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Here you can find information about seeds in Harvest Moon (SNES). There aren't many, considering this is the very first game of the series ever made. Also, there aren't any seeds for fall season.

Spring Crops[]

Spring crops are root vegetables that disappear once harvested, needing to be replanted. As a result, it is necessary to constantly buy seeds throughout the season, which cuts into your time and profits. Nonetheless, they can provide a steady income if you plant enough of them, eg 8 patches of turnips or 12 patches of potatoes will let you harvest two patches per day, for a daily profit between 500G and 1000G (depending on your chosen configuration).

Due to the first day of gameplay being a Tuesday, and the shops being closed on weekends, there is no initial advantage to turnips over potatoes; you cannot spend the income from your first harvest until the following Monday, regardless of which one you plant. Thus, potatoes are generally the better choice.

At the end of spring, it is best to plant as many potatoes as possible, while ensuring that they are not in the way of your summer crops. This will provide an income in the interim, while waiting for the summer crops to grow. Crops planted in spring will continue to grow in summer, but new potatoes or turnips cannot be planted in summer.


Picture (stages) Name Seed Price Sell Price Peddler

Price

Days to Grow Days to Regrow
Turnip snes Turnip 200G 60G 120G 4 does not re-grow
Potato snes Potato 200G 80G 160G 6 does not re-grow

Summer Crops[]

Summer crops are fruit-bearing plants, which remain after harvesting and will regrow in 3 days. This substantially reduces your expenses, allowing them to be much more profitable. They are also individually more valuable than spring crops. However, they have a longer initial growth period, and can be devastated by summer hurricanes. It may be advisable to plant a few more patches than you can really manage to harvest in a day, to have some leeway in case they are hit by a hurricane.

All crops immediately die in Fall, so there is no benefit to planting them close to the end of the season.


Picture (stages) Name Seed Price Sell Price Peddler Price Days to Grow Days to Regrow
Tomato snes
Tomato 300G 100G 200G 7 3
Corn snes
Corn 300G 120G 240G 11 3

Grass[]

Grass is used to feed animals, either by leaving the animals outside when there is ripe grass (not recommended), or by cutting it with the sickle and using the feed troughs in the barn. Once planted, it cannot be removed, except randomly through disasters like hurricanes, so it is important to carefully choose its location. On the other hand, it does not block your movement like cash crops do, so it is useful for filling your entire farm to boost your Ranch Development Rate.

Grass can be planted in spring or summer. It will continue to grow - but new grass cannot be planted - in fall. It does not grow in winter, but is still present under the snow, and will regrow when spring returns.


Picture Seed Price Grow Season Days to Grow Days to Regrow
 Grass snes 500G spring to fall 9 9

Planting Strategies[]

In Harvest Moon (SNES), there are disadvantages to planting seeds in a 3x3 square. Once a plant sprouts, you will no longer be able to step over that square. Following the typical 3x3 square, there are formations listed to maximize profit without losing the opportunity to water a square with a seed.

Normal 3x3 Square[]

Planting 3x3 snes


The most common mistake new older-Harvest Moon players make is planting their crops in this formation. Like this, once the crops sprout, you will no longer be able to reach the middle square to water or harvest the middle crop along with the outside ones. You can still plant other patches while waiting for the leftover crop to mature, but it will take up valuable real estate close to the shipping bin, slowing down your harvests and reducing your overall income per day.

Ordinarily, the only time to use this formation is at the end of Spring, when the crops will not ripen until Summer. At the start of Summer, it doesn't matter if it takes a few more days to fully harvest the Spring crops (since you will likely run out of crops before your summer crops ripen anyway), and planting all 9 squares means you can bring in slightly more cash while waiting for corn or tomatoes to grow.

Advanced 3x3 Square[]

There is, however, an advanced technique to make this formation effective all season long, which takes advantage of the fact that Spring crops spend exactly half their lives as seeds (which can be walked over) and half as sprouts (which cannot).

You can plant all 9 squares, but then water only 8 of them (in the first 8/9 pattern below, the 'fat C'), until the crops have sprouted, after which you can water all 9 squares. This will result in the 8 squares ripening at the same time as the last square sprouts, so no square is ever inaccessible. You can then replant the 8 squares and continue to water all 9; the 9th square will ripen at the same time as the others sprout.

This allows you to harvest 17 crops from 2 bags of seed (effectively 8.5/9), without any delays, nor extra distance to the shipping bin, compared to the 8/9 formations.

Caveats[]
  • This is only suitable for Spring crops, since Summer crops do not disappear when harvested.
  • It is also only suitable in the first year, since it requires precise watering control that cannot be achieved with the Sprinkler.
  • If it rains during the first few days of this technique, you will need to delay the start of watering the 9th square. This can quickly become complex to manage, especially with large fields of crops.


Optimal Planting Formations[]

Planting 8tiles snes


8 / 9 Squares Planted
One of the squares is left untilled, preventing a seed from being planted there. This is the most profitable way to plant crops as it allows you to reach all of the crops to water and harvest. Two patches like this, placed back-to-back with a single row between them, can be watered with just three uses of the sprinkler tool.

Planting 8alt snes


8 / 9 Alternative
This is an alternative take on the above strategy. You can leave the middle square untilled so you won't have to worry about the center square at all. However, it is quite unsuitable once you have the sprinkler.


Nonoptimal Planting Formations[]

These strategies aren't as profitable as the last two, but can still be used.

Planting 7tiles snes


7 / 9 Squares Planted
While allowing you to reach all of the crops, this strategy takes away two plants instead of one, leaving you with less overall profit. This formation does allow you have access to the center location which will allow you to water all the crops with a single use of the sprinkler.


Planting 6tiles snes


6 / 9 Squares Planted
With this, you can make rows or columns and just go down the line watering the crops on either side as you pass. This can give an advantage in harvest times, particularly of summer crops, and especially once you have the horse, as one simply grabs down the line, and doesn't need to worry about corner or center crops. It's also technically a more "traditional" farm look.

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