Question on Using Seasons

[jerdawg]

Hi Farmers!
I am using the seasons mod for the first time ever and have two questions.
1. Under settings my plant growth and plant withering is grayed out and not allowing me to change it to "Plant growth on" and "plant withering off"....is this normal?
2. