What time of year to stop sowing outdoor plants?

[The Man with No Name]

What time of year is best to stop sowing outdoor plants? There appears to be variation in the seasons, such as cold snaps, so seasonal weather is not entirely predictable.

Rice's growing time is shown as 2.4 days and healroot as 6.5 days. These must be under optimum conditions as they take a lot longer in the actual outdoor conditions, with light and temperature variations.

Any suggestions for an efficient growing calendar?

[DNK]

Depends entirely on your location.

[The Man with No Name]

Let's say for regular temperate climate then.

I guess there's two calendars to consider also: a most efficient one, that gets the maximum output for minumum worldoad, and also a maximal one, that includes taking risks to try and get the maximum output. For example, if a colony is low on food and wants to take risks by growing later in the season, when would a cut-off point be, after which further sowing would be redundant because plants would inevitably die of cold?

Also, how does harvesting work? If a plant is harvested when its at 50% growth level, does one get 50% of its produce at harvesting or something else?

[The Man with No Name]

Also, are the growing seasons stated (6th Spring to 6th Fall) definitive, so its not possible to grow at all after that date or is it still possible to grow at one's own risk?

[The Man with No Name]

I found a useful table on the Wiki. In the Lifespan section, there's table with a column which lists the "Real Grow Days" of plants. So rice's real grow days is 4.36, while healroot's is 11.82.

So when in the year does it typically get too cold for outdoor plants to grow and/or they start dying (discounting events like Cold Snap)?

[b0rsuk]

In my experience plants start to die when the outdoor temperature drops to -10*C. The listed start and stop points are pretty fuzzy because a cold snap can thwart you.

[The Man with No Name]

So to maximize output, one could keep growing for longer, harvest plants as soon as it gets cold and still get something from crops that are, say at 30% growth?

[AngleWyrm]

So when in the year does it typically get too cold for outdoor plants to grow and/or they start dying (discounting events like Cold Snap)?

I'd like to know this as well; what do temperature ranges look like as the year progresses?
Specifically, what input modification does the date have on the temperature?

[Hans Lemurson]

My experience in the Tundra tells me that once it gets below freezing at night, although there is the chance for a little bit of extra growth during the day, you are better off harvesting whatever you can before your plants all get killed by a frost.  Once winter starts settling in, the weather isn't going to get any more favorable.

Any plant that is at least 65% grown can be harvested for 0.5x yield.  The yield goes up linearly to 1x at 100% growth, so in ideal conditions you want to let all your plants grow to full to maximize your harvest.  However the conditions we are talking about are far from ideal, so harvesting at 65% is the difference between "something" and "nothing".

But your question was more complicated and the more relevant and important one:  "How late can you sow a crop and still get a harvest"?  My experience tells me that the info on the world map for when the "Growing Season" is for your tile is fairly accurate.  It tells you when the average temperature will go beyond the growth threshold.  You can probably fudge the edges by 1 or 2 days by gambling on a little extra growth during warm days or doing an early harvest, but much as I hate to admit it it is a good rule of thumb.

But if you do try to push the limits in frost-farming, remember that you still need 2/3 of the normal growth time to get any yield at all.

[The Man with No Name]

Thanks. That's useful to know about the 65% harvest target. I presume that's the same for cutting trees then?

Rice plant's real grow time is 4.36 days, while corn is 13.18 days, which is a big difference. So which type of plant does the 6th of Fall growing season end best apply to? Corn plants planted on 6th Fall wouldn't reach 100% growth until the Winter season, which presumably is too late.

[Greep]

Potatoes aren't bad for this case then, they're like the middle ground of rice and corn for nutrition/day vs work/yield.  Except in rich fertile ground, where it'd make sense to use corn instead.

return base.Map.fertilityGrid.FertilityAt(base.Position) * this.def.plant.fertilitySensitivity + (1f - this.def.plant.fertilitySensitivity)

Means potatoes are no better or worse at 100%, since fertility sensitivity just magnifies the difference from 100%

[cultist]

Basically, once the night temperature starts dropping below zero, you'll want to consider cutting your losses and harvest what you can. So you need to know more or less at what point in the year the temperature drops as well as how long it takes to grow specific crops.
On a temperate forst map, you should be able to get a good harvest regardless, unless you get some nasty event like volcanic winter or toxic fallout.
On Boreal forest, you should stick to potatoes and rice early on, as corn might die before it grows fully. Healroot isn't an option the first year unless you can get it planted right away at the start of the growing season (needs growing . You should also start planning out a sun lamp farm as soon as possible.
On tundra you're unlikely to be able to feed yourself through the winter and spring with the short (or non-existent) growing season. Start planning out a sun lamp farm right away and stockpile as many berries and wild game as you can. Use the nutrient dispenser exclusively if your pawns are not too fussy. Keep a few fine meals in stock for mentally unstable pawns. Don't get too attached to your pet. :O