Order of operations

[Crast™]

Does anyone have a good resource or infographic that explains when you're supposed to specific actions for field prep? I feel like there's so many different things and it's very unclear on when you need to do what.

[Furley]

Here's mine, don't know if it's the most efficient.

After harvest fert/lime (if needed)
Mulch (optional)
Cultivate/plow (if needed)
Sow (i use fert/seed seeders and planters)
Herbicide (immediately after sowing)
Wait

[The Millennial Mac]

I have found the best to be:

Mulch
Lime (if required)
Cultivate
Roll
Sow
Fertilise

If you are playing with weed growth on, wait for the first stage of growth and then spray herbicide and a second fertiliser spray, if needed.

[margalus]

Originally posted by iMacTVi:

I have found the best to be:

Mulch
Lime (if required)
Cultivate
Roll
Sow
Fertilise

If you are playing with weed growth on, wait for the first stage of growth and then spray herbicide and a second fertiliser spray, if needed.

You cannot lime after mulching. You have to lime first

[margalus]

My process after harvest.

Fertilize
Mulch
Cultivate
Collect stones
Fertilize
Sow

[Tankfriend]

What I'm doing:

- Lime (if needed)
- Fertilize
- Mulch
- Plow (if needed) OR Cultivate
- Collect Stones (if needed)
- Seed
- Fertilize
- Roll
- Mechanical Weeding
- Herbicide (if necessary)

[GrandTickler]

i like that noone seems to know the correct order :P
according to https://fs22.com/farming-simulator-22-mods/tutorials/farming-simulator-22-soil-grass-rollers/ you do the rolling after the seeding, which would make Tankfriend the only correct way, which is kinda how ive been doing it as well. although i should add if u choose to not plow and cultivate instead, stones will not generate, or stubble tilage is preventing stones from generating

the mystery still remains why the field only shows its seedbed state on the map (growth filters) when rolling after cultivating. so it could be some things are bugged

personally i also fertilize together with the seeder at the same time, then do a second wave after its first growth state, but im sure for fertilizer it doesnt matter when or how u do it, as long it receives 2 layers

edit: quick question, does anyone know in the case of grass fields if a grass roller is the best option after harvest? i noticed it helps but damn its only 3 meters in width, please tell me i can use some other tool for that? i tried the biggest regular roller but no luck

[ravensview]

I agree, it's not that clear how to get to the 'seedbed' state, or if it is in fact even a mandatory state.
Never mind the whole issue of spaders vs sub-soilers vs harrows. And whether what we see are features or bugs ;-)
Hopefully the next patch will also include a bit more documentation.

[margalus]

Originally posted by ravensview:

I agree, it's not that clear how to get to the 'seedbed' state, or if it is in fact even a mandatory state.
Never mind the whole issue of spaders vs sub-soilers vs harrows. And whether what we see are features or bugs ;-)
Hopefully the next patch will also include a bit more documentation.

It's a game. You can actually do things in mutiple different orders and still achieve the exact same end result. You do things the way you enjoy doing them and don't worry about whether somebody else thinks you are doing it right or wrong.

[ravensview]

@margalus - Yes, you are quite correct in pointing out that this is a game. A simulation game in face, where the degree of reality can be adjusted to some extent by the player, in the options they enable and the steps they follow. For some, the goal might just be to plant and harvest, others might want to model their steps on what an actual farmer would do, or work at the details of maximizing yield.
I certainly don't worry about other's judgement on right or wrong here, but thank you for the reassurance.

[Stenleh44]

So roll after seeding. If you have stone on the field after cultivating you need to roll before seeding as not to damage machine. Would you then roll again after seeding? Or did we already have the roll yield increase?

[ravenousparis]

Thanks! Really useful for a newb like me.

[=M$= Oroberus]

Originally posted by Tankfriend:

What I'm doing:

- Lime (if needed)
- Fertilize
- Mulch
- Plow (if needed) OR Cultivate
- Collect Stones (if needed)
- Seed
- Fertilize
- Roll
- Mechanical Weeding
- Herbicide (if necessary)

This is actually incorrect

1. Harvest
2. Lime (if needed)
3. Plow (if needed)
4. direct seed (also adds 1 fert-stage)
5. liquid fertilizer
6. herbicide (at the same day as seeding - does not apply if field was plowed)

Explanation:
Plowing a field fixes the max weed growth stage to 0%, so weed will never grow on the cycle a field was plowed. Same goes for hernbicide. Applying herbicide directly after seeding, fixes the max weed growth stage to 0%.

In terms of mulching, it can be done, indeed BUT it has no use. After extensive testing, the yield gain only is about 2% to 3% and not 5% and even if it would be 5%, the time, fuel and equipment wear you will encounter, present higher costs then the costs of opportunity are if you don't mulch.

EDIT: Yes, that is not how it works IRL and probably not how it is intended but as Giants didn't care to either playtest/QA their game, nor to change anything about that since release, it's the way it works.

