinder growth or kill the plant.
    • Managing Hydration: Hydration cannot be directly decreased (except by moving to an area with less rainfall). However, it can be increased by proximity to nearby water blocks, much like vanilla farmland (within 4 blocks). Irrigation (e.g., with Aqueducts) can also help manage this by bringing water closer to your fields.
  4. Nutrients: While crops do not strictly require nutrients to grow, they certainly benefit greatly from them.
    • There are three main soil nutrients: Nitrogen (N), Phosphorous (P), and Potassium (K).
    • Each crop has a favorite nutrient.
    • Consuming its favorite nutrient causes a crop to grow faster and improves the yield (more food/seeds) at harvest time. That means crops that consumed more nutrients drop more food when broken.
    • Consuming a nutrient also has the effect of replenishing the other two nutrients in the soil around it by a small amount, contributing to a slow nutrient cycling.
  5. Special Requirements: Some crops have additional needs:
    • Waterlogging: Some plants (like Rice or Cranberries) must be grown in waterlogged farmland.
    • Support Sticks: Some climbing plants (like Green Beans or Tomatoes) require a Stick placed in the farmland block (or an adjacent support structure like a trellis) to grow to their full height.
    • Spreading: Some plants (like Pumpkins or Melons) are spreading crops and will place their fruit on adjacent blocks.

Fertilizers: Enhancing Your Soil

Fertilizers are used to add nutrients (Nitrogen, Phosphorous, Potassium) to your farmland, improving crop growth speed and yield.

  • Application: To use a fertilizer, hold it in your hand and Right Button on Farmland or directly on a Crop. Particles should appear, indicating the fertilizer was successfully added.

Common Fertilizer Types

Fertilizer N P K Source / Notes
Compost 40 20 40 Product of the Composter.
Bone Meal 0 10 0 Made from crushed Bones.
Saltpeter 10 0 40 Made from Saltpeter Ore.
Guano 80 50 10 Found deep underground and on gravelly shores. Potent fertilizer.
Wood Ash 0 10 30 Produced by breaking Firepits. Throwing a Torch into water also has a chance.
Sylvite Powder 0 0 50 Made from Sylvite Ore. Excellent source of Potassium.

Field Crops Reference

The following table details common field crops found in TFC, along with their essential growing conditions.

Crop Temp. Range (°C) Hydration Range (%) Nutrient Special Notes
Maize (Corn) 13 to 40 75 - 100 Phosphorus Two blocks tall. Produces Maize and Maize Seeds.
Melons 5 to 37 75 - 100 Phosphorus Spreading crop. Places up to two Melon Blocks next to it when mature. Can regrow melons.
Papyrus 19 to 37 70 - 100 Potassium Two blocks tall. Produces Papyrus (for paper) and Papyrus Seeds.
Potatoes -1 to 37 50 - 100 Potassium Single block crop. Produces Potatoes and Potato Seeds.
Soybean 8 to 30 40 - 100 Nitrogen Single block crop. Produces Soybean and Soybean Seeds.
Sugarcane 12 to 38 40 - 100 Potassium Two blocks tall. Produces Sugarcane and Sugarcane Seeds. Used for Sugar.
Green Beans 2 to 35 38 - 100 Nitrogen Climbing, two blocks tall. Requires a Stick in the farmland to fully grow. Produces Green Beans and Green Bean Seeds.
Oat 3 to 40 35 - 100 Phosphorus Single block crop. Produces Oat and Oat Seeds.
Pumpkins 0 to 30 30 - 80 Phosphorus Spreading crop. Places up to two Pumpkin Blocks next to it when mature. Can regrow pumpkins.
Tomatoes 0 to 36 30 - 95 Potassium Climbing, two blocks tall. Requires a Stick in the farmland to fully grow. Produces Tomatoes and Tomato Seeds.
Rye -11 to 30 25 - 85 Phosphorus Single block crop. Produces Rye and Rye Seeds.
Wheat -4 to 35 25 - 100 Phosphorus Single block crop. Produces Wheat and Wheat Seeds.
Rice 15 to 30 25 - 100 Phosphorus Single block crop. Must be planted on farmland in freshwater one block deep (waterlogged). Produces Rice and Rice Seeds.
Carrot 3 to 30 25 - 100 Potassium Single block crop. Produces Carrot and Carrot Seeds.
Red Bell Peppers 16 to 30 25 - 60 Potassium Pickable crop. Harvest with Right Button near maturity for Green Bell Peppers. Allows regrowth.
Yellow Bell Peppers 16 to 30 25 - 60 Potassium Pickable crop. Harvest with Right Button near maturity for Green Bell Peppers. Allows regrowth.
Onions 0 to 30 25 - 90 Nitrogen Single block crop. Produces Onions and Onion Seeds.
Jute 5 to 37 25 - 100 Potassium Two blocks tall. Produces Jute (fiber) and Jute Seeds.
Squash 5 to 33 23 - 95 Potassium Single block crop. Produces Squash and Squash Seeds.
Barley -8 to 26 18 - 75 Nitrogen Single block crop. Produces Barley and Barley Seeds.
Beet -5 to 20 18 - 85 Potassium Single block crop. Produces Beet and Beet Seeds.
Cabbage -10 to 27 15 - 65 Nitrogen Single block crop. Produces Cabbage and Cabbage Seeds.
Garlic -20 to 18 15 - 75 Nitrogen Single block crop. Produces Garlic and Garlic Seeds.

