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Farming/Gardening in DayZ
By Arizona Breeze
A basic guide to farming/horticulture in DayZ as of .52/.53.
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Guide Index
Overview
Introduction
Why Farm?
Equipment to Gather
Procedures
Hydration and Energy from Produce
Tips and Ideas
Reader Input
Comments
Introduction
2019 Note: from the alpha, AKA completely out of date.
A couple days ago I decided to try farming in DayZ. Unfortunately the only Steam guide I could find that covered farming specifically was in German. So after I learned how to farm through trial and error I decided to make my own guide. This is a guide was written for the .52 build and is curently being updated to .53. Most of the information as well as basic procedures are the same.
A couple days ago I decided to try farming in DayZ. Unfortunately the only Steam guide I could find that covered farming specifically was in German. So after I learned how to farm through trial and error I decided to make my own guide. This is a guide was written for the .52 build and is curently being updated to .53. Most of the information as well as basic procedures are the same.
Why Farm?
Farming is a nice change of pace from other DayZ activities, but it has a practical side as well.
If you are operating with a group that has a secret campsite farming gives the person left behind to guard the tent something to do with his/her time, while guaranteeing a steady supply of food at the campsite.
If you're playing solo, farming is a great way to fill up on energy and hydration in secret when supplies are scarce. This is because even starving scavengers typically consider farming supplies useless so they can often be found on servers that have otherwise been picked clean.
If you are operating with a group that has a secret campsite farming gives the person left behind to guard the tent something to do with his/her time, while guaranteeing a steady supply of food at the campsite.
If you're playing solo, farming is a great way to fill up on energy and hydration in secret when supplies are scarce. This is because even starving scavengers typically consider farming supplies useless so they can often be found on servers that have otherwise been picked clean.
Equipment to Gather
Things you absolutely need:
A digging implement - you can use a shovel, pickaxe, hoe, or field shovel. Field shovels only take up 3 slots and I can therefore carry 2-3 (they wear out). Ice axes are probably the best choice since they only take up 2 spaces (the issue where they could not dig tiles has been fixed).
Seeds - these come in packets or you can use a blade on a tomato, pepper or zuccini to get the seeds. Seed types are tomatoes, peppers, zuccinis, and pumpkins (which work as of .53).
A source of water - this can be a water bottle, canteen, or the rain if it happens to be raining. Also, now that you can put any liquid in any container the gas can is great for watering a huge number of times on one fill.
Things that are helpful but not necessary:
Garden Lime - it makes your plants grow much faster, but isn't necessary. It takes up 2x3 in your inventory and can be carried in hands.
An extra backpack or tent - to store the huge amount of food you will receive.
A blade - to cut the seeds out of your crops so you don't need to find more seed packages. Any type of knife works, but so do some unconventional tools, like hacksaws and hay hooks.
A digging implement - you can use a shovel, pickaxe, hoe, or field shovel. Field shovels only take up 3 slots and I can therefore carry 2-3 (they wear out). Ice axes are probably the best choice since they only take up 2 spaces (the issue where they could not dig tiles has been fixed).
Seeds - these come in packets or you can use a blade on a tomato, pepper or zuccini to get the seeds. Seed types are tomatoes, peppers, zuccinis, and pumpkins (which work as of .53).
A source of water - this can be a water bottle, canteen, or the rain if it happens to be raining. Also, now that you can put any liquid in any container the gas can is great for watering a huge number of times on one fill.
Things that are helpful but not necessary:
Garden Lime - it makes your plants grow much faster, but isn't necessary. It takes up 2x3 in your inventory and can be carried in hands.
An extra backpack or tent - to store the huge amount of food you will receive.
A blade - to cut the seeds out of your crops so you don't need to find more seed packages. Any type of knife works, but so do some unconventional tools, like hacksaws and hay hooks.
Procedures
(If any of the following wording is slightly different than in the game it's because I'm doing it from memory. It should be pretty straightforward.)
Find a secluded spot you can find again later in case you have to leave for supplies. It's best to plant near a source of water if it isn't raining, since you'll need to ferry water to your plot.
Equip your digging implement and use the middle mouse function wheel to dig a garden plot. This plot contains 9 "tiles" which will hold one plant each.
Continue selecting "dig tile" on the garden plot. Each time you do this one tile will be prepared for planting. Stop when you have enough tiles dug or dig all nine if you wish.
If you have fertilizer, equip it and select "fertilize this spot" over each tile you wish to plant in. This uses up 5% of the bag each time. Fertilizer makes your plants grow much faster but isn't required.
Equip your seeds and select "plant seed here" over each specific prepared tile.
If the game tells you that the ground is too dry for the seed to grow you need to water it with a bottle or canteen. Canteens can water 4 tiles while bottles can water 5, so you need 3 canteens, 2 bottles, or one of each to fully water a plot. Go to each plant and select "water this plant" while holding the bottle. Again, if it rained or the game just said "The seed is planted" without mentioning dry soil you can skip this part.
Wait and watch. The plants go through a few stages before being ready to pick. The middle mouse action should say "collect fruit and plant" or somesuch when it's ready. With fertilizer, the wait is about 10 minutes. Pumpkins plants give you 2 pumpkins, zuccini plants give you 2 zuccinis, pepper plants give you 3 peppers, and tomato plants give you 6 tomatoes. Both plants give you "plant material" as well, although I haven't found a use for it. Any fruit that doesn't fit in your inventory when you harvest the plant can be found on the ground. Sometimes you have to pick up the plant material to see it.
