Question about mulching

[Errollitos]

Hey guys, I've got a question about mulching. I never played Farming sim before, only started with 25 few weeks back. I have tried and watched videos about mulching, I have read about mulching, but the information I seeked wasn't there, only the same basic info repeated over and over. It is possible that I misunderstood as well, who knows.

So - I wonder about how to get the mulching state for every crop and harvest (right now I do not care if it is worth it or not). I know (I think) that I can only mulch 7 crops mostly mulching after harvest, sometimes the state is earned automatically after harvesting. So for the 7 crops the mulching state is quite easy to get. But how to get it for the rest of the crops? With crop rotation I can get a mulchable crop first then get the desired crop afterwards to get the mulched state for the desired crop. But if I do that the mulched state won't be there for the first crop.

So I thought I could somehow "spray" or distribute something for my fields, but that it is not possible imo. Then I thought I cannot get the 100 % bonus for every harvest, but some videos (most of them) claimed it is possible to get it every time. Recently, I found out by chance that I can put canola in, let is grow a month or two then mulch when it is growing to get the mulched state for the crop I really want. Is this the intended way how to get the 100% every time? Or am I missing quite an obvious thing?

[Throsbi]

most players do not know or have forgot he proper field prep order. Most forgot because with precision farming the order didnt matter much as you could do them in most any order and it still worked out.

Until the new version of Precision Farming comes out to test if anything has changed the following is what you need to do
Harvest
Lime
Mulch -> crops that leave stubble ie- wheat, barley, oat, sorghum, soybean, corn
1st Fertilizer (slurry can do 1st & 2nd)

Plow or chisel as needed
pick or roll stone depending on size produced

direct seed (some seeders can apply 2nd fert)
apply 2nd fert if not done with planter

OR after plow/stone picking
cultivate
pick/roll stone
Plant (some planters can apply 2nd fert)

following the direct seed or planter state now roll field

you can also run weeder/hoe or apply herbicide at this time

this usually takes care of weed if not keep eye on weeds and treat accordingly

when ready to harvest rinse and repeat

[Throsbi]

Also note some crops grow back so you can harvest more than once without repeating the steps during the year I think its spinach for a single year than repeat after 2nd

sugarcane and poplar regrow and only need to be redone after 3rd year if you have periodic plowing. Dont remember exactly on those as I just ignore the needs plowing and take the lose

And I think its corn & potatoes that require plowing after harvest. On the giants FS website they have the tutorial/acadamey to review

the ingame help also explains it.

[joridiculous]

When you harvest crops that leaves "straws", let the harvester 'spread it' and you get Mulched status on that field.
Correct order now is:
plow(if on),
(lime if needed)
mulch,
cultivate(shallow is enough, or harrow etc. You usually have to cult after mulch even with a direct drill(seeder))
direct seed, if you don't use a direct seeder- cultivate, seed
roll,
weed,
fertilise (if seeder/planter dont fert, do that before seeding/planting as well)

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by Throsbi:

most players do not know or have forgot he proper field prep order.......

Originally posted by joridiculous:

When you harvest crops that leaves "straws", let the harvester 'spread it' and you get Mulched status on that field...........

Thank you both for responding, but it did not answer any of my question about mulching. I assume it is my fault due to long description etc so I will try to rephrase it:

A lot of videos and articles stated "how to get 100 % bonus yield every time for your field" or similar. So I got me thinking how do you get 100 % bonus for lets say carrots or peas, since they cannot be mulched, which is required for 100 % bonus.

That is basically my question, how to achieve that and I could not find an answer anywhere.

Well I fiugred I have to plant something, that can be mulched, before the plant I want to grow (example: wheat -> peas) so that I can mulch wheat to get 100% bonus for peas aka crop rotation. But if I do that, I cannot achieve 100% bonus for the wheat (wheat -> peas -> wheat -> peas). So that made me think about this and that's why I am asking here experienced players and farmers.

I found a certain way, after an accidental discovery that works for every crop, but I am not sure it is totally intended. Maybe it is (it kind of make sense), maybe it is not so I am asking to both compare the techniques how to do that and to learn the proper way, because I do not believe my way is the proper way (yet). I pointed to my technique in my first post.

[Alerman]

Dude. Mulching only adds 2% to the yield. I think you can do without it, right?

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by Alerman:

Dude. Mulching only adds 2% to the yield. I think you can do without it, right?

I said it in my first post, I put aside if it is worth it or not, that's different question.

[DaddyJokee]

Originally posted by Alerman:

Dude. Mulching only adds 2% to the yield. I think you can do without it, right?

TBH It can be worth it if you have a large acreage. 2% of 1 acre may be meh, but 2% of 100 less so.

The only time I think it definitely isn't worth it is by using the mulching of straw instead of collecting straw for bales. You make more money of straw than off the two percent increase yield.

Buuut he said he didn't care about the worth, only about the order of operations.

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by DaddyJokee:

Originally posted by Alerman:

Dude. Mulching only adds 2% to the yield. I think you can do without it, right?

TBH It can be worth it if you have a large acreage. 2% of 1 acre may be meh, but 2% of 100 less so.

The only time I think it definitely isn't worth it is by using the mulching of straw instead of collecting straw for bales. You make more money of straw than off the two percent increase yield.

Buuut he said he didn't care about the worth, only about the order of operations.

For some and I dare to say for most it is not worth it, for me - I have not decided yet - that's why I currently ask HOW would one do it.

