what is the most efficient plant?

[Jumping Spiders Are Cute]

ive seen a few videos of people using the orange tree, and read that marblemelons are great, and im seeing that they are, but ive really found the bulbo tree to be more useful, and the chinese potato plant to be good too.
pros and cons as ive seen;

bulbo
pro:harvests 9 pieces from 4 garden slots
each piece can be planted
the tree is pretty

con: take long to grow,
slightly less nutritious than marbles
4 slot garden and storage

marblemelon
pro: very nutritious
one slot grown in garden and seedling
4 seeds from one marblemelon

con: 4 slot fully grown stored marble melon

i use to use chinese potatoes but i ruled that bulbo trees are more efficient because they have higher fluid value. i havent tried the other tree because the info thing said it wasnt very nutritious.

[Amanoob105]

Plants don't keep, so storage is a moot point. Eat them when you need them.
If you want pretty trees the one your not using is the king of that category.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1307099993
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1305931394

Personally I would say that planters are big and pots (which of the two is the clear winner when used in a cyclops) don't take up much space, so take both.

[Jumping Spiders Are Cute]

storage is a point when you are carrying a lot of stuff and dehydrated/starving, and it also matters if you are trying to take a lot of stuff to plant.

marblemelons are easier to plant because of this, but in a planter, four marblemelons(the same space any other plant takes up) total 24 water value and 56 food value.

a single bulbo sample takes up four slots, but can be eaten or planted.
you can get 9 bulbo samples from a single tree, and in the planter, 9 bulbo samples(one tree) totals 90 water value and 72 food value.

ive gone 90% vegetarian in this game because of this. i only eat fish when i am starving and too far from my planters.

[Dirak2012]

With bulbo trees you will no longer need water, except for long trips.

[Langkard]

I just go with marblemelons because I use them in my bioreactors. So, I have food and water and energy all in easy to use format. When I need food and water, I pick 3 marble melons, knife a 4th, and then plant the resulting 4 seeds back into the planter. Just 3 plant beds are enough to keep me full up in food and water and energy. The 3 planters of marblemelons are all in the same room as the bioreactor.

Once I have an alien containment for peepers and a couple of water purifiers, water and cured food are taken care of and the marblemelons just go to feeding the bioreactor which powers the energy-hungry water purifiers.

[Chwiztid]

Marble melons are the easiest. I don't even bother with the water filtration or alien containment and I just grow melons in my cyclops. I don't travel too far from the sub when I'm venturing out to find resources or wrecks.

Is the still suit urine and potatoes a viable option? You'll have the thermal knife already by the time you get a still suit, so there are plenty of cooked fish around.

[Lil Puppy]

Bulbo tree:
8 food
10 water

Marblemelon
12 food
14 water

I usually have all of the food plants in my base and cyclops. I usually just slash away at the bulbo tree to top up, but the marblemelon is the way to go if you just want to survive.
They both provide 420 energy-over-time for the bioreactor.

So, if a single bulbo tree is planted, you get 9 slices from it, one which you have to plant.
If you plant marblemelon in the indoor planter you get 8, 2 of which you have to cut to replant them all.

... 8 bulbo = 64 food and 80 water
... 6 marble = 72 food and 94 water
However, each have their own timer for regrowth and I don't know how long that is.

Lantern fruit grow infinitely once planted 15 total at one time.
10 food
3 water
210 energy-over-time in the bioreactor
Bonus points for attractiveness

... 15 fruit = 150 food and 45 water

They all consume the same amount of inventory space unless you can find a way to replant small marblemelons. Bulbo tree respawns it's usage count over time like the lantern fruit, marblemelons just get consumed and have to regrow from seed each time.

Due to the maintenance time required for marblemelon, the bulbo tree is much better long term as long as you don't harvest enough to consume the tree itself.

[Jumping Spiders Are Cute]

ive been planting interior growbeds with full on bulbo trees in all my bases. at least two trees.

ive yet to successfully collect lanttern trees.

[.: DBM :.]

Originally posted by Jumping Spiders Are Cute:

ive yet to successfully collect lanttern trees.

the floating island has some--one in an interior planter on one of the mountaintop bases, the others growing near the base located in the lowland area.

unlike most flora, you plant them by placing the actual fruit into a planter rather than chopping them up for seeds; doesn't need to be a fresh sample, either.

[.: DBM :.]

i hate marblemelons because they can be a pain in the ass to cut with the knife sometimes--idk if it's a bug or just an oversight re. their hitbox being so low to the ground.

[Jumping Spiders Are Cute]

ive noticed that too about the marblemelons.

can i fit four lantern trees in an interior growbed?

[.: DBM :.]

Originally posted by Jumping Spiders Are Cute:

ive noticed that too about the marblemelons.

can i fit four lantern trees in an interior growbed?

yessir, but I've always preferred growing two per planter and slotting the rest with some other cool lookin ♥♥♥♥ for aesthetic purposes :o)