Wild Fruits: Trees and Bushes

Many varieties of wild fruits can be found growing in the world, providing food and seeds/saplings for cultivation. Fruits are generally found on three types of plants: Fruit Trees, Tall Bushes, and Small Bushes.

All fruiting plants have a yearly lifecycle: they grow, form flowers, sprout fruit, and then lay dormant (often during colder months). During their cold/dormant season, they may appear brown and lifeless, becoming green and healthy again in spring. Fruit plants can die of old age or due to improper climate conditions.

Fruit Trees

Fruit trees grow from tiny Saplings into large, flowering trees. The branches are their heart and will grow as long as climate conditions are right. Leaves grow on branches and can flower and fruit depending on the season.

  • Obtaining Saplings: To get Saplings from a wild fruit tree, break the ‘elbow’ blocks (branch blocks attached to the trunk or other main branches) with an Axe. Saplings can also sometimes be found as drops when breaking leaf blocks or placed on these ‘elbow’ sections if not too high up.
  • Planting & Growth: Saplings will only start growing if it’s not the dormant season for that fruit. The size of the finished tree is loosely determined by how many saplings are in the original sapling block (more saplings = bigger tree).
  • Splicing: More saplings can be added to a growing tree through Splicing. To splice, Right Button an existing sapling/young tree with another Sapling of the same type while holding a Knife in your off-hand.
  • Harvesting Fruit: Fruit is harvested by Right Button a leaf block that is visibly bearing fruit. This gives one fruit and reverts that part of the plant to its growing stage until it flowers and fruits again, or goes dormant.

Fruit Tree Reference

Fruit Tree Temp. Range (°C) Rainfall (mm) Growing Months (Approx.) Flowering Months (Approx.) Fruiting Months (Approx.) Notes
Banana Tree 17 - 35 280 - 500 (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) Grows vertically, lacks leaves, fruits at topmost block. Harvested plant dies, must be replanted. Saplings from flowering part.
Cherry Tree 5 - 25 100 - 350 Jan - Mar Apr - May Jun
Green Apple Tree 1 - 25 110 - 280 Mar - Jul Aug - Sep Oct
Lemon Tree 10 - 30 180 - 470 Feb - May Jun - Jul Aug
Olive Tree 5 - 30 150 - 500 Mar - Jul Aug - Sep Oct Olives can produce Olive Oil (fuel for lamps).
Orange Tree 15 - 36 250 - 500 Mar - Jun Jul - Aug Sep
Peach Tree 4 - 27 60 - 230 Dec - Mar Apr - May Jun
Plum Tree 15 - 31 250 - 400 Jan - Apr May - Jun Jul
Red Apple Tree 1 - 25 100 - 280 Mar - Jul Aug - Sep Oct

Fruiting Calendar (General Guide - specific timings can vary):

  • Dormant: Brown/Lifeless appearance, typically colder months.
  • Healthy: Green, growing leaves, often Spring/early Summer.
  • Flowering: Visible flowers, mid-to-late Summer/early Autumn.
  • Fruiting: Visible fruit, late Summer/Autumn.

Tall Bushes (TFC)

Tall bushes are fruit blocks that can grow and spread in all directions, either directly upwards (up to three blocks high) or by placing “canes” on their sides which can mature into new full bush blocks. After a while, bushes stop spreading and reach maturity.

  • Spreading: Canes need a solid block under them to take root. A flat, open area free of grass/debris is best.
  • Hydration: Unlike fruit trees (which primarily care about rainfall), tall bushes take into account surrounding water blocks to determine their hydration for spreading and growth.
  • Harvesting: Any full bush block can grow berries, harvestable with Right Button. Harvesting these bushes with a sharp tool (like a Knife) has a chance to drop a new bush for replanting. Fully mature bushes will always drop themselves when broken.

