Plowing benefits?

[HuggernautNL]

So, according to the "academy": Plowing prevents weeds from growing.

Right now my cycle is like this:

1. Harvest.
2. Fertilize (spreader).
3. Mulch.
4. Cultivate.
5. Seed (Amazone).
6. Roll.
7. Spray Herbicide against weeds.

Am I right that if I plow, I do not need to mulch or spray? And the Amazone can seed on a plowed field without cultivating first?

So then my cycle would be:

1. Harvest.
2. Fertilize (spreader).
3. Plow.
4. Seed.
5. Roll.

So that would save me quite some time, I would not need herbicide and I do not need a cultivator or mulcher?

[[ScrN]Dr. Jan Itor]

spraying herbicide is only good if you have already large weeds. for small ones you can use a weeder. when it comes to plowing if says do it after harvesting root crops. you also can check out the ingame guides.

[HuggernautNL]

Yeah I know how weeding and spraying works. Weeding is not always 100% effective though, that is why I chose spraying.

But if I plow, that would mean no weeds at all.

So I am just thinking it is more efficient and cheaper in the long run.

[max954]

Plowing is required only after planting crops like corn, sugarbeets, potatoes, sugarcane and poplars. If you don't plow after this crops you get a malus. I also recommend to not use herbicide if possible: using it remove weeds but you get a -15% malus. Also plowing dig up stones (according to the wiki large stones but, by my experience, it only digs small stone, most likely an error from Giants).

Weeds are a bit complicated this time, if your field has 50% or less weeds you can use some weeders (the aerostar, both pneumatic star and the ts 1520) but if your field has more than 50% weeds ( i've seen 75%) if you use said weeders the % of weeds will reduce to 25%. But if you use the chopstar (which is under the weeder section but, according to the game, is a hoe) you can remove all the weeds (as long as they are not fully grown).

To mitigate this i use a cultivator (which has the effect to reduce the amount of weeds) before seeding so i get 50% weeds and then use a weeder. The only downside is that i have to use a roller to remove the small stones (they don't effect the yield but i do for the sake of realism).

Lastly i wouldn't bother with either mulching or rolling: the combined bonus is only 5%

[Tanktyr]

Need to plow every crop type every 3rd harvest, same with lime, the field will tell you when its needed tho

[GrizzlyBearSims]

Plowing every year is an option. But may not be the most efficient, especially if you have rocks turned on.

Once you plow, then remove large rocks or roll small rocks under, you can avoid the need to remove rocks again until plowing again by using a shallow cultivator.

[margalus]

Originally posted by Tanktyr:

Need to plow every crop type every 3rd harvest, same with lime, the field will tell you when its needed tho

This is FS22, not 19. Plowing is only required after root crops now.

[margalus]

There are two types of cultivators in the game. A "regular" cultivator and a shallow cultivator. A cultivator forces weeds to sprout at 50% allowing the use a mechanical weeder to completely eliminate them. A shallow cultivator allows weeds to sprout at 75% forcing the use of herbicides.

Plowing completely eliminates weeds, so you don't have to use a weeder or herbicides, but it is a much slower process than simply using a weeder. The best option would be to use a cultivator then weeder, imo.

[Llandari]

Originally posted by margalus:

Originally posted by Tanktyr:

Need to plow every crop type every 3rd harvest, same with lime, the field will tell you when its needed tho

This is FS22, not 19. Plowing is only required after root crops now.

Didn't have to plow every three harvests in 19 either, only after root crops, corn and sugar cane.

[margalus]

Originally posted by Llandari:

Originally posted by margalus:

This is FS22, not 19. Plowing is only required after root crops now.

Didn't have to plow every three harvests in 19 either, only after root crops, corn and sugar cane.

fair enough, I stand corrected. I did it so long previously I remembered incorrectly.

[HuggernautNL]

I just figured plowing every time is more effective since you dont need to cultivate, mulch or weed/spray.

I have stones off btw. That mechanic is super annoying.

[margalus]

Originally posted by HuggernautNL:

I just figured plowing every time is more effective since you dont need to cultivate, mulch or weed/spray.

I have stones off btw. That mechanic is super annoying.

You still need to mulch before plowing or cultivating if you want the 5% bonus.

[HuggernautNL]

Originally posted by margalus:

Originally posted by HuggernautNL:

I just figured plowing every time is more effective since you dont need to cultivate, mulch or weed/spray.

I have stones off btw. That mechanic is super annoying.

You still need to mulch before plowing or cultivating if you want the 5% bonus.

Ok good to know, but isn't it 2,5% bonus for mulching?

[TrickyNick77]

Someone more experienced can correc me if I am wrong.

You get 2.5% for mulching and 2.5% for rolling I believe?

[Tanktyr]

Originally posted by margalus:

Originally posted by Tanktyr:

Need to plow every crop type every 3rd harvest, same with lime, the field will tell you when its needed tho

This is FS22, not 19. Plowing is only required after root crops now.

And with periodic plowing on still have to do it every 3rd harvest or so or?

[margalus]

Originally posted by Tanktyr:

Originally posted by margalus:

This is FS22, not 19. Plowing is only required after root crops now.

And with periodic plowing on still have to do it every 3rd harvest or so or?

Nope, periodic plowing has not been every 3rd harvest since 17 actually. Now it means just after root crops.