speed up crop growth?

[tools guy-kun]

i'm leaving them in 100% fertile soil and I try to put a consistent source of light but it still feels absolutely slow. any way to speed it up without mods? I struggle with food so much that I don't know any liable sources to maintain it during the start.

[gimmethegepgun]

If the temperature is too high or too low it will affect growth rate. See if your plants say that they're growing slower due to that. If they are, then you can enclose it and use a heater or cooler, along with a sunlamp.

[tools guy-kun]

Originally posted by gimmethegepgun:

If the temperature is too high or too low it will affect growth rate. See if your plants say that they're growing slower due to that. If they are, then you can enclose it and use a heater or cooler, along with a sunlamp.

I see, I just looked at the light source. thanks. any particular set ups/methods for a brand new beginner who's in early game ?

[Jigain]

You might also be able to find some Fertile Soil (looks darker than regular soil) around. It's got 140% fertility, so it'll grow plants about 40% faster (depending on the plant).

After you've researched it, you can build hydroponics basins. These have 200% fertility.

As for lights, do note that regular lamps only give 50% light on surrounding tiles, while plants require a minimum of 51% light to grow - thus they can only grow by natural light or sun lamps, both of which causing 100% light. Sun lamps are very power hungry, though, so unless you have a stable energy setup and of course the required research, you should probably grow plants outside.

[TechFlame75]

Also keep in mind at night plants don't grow so it may seem like it is taking a long time but in truth the plant will only grow half of the day. Also hunting is a good option for early food to if you can spare the man power.

[Tidal Resonance]

Rice and corn benefit from fertile soil more than potatoes. However, potatoes are able to grow in 70% fertility soil with only limited adverse speed reduction and are fine in 100% or baseline soil. Each plant has a fertility sensitivity attribute. Higher means they are affected more by the soil/hydroponic fertility, whether positively or negatively. Hydroponics basins have 280% fertility, but require power and also sunlamps, unless you have no ceiling above them. They are good for very rapid crop growth once you can set them up.

Rice grows very quickly, but takes a lot of pawn work to keep harvesting because each harvest yields less than corn or potatoes. Corn is the opposite in certain ways as it grows slowly, but yields an imnense quantity of food each harvest so it takes less work. However, slower growth makes more vulnerable to problems harming the crop during growth, such as cold snaps, fire, etc. Less work, but more risk and less steady. Corn cannot be grown in hydroponics basins.

[Kittenpox]

As mentioned, planting in Rich Soil gives an extra 40% fertility (140 vs the 100% fertility provided by regular Soil), so using that for faster growing speeds is a good option.

Some crops grow faster - Rice is much faster than the slow-growing Corn, but corn provides better quantity returns and lasts a longer time without refrigeration.

Other food plants, such as berries and potatoes are also available, and have their own benefits and drawbacks (such as how berries can be eaten raw but require 5 Plants skill to plant, and potatoes don't benefit from rich soil as much as other plants but can still grow in Stony Soil.)

If you're struggling with food supply, perhaps set up some 4x4 growing zones, so that you have one per colonist. Start with Rice, just to get your food supplies back up, and then if its spring/summer diversify your crops by changing some of the fields to different plants while keeping a couple as Rice.
That way you can benefit from larger yields from corn for example - but aren't completely out of food if there's a nasty Cold Snap just before winter hits.

Bear in mind that you can also Hunt animals for meat - which should help during the colder months.
(Even if that means occasionally Drafting your pawns and manually moving them as a group to go hunt a Megasloth or other large dangerous animal from time to time, if you've run out of harmless Wildlife to designate for hunting.)

Once you've got a building set up to be your Freezer, you can stockpile food more easily, and food scarcity becomes less of an issue. But figuring out how best to tackle that problem is a part of learning the game - so best of luck with it! :-)

[gimmethegepgun]

Originally posted by Kittenpox:

potatoes don't benefit from rich soil as much as other plants but can still grow in Stony Soil.

To be clear: all plants can grow in stony soil, but potatoes don't really care about fertility so they aren't affected much by the poor fertility of it. They're far better than other options in stony soil due to this. However, they're also worse options in the high fertility of rich soil or hydroponics for the same reason.
They also DO benefit from rich soil, but not very much.