Tall Bush Reference

Tall Bush Temp. Range (°C) Rainfall (mm) Growing Months (Approx.) Flowering Months (Approx.) Fruiting Months (Approx.) Found In
Blackberry Bush 7 - 24 24 - 100 Feb - May Jun - Jul Aug Areas with few trees
Blueberry Bush 7 - 29 12 - 100 Feb - May Jun - Jul Aug Areas with few trees
Elderberry Bush 10 - 33 12 - 100 Feb - May Jun - Jul Aug Areas with few trees
Raspberry Bush 5 - 25 24 - 100 Apr - Jul Aug - Sep Oct Areas with few trees

Small Bushes & Other Berry Producers (TFC & Firmalife)

This section covers the standard TFC small, low-lying berry bushes typically found in forests, as well as additional berry and fruit-producing bushes introduced by Firmalife which don’t fit the “Tall Bush” spreading mechanic.

  • TFC Small Bushes: These are low-lying fruit blocks that typically spawn in forests. They can occasionally spread to surrounding blocks if there isn’t too much competition from other bushes. They go through three visual sizes, and when fully grown, their fruit is harvested with Right Button.
  • Firmalife Bushes: These may have specific environmental requirements or unique properties.

Small Bush & Berry Producer Reference

Bush Name Temp. Range (°C) Hydration/Rainfall Growing Months (Approx.) Flowering Months (Approx.) Fruiting Months (Approx.) Special Notes & Uses
Bunchberry Bush (TFC) 15 - 35 Hydration: 24 - 100% May - Jul Aug - Sep Oct TFC Small Bush type.
Cloudberry Bush (TFC) -2 - 17 Hydration: 9 - 100% Feb - May Jun - Aug Sep TFC Small Bush type.
Cranberry Bush (TFC) -5 - 17 Hydration: 30 - 100% Mar - Jun Jul - Aug Sep TFC Small Bush type. Grown underwater (waterlogged farmland).
Gooseberry Bush (TFC) 5 - 27 Hydration: 24 - 100% Apr - Jul Aug - Sep Oct TFC Small Bush type.
Snowberry Bush (TFC) -7 - 18 Hydration: 24 - 100% Mar - Jun Jul - Aug Sep TFC Small Bush type.
Strawberry Bush (TFC) 5 - 28 Hydration: 12 - 100% Oct - Dec Jan - Feb Mar TFC Small Bush type.
Wintergreen Berry (TFC) -6 - 17 Hydration: 12 - 100% May - Sep Oct - Nov Dec TFC Small Bush type.
Nightshade Berry (Firmalife) 7 - 24 Rainfall: 200 - 400mm (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) Firmalife. Poisonous. Makes Stinky Soup.
Pineapple Bush (Firmalife) 20 - 32 Rainfall: 250 - 500mm (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) (Varies by climate) Firmalife. Can be processed into Pineapple Leather (Dry -> Fiber -> Yarn -> Leather).

Beekeeping In-Depth

Bees are incredibly useful for pollinating your crops, providing food (Honey), and essential crafting materials like Beeswax (for Treated Lumber, vital for Create mod progression).

1. Setting Up Your Apiary

  • Craft Beehive Frames: Essential components.
  • Craft Wooden Beehive: Requires Beehive Frames and Lumber.
  • Placement: Place your Wooden Beehive. Beehives can share flowers if placed relatively close (within their 5-block radius check for flowers). The benefit of flowers diminishes after around 60 flowers for a single hive.

2. Attracting and Housing Bees

  • Frames are Key: Bees need Beehive Frames inside the hive to live. Having 4 empty Beehive Frames in a hive greatly increases the chances of a wild swarm moving in.
  • Flower Power: A hive needs at least 10 Flowers planted within a 5-block radius for a chance for an empty frame to be populated with a Queen Bee. More flowers can help. Bee particles around the hive indicate this colonization attempt.
  • Patience & Queens: Wild swarms may take time to colonize. If you find a Queen Bee item, placing it in a frame within the hive can significantly speed this up.

3. Harvesting Resources Safely

  • WARNING: DO NOT INTERACT WITH ACTIVE BEEHIVES DURING DAYTIME (unless smoked). Bees will attack if you disturb them (e.g., by removing frames).
  • Safe Harvesting:
    • Night: Interact with hives at night when bees are sleeping.
    • Smoke: An active Firepit (burning Logs) placed directly underneath the Beehive can pacify the bees for daytime harvesting.
  • Honey: When a hive visibly has honey, Right Button the hive with an Empty Jar to collect a Honey Jar. Opening the Honey Jar (e.g., in a crafting grid) gives Raw Honey, a sugar substitute.
  • Beeswax:
    • When a frame is filled with honeycomb, remove it (safely).
    • Right Button the filled frame in your inventory with a Knife to get Beeswax.
    • Critical: This process kills the queen in that frame! Be mindful, especially early on. Ensure you have other queens or methods to attract new ones.
  • Treated Lumber: The most important early use of Beeswax is crafting Treated Lumber. This is vital for Create mod progression.

