Vanilla trick: Automatic wild plant harvesting

[Chibiabos]

I've been playing Rimworld for more than 10 alphas, and I -just- stumbled on a mindbogglingly simple trick/hack on how to automatically harvest wild plants without having to manually select the wild plants for 'harvest' (agave, berries, should work on Ambrosia too):  create a growing zone but disable sowing around the wild plants -- your farmers will NOT try to wipe out the plants since sowing is disabled, but WILL harvest harvestable plants automatically when they are ripe in the area.  Voila!

[ProjectXa3]

Holy cats! I gotta try this, I've actually got two different instances of Ambrosia Sprouts in my southern sector that this would be PERFECT for.

[SpaceDorf]

That was my first reaction to that trick too

It also works on Trees.

[Snafu_RW]

create a growing zone but disable sowing around the wild plants

Why is the "disable sowing around wild plants" necessary? Shirley the farmers should harvest whether or not the entire zone is set to not sow..?

Dunno if wild plants spawn in the same areas from season to season, but I think Ambrosia does, at least for a couple of years (does/can it last longer than that if tended?)

[Rimrue]

Thanks for the tip! This does indeed work great for ambrosia.

Snafu_RW you want to disable sowing otherwise your growers will rip out the wild plants and sow potatoes or whatever in their place.

[BetaSpectre]

+1

[Lys]

@OP, thanks nice to know.

create a growing zone but disable sowing around the wild plants

Why is the "disable sowing around wild plants" necessary? Shirley the farmers should harvest whether or not the entire zone is set to not sow..?

If they sow they will harvest yes, but they cut the plant completely for that. This "trick" is supposed to keep those wild plants alive (i.e. raspberry bushes & ambrosia can be harvested multiple times) and automate their harvest.

Dunno if wild plants spawn in the same areas from season to season, but I think Ambrosia does, at least for a couple of years (does/can it last longer than that if tended?)

Generally wild plants spawn randomly as far as I have seen it. Ambrosia will live for 2 or 3 years I think and then disappear (unless a new sprout event happens exactly there, of course).

[Snafu_RW]

create a growing zone but disable sowing around the wild plants

Why is the "disable sowing around wild plants" necessary? Shirley the farmers should harvest whether or not the entire zone is set to not sow..?

If they sow they will harvest yes, but they cut the plant completely for that. This "trick" is supposed to keep those wild plants alive (i.e. raspberry bushes & ambrosia can be harvested multiple times) and automate their harvest.

Dunno if wild plants spawn in the same areas from season to season, but I think Ambrosia does, at least for a couple of years (does/can it last longer than that if tended?)

Generally wild plants spawn randomly as far as I have seen it. Ambrosia will live for 2 or 3 years I think and then disappear (unless a new sprout event happens exactly there, of course).

Understood, but shirley disabling the entire grow zone from being seeded (not 'just around the <plant(s)>) would have the same effect? I'm simply puzzling out the semantics of the OP here..

[Bozobub]

Just make little, tiny individual grow areas for each wild, harvestable plant.

[Chibiabos]

create a growing zone but disable sowing around the wild plants

Why is the "disable sowing around wild plants" necessary? Shirley the farmers should harvest whether or not the entire zone is set to not sow..?

Dunno if wild plants spawn in the same areas from season to season, but I think Ambrosia does, at least for a couple of years (does/can it last longer than that if tended?)

As Rimrue said, your farmers will rip out the wild harvestable plants in the area and plant their crops in its place. This tip is to get your farmers to automatically harvest wild plants, which they will do if those wild plants are in a crop zone -- but to prevent the farmers from ripping those wild plants out (we just want them harvested, not ripped out), disable sowing.

This tip is /not/ to provide your colony with regular food, that would come from regular crops in sown crop zones.  The wild crops are 'free' in that your farmers don't have to keep farming them; they produce food regularly on their own until their plants die (all plants have a limited lifespan).  This tip just helps you get them automatically by creating a crop zone around them but not sowing (so your farmers won't destroy the plants).

[Chibiabos]

Just make little, tiny individual grow areas for each wild, harvestable plant.

A bit too much effort.  You can use one zone over a wide area.

I noticed the trees will get automatically chopped too when they are mature.

[Bozobub]

A bit too much effort.  You can use one zone over a wide area.

I noticed the trees will get automatically chopped too when they are mature.

Then the surrounding grow area *will not* be sown, until you tell them to, whereupon they will then immediately rip out the plant and sow w/e crop.  Small, individual areas tailored for each clump of plants allows you to grow crops up to the exact tile(s) the plant(s) occupy/ies.

[Chibiabos]

A bit too much effort.  You can use one zone over a wide area.

I noticed the trees will get automatically chopped too when they are mature.

Then the surrounding grow area *will not* be sown, until you tell them to, whereupon they will then immediately rip out the plant and sow w/e crop.  Small, individual areas tailored for each clump of plants allows you to grow crops up to the exact tile(s) the plant(s) occupy/ies.

If you allow them to be sown, you will destroy the wild plants this tip is meant to help you automatically harvest.

[Bozobub]

A bit too much effort.  You can use one zone over a wide area.

I noticed the trees will get automatically chopped too when they are mature.

Then the surrounding grow area *will not* be sown, until you tell them to, whereupon they will then immediately rip out the plant and sow w/e crop.  Small, individual areas tailored for each clump of plants allows you to grow crops up to the exact tile(s) the plant(s) occupy/ies.

If you allow them to be sown, you will destroy the wild plants this tip is meant to help you automatically harvest.

You're confused, I think.

Let's say I have/want a grow area, like so (the "X"s are the plants in question)

Code Select Expand

........
....x...
....x..x
........
Just select the entire area, make the 1st (larger) zone, and then "punch holes" in it over the plants you want to maintain.  Simply make small zones on top of each clump of plants (so 2 here) with sowing disabled; the larger area is just a normal farm zone.

Any other way you do it that doesn't involve separate zones, you WILL waste perfectly usable arable soil.  Care to show how you would not, in this example..?

An additional benefit is that, when the plants finally die, you can simply remove those zones and add the space back to the larger area with very little trouble.

[Rimrue]

Snafu, I think that was just poorly worded. Creating a growing zone over the ambrosia and disabling the whole thing works just fine for me. No need to punch holes in it created individual growing zones. By disabling sowing, growers don't cut the grass or trees either.