[Tankfriend]

Originally posted by =M$= Oroberus:

This is actually incorrect

It would be "incorrect" if it didn't work. It does work, though.
Of course you can always choose to do it differently, to skip steps, or to use different tools, and that would change the way you'd go at it, as you demonstrated.

Originally posted by =M$= Oroberus:

In terms of mulching, it can be done, indeed BUT it has no use. After extensive testing, the yield gain only is about 2% to 3% and not 5% and even if it would be 5%, the time, fuel and equipment wear you will encounter, present higher costs then the costs of opportunity are if you don't mulch.

It's 2.5% according to the official documentation.
https://www.farming-simulator.com/newsArticle.php?lang=en&country=gb&news_id=296

[=M$= Oroberus]

Originally posted by Tankfriend:

Originally posted by =M$= Oroberus:

This is actually incorrect

It would be "incorrect" if it didn't work. It does work, though.
Of course you can always choose to do it differently, to skip steps, or to use different tools, and that would change the way you'd go at it, as you demonstrated.

Originally posted by =M$= Oroberus:

In terms of mulching, it can be done, indeed BUT it has no use. After extensive testing, the yield gain only is about 2% to 3% and not 5% and even if it would be 5%, the time, fuel and equipment wear you will encounter, present higher costs then the costs of opportunity are if you don't mulch.

It's 2.5% according to the official documentation.
https://www.farming-simulator.com/newsArticle.php?lang=en&country=gb&news_id=296

Interesting, didn't knew these, only knew the ingame numbers and those state 5% ;)

Regarding correct or incorrect, if it would only be 1 or 2 steps which still would have an effect, sure but please check your order again and compare it to how the game actually works.
Your order was indeed specifically wrong about several things (f.e. you put plowing but still put weeding/herbicide without a disclaimer. You put herbicide at the end, while putting it right after seeding, it would make mechanical weeding obsolete etc).

Sure, you can do it this way, or you can also drive a dozen circles around your field after drilling but before fertilizing, it'S something you can do ... but also something 100% inconsequencial to the actual outcome or needed field working steps in regard of the gameplay *g*

EDIT: And yes, again, this is not how it SHOULD work in a simulator but this is the pile of garbage Giants decided to release and not change since, don't blame me for doing all the testing after I noticed stuff being off, blame Giants for their lack of QA and ESPECIALLY for the lack of ingame guidance and (partially even wrong) documentation ;)

EDIT 2: Those official 2.5% really bother me now ... 2.5% ... there is no reason ever to mulch wtf ... if you got a standard 100% yield of 100.000l (which would be quite a huge field) this would yield mere 2500l extra ... while you would spend at least 10 to 20 minutes with the additional step of mulching + fuel + wear + helper (if you use one).

They actually implemented a new feature that, if ever used, will actively put the player on an disadvantage, while still writing about it as it would be advantageous ... I'm at a total loss of words for these guys by now ...

[Tankfriend]

Originally posted by =M$= Oroberus:

Your order was indeed specifically wrong about several things (f.e. you put plowing but still put weeding/herbicide without a disclaimer. You put herbicide at the end, while putting it right after seeding, it would make mechanical weeding obsolete etc).

First, I try to avoid using herbicide, because it's suppsed to slightly reduce your yields now. So mechanical weeding has priority for me. Still waiting for any official percentages on this, but I suspect it might be similar to the bonus from mulching?

Second, herbicide is the last resort and can still be used at the very end, when mechanical weeding no longer works. Hence, herbicide as the last step if everything else fails.
I had a few cases where I had to do several steps of mechanical weeding because the weeds grew back before the first growth stage of the crop was over - whether that was a bug or was caused by some other work step that boosted weed growth, I cannot say. It hasn't happened again so far.

Third, plowing is optional, so all further steps in a general overview have to account for the possibility of not plowing, and thus not breaking weed growth cycles.

Given that OP was asking for an overview and indicated that they were already information-overloaded, I chose not to dig into everything too deep at that point.

EDIT 2: Those official 2.5% really bother me now ... 2.5% ... there is no reason ever to mulch wtf ... if you got a standard 100% yield of 100.000l (which would be quite a huge field) this would yield mere 2500l extra ... while you would spend at least 10 to 20 minutes with the additional step of mulching + fuel + wear + helper (if you use one).

There's a tip under the same link I posted that you could mulch+cultivate in one step with the mulcher at the front and the cultivator at the rear. That would basically cut the extra costs for fuel, tractor wear, and helper salary out of the equation because both things would happen simultaneously.
I suppose that might offer more profitability on small to medium fields as long as you can match mulcher and cultivator working width. On large fields, though, it's probably going to become unfeasible to mulch very fast, because the small bonus from mulching would get eaten up by extra working costs, as you could no longer exploit the upper end of working widths for cultivation.
Haven't tested that, though.