4. Bee Abilities and Breeding (Advanced)

  • Breeding: If a beehive has two frames with queens and an empty frame, the colonies may breed, producing a new queen in the empty frame. This passes on Abilities (traits) from the parents. Abilities are on a scale of 1-10.
  • List of Abilities:
    • Hardiness: Allows honey production at lower temperatures (Hardiness 10: down to -16°C; Hardiness 1: down to 2°C).
    • Production: Improves honey production speed.
    • Mutant: Increases variability in traits passed during breeding.
    • Fertility: Increases likelihood of breeding.
    • Crop Affinity: Likelihood of spreading a small amount of nutrients to nearby crops.
    • Nature Restoration: Causes new flowers and lilypads to spawn around the hive.
    • Calmness: Decreases likelihood of bees attacking you.
  • Genetic Disease: Bees with high Mutant ability have a chance of developing a Genetic Disease. Diseased bees pass it to offspring and don’t produce honey.

5. Bee Tips

  • Bees can help fertilize planters and crops via Crop Affinity.
  • Scraping a frame for beeswax sacrifices that queen. Be smart!
  • Being wet (e.g., in water) prevents bees from attacking you.

Firmalife Specialities: Winemaking

Firmalife introduces winemaking, the science of turning grapes into alcohol. While wine in Firmalife might not have special uses beyond regular TFC alcohol, it’s a flavorful addition to your homestead.

1. Finding Grapes

  • Wild Red Grapes & Wild White Grapes: Spawn from 0-30°C and 125-500mm rainfall (almost the entire habitable area).

2. Growing Grapes: Trellises

Grapes must be grown on trellises.

  • Grape Trellis Post: Craft these first.
  • Constructing a Trellis:
    1. Place two Grape Trellis Posts on top of each other.
    2. Move two blocks to the left or right and repeat, placing another stack of two posts.
    3. Right Button the side of one of the top and bottom posts with Jute Fiber (from Jute plants) to string lines between the posts.
    4. Grape trellises can be chained horizontally to create rows.
  • Growth: Provided climate requirements are met, grapes will grow up and over the trellis over a few months, typically fruiting in July after flowering the month prior. Grapes can also be grown in greenhouses.

3. Processing Grapes

  • Harvesting: Harvest grapes from the trellis when ripe.
  • Stomping:
    • Craft an Acacia Stomping Barrel (or other wood type).
    • Right Button the Stomping Barrel with fresh grapes to add them.
    • Jump up and down on the barrel 16 times.
    • Right Button with an empty hand to retrieve the result.
    • A Quern may also be used to smash grapes.
  • Fermenting: Seal the processed grapes/juice in a Barrel for 5 days to ferment them into young wine.
  • Barrel Press (Optional Aging/Refining):
    • Craft an Acacia Barrel Press (or other wood type).

4. Bottling and Types of Wine

  • Wine Bottles: Wine must be bottled in proper Wine Bottles, made from non-silica glass.
    • The TFC Guidebook image shows a glassblowing-like process: 1. Blow, 2. Blow, 3. Pinch, 4. Saw.
  • Mixing: The leftmost slot in a bottling interface (perhaps the Barrel Press GUI or a dedicated bottler) can hold up to 16 grape items. Four grape items are needed for one bottle of wine.
    • Central slots may be for mixing grapes with other ingredients (optional).
    • Using only red or white grapes yields red or white wine.
    • Adding at least one red grape to white wine makes Rosé.
    • Adding Sugar to white wine makes dessert wine.
  • Corks & Labels:
    • Wine must be provided with a Cork. Corks are made by soaking Treated Lumber in Limewater for a day.
    • When all is complete, use the bottle slot to fill the wine, or by Right Button with a Wine Bottle in hand on the aging/bottling device.
    • Bottle Labels: Can be crafted (e.g., Paper, Ink, String/Cork Piece). Rename them in a Scribing Station to add their name to the wine’s tooltip.

This guide provides a foundation for TFC agriculture. Successful farming requires careful observation of your environment, understanding plant needs, and adapting your strategies to the seasons. Always consult your in-game TFC Guidebook and JEI for the most precise information relevant to Gravitas².

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