If you wait too long the plant will be spoiled and you'll only get rotten fruit. Just leave that plant alone and it will despawn.
You can collect 2-3 seeds from each tomato or pepper when you use a blade on them and 3-4 from a zuccini, meaning that you can eat the majority of your harvest and still have enough to replant. Seed amounts aren't always the same and have been changed more than once so don't depend on these numbers. Just cut out enough seeds to replant before you chow down.
Find a secluded spot you can find again later in case you have to leave for supplies. It's best to plant near a source of water if it isn't raining, since you'll need to ferry water to your plot.
Equip your digging implement and use the middle mouse function wheel to dig a garden plot. This plot contains 9 "tiles" which will hold one plant each.
Continue selecting "dig tile" on the garden plot. Each time you do this one tile will be prepared for planting. Stop when you have enough tiles dug or dig all nine if you wish.
If you have fertilizer, equip it and select "fertilize this spot" over each tile you wish to plant in. This uses up 5% of the bag each time. Fertilizer makes your plants grow much faster but isn't required.
Equip your seeds and select "plant seed here" over each specific prepared tile.
If the game tells you that the ground is too dry for the seed to grow you need to water it with a bottle or canteen. Canteens can water 4 tiles while bottles can water 5, so you need 3 canteens, 2 bottles, or one of each to fully water a plot. Go to each plant and select "water this plant" while holding the bottle. Again, if it rained or the game just said "The seed is planted" without mentioning dry soil you can skip this part.
Wait and watch. The plants go through a few stages before being ready to pick. The middle mouse action should say "collect fruit and plant" or somesuch when it's ready. With fertilizer, the wait is about 10 minutes. Pumpkins plants give you 2 pumpkins, zuccini plants give you 2 zuccinis, pepper plants give you 3 peppers, and tomato plants give you 6 tomatoes. Both plants give you "plant material" as well, although I haven't found a use for it. Any fruit that doesn't fit in your inventory when you harvest the plant can be found on the ground. Sometimes you have to pick up the plant material to see it.
If you wait too long the plant will be spoiled and you'll only get rotten fruit. Just leave that plant alone and it will despawn.
You can collect 2-3 seeds from each tomato or pepper when you use a blade on them and 3-4 from a zuccini, meaning that you can eat the majority of your harvest and still have enough to replant. Seed amounts aren't always the same and have been changed more than once so don't depend on these numbers. Just cut out enough seeds to replant before you chow down.
Hydration and Energy from Produce
Veggies increase both hydration and energy, but aren't the most efficent at it. It can be hard to reach max hydration and energy from them alone when you're at a low starting point, but there is a way to do it.
Grow a whole plot worth of produce, and eat until you throw up. You'll lose all your stomach contents (stuffed) but keep a lot of the hydration and energy you gained. Just eat some more and you should be in the green on both without even being stuffed.
Grow a whole plot worth of produce, and eat until you throw up. You'll lose all your stomach contents (stuffed) but keep a lot of the hydration and energy you gained. Just eat some more and you should be in the green on both without even being stuffed.
Tips and Ideas
Fertilizer is nice but not necessary, and can fertilize 20x per bag. On the other hand, digging implements seem to run out unfortunately fast and none of them can be repaired through sharpening by rocks, so in DayZ farming that's your nonrenewable resource. You'll have to go scavenging. Fortunately shovels are fairly easy to find.
Hide a backpack or two around your favorite farming area with all your farm gear and leftover produce. That way you can travel light to loot, and make a beeline back to a prepared farming location if you die. Note that plots are not persistent yet and will need to be redug each time a server restarts.
Have a fire pit and do some hunting to pass the time if your crops are growing slowly. Just don't be gone too long or they'll spoil.
Fishing is another good pasttime, especially if your farm is near water.
If you have a serious surplus of food (easy to achieve even with a single plot) why not hide all your good loot in a backpack at your camp and head to the coast with a pack full of tomatoes to give to newspawns? If you die, just hot foot it back to your hidden camp and get your stuff back.
Hide a backpack or two around your favorite farming area with all your farm gear and leftover produce. That way you can travel light to loot, and make a beeline back to a prepared farming location if you die. Note that plots are not persistent yet and will need to be redug each time a server restarts.
Have a fire pit and do some hunting to pass the time if your crops are growing slowly. Just don't be gone too long or they'll spoil.
Fishing is another good pasttime, especially if your farm is near water.
If you have a serious surplus of food (easy to achieve even with a single plot) why not hide all your good loot in a backpack at your camp and head to the coast with a pack full of tomatoes to give to newspawns? If you die, just hot foot it back to your hidden camp and get your stuff back.
Reader Input
If anyone has any suggestions I like I'll put them below. Additionally, please feel free to point out any factual mistakes I made and I'll correct them.
Reader TokRock pointed out that the hay hook can be used to cut seeds out and open cans with little spillage.
Reader TokRock pointed out that the hay hook can be used to cut seeds out and open cans with little spillage.
45 Comments
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Do crops wither?
Oh, I forgot this guide even existed. I haven't farmed in DayZ since the alpha. Time to retire the guide...
when i use the shovel and im out in the wilderness, it says dig up worms. How do i get the ground ready to plant cannibis?
Is there any areas people can think of specifically? Like near sheds, a pond, and maybe a field inland for hunting?
Nice, i never thought about that