I ask about how to actually get the 100 % (main thing is mulching, the rest is irrelevant here) for the crops that cannot be mulched. And then get another 100 % for the crop after etc

The order of operations (rolling, plowing, seeding, weeding etc) is not important here. Just how would one get 100% bonus yield EVERY single time for EVERY single crop on the same field like all the videos and sites claimed. It is somewhat bugging me and I have been thinking about that ever since I learned about mulching and it did not add up, I came to the conclusion that I cannot get 100% every single time because if I put carrots down, the next crop wont have the mulching bonus 2,5%.

I am still unsure if I explained it right what I am asking so I will try to streamline the question. How would I get a 100 % bonus harvest yield for my carrots and the peas I want to sow immediately after on the very same field after I harvest the carrots there.

[The Big Brzezinski]

Mulching is the process of chopping up residues left behind after harvesting a crop. You can't get that mulching bonus for the first planting. For every subsequent cycle, though, you mulch immediately after harvesting.

Note that mulching generally also precludes doing anything else with that cycle. If you plan on performing any other processes on that planting, like rolling grass or additional harvests, mulching is undesirable. Mulching is best done when you're completely done with that cycle and are going to start a new one with a fresh planting.

I'm not sure about this business of plowing before mulching. That really shouldn't work. You can hardly chop up residues that have already been plowed under. But, it's a game. Setup the rules how you like.

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

You can't get that mulching bonus for the first planting. For every subsequent cycle, though, you mulch immediately after harvesting.

I came to the same conclusion that very first harvest cannot have 100% yield bonus since there is nothing to mulch. The 2nd can have 100 %, but ONLY if the 1st was one of the 7 mulchable crops, right (wheat, barley, etc)? What about the 3rd harvest, can it have 100% if the 2nd harvest was for example peas / carrots / red beets etc? My brain was saying no, hence why I created this topic here, but since then I found a way and I am quite unsure if it was intended to work that way tbh

I may be totally off and you can somehow mulch carrots / peas / red beets etc then my question would be totally irrelevant.

Note I am only talking and asking about the in-game stuff, not real life farming and mulching since I do know anything about that and I ain't planning to start farming irl :-)

[The Big Brzezinski]

Well root crops I'm pretty sure are basically out. Whatever you might've mulched tends to get chopped off before you even harvest them. It's probably worth testing on peas, rice, and long grain rice, though. Same probably goes for spinach and sugar cane after their last harvest is done. It's always a good idea to start up a temporary save and do some testing yourself.

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

Well root crops I'm pretty sure are basically out. Whatever you might've mulched tends to get chopped off before you even harvest them. It's probably worth testing on peas, rice, and long grain rice, though. Same probably goes for spinach and sugar cane after their last harvest is done. It's always a good idea to start up a temporary save and do some testing yourself.

Yep, yep, exactly. These crops do not leave anything behind that can be mulched. That's exactly what lead me to think about it more and more since the videos I watched and the articles I read stated "how to get 100% every time".

I tested only a little, I tend to ask first to see if anyone was seeking the same answers and if I do not get an answer then I tend to do multiple testing and share the results I find.

So far, as I understand it, you cannot mulch root crops etc and it makes sense you cannot. It would be weird if you could (to me). And that was in conrast with the videos and walkthroughs or whatnot, where they said only 7 crops can be mulched, but that you can get 100% bonus every time for every crop.

So, from the conversation here from multiple people, I figure you cannot. You cannot have 100% bonus every single time for every single crop.

So what I found by accident really was that if you want 100% yield for your 1st crop or crop that follows non-mulchable plant, you can do the following: 1.sow canola 2. when it pops out a month or two after immediately run it over with a mulcher then plant your desired crop. I havn't tested it yet properly, I only found out because I decided to change my canola field into a sheep area so I decided screw canola and lets plant grass instead for the sheep. Then I got the idea to try and it worked. So basically you exchange the seed cost for the 2,5% bonus yield if done this way. I havn't tested other crops or how many months do you have to wait etc, still in the process of finding out, but I thought somebody here might have already done so so I should ask first.

Nothing about this is mentioned anywhere nor am I totally convinced it should be viable, eventhough it does make sense, that you can mulch growing plants even in the infancy stages (only few centimeters above ground).

[The Big Brzezinski]

Have you tried mulching oilseed radish?

[Errollitos]

Originally posted by The Big Brzezinski:

Have you tried mulching oilseed radish?

I grew it once, but I cannot remember it that clearly, but I think I grew it and it became withered right away so I was confused and found out that Oilseed radish is only for fetrilizing basically. And since it was marked as withered I believe I mulched it yes, but I cannot remember the result. But I should be able to check out if the field has the mulched state since I put wheat in there and it is growing now.

[illgib]

Originally posted by Throsbi:

most players do not know or have forgot he proper field prep order. Most forgot because with precision farming the order didnt matter much as you could do them in most any order and it still worked out.

Until the new version of Precision Farming comes out to test if anything has changed the following is what you need to do
Harvest
Lime
Mulch -> crops that leave stubble ie- wheat, barley, oat, sorghum, soybean, corn
1st Fertilizer (slurry can do 1st & 2nd)

Plow or chisel as needed
pick or roll stone depending on size produced

direct seed (some seeders can apply 2nd fert)
apply 2nd fert if not done with planter

OR after plow/stone picking
cultivate
pick/roll stone
Plant (some planters can apply 2nd fert)

following the direct seed or planter state now roll field

you can also run weeder/hoe or apply herbicide at this time

this usually takes care of weed if not keep eye on weeds and treat accordingly

when ready to harvest rinse and repeat

If you're really into rp.
FS never had a "proper order of doing things" other than weed and stones.
You can fertilize, lime and mulch whenever you want, and if you've plowed you don't need to cultivate with any machine, you can just sow with whatever machine you want.

Don't put too much thought into it, there's no simulation here, it's an arcade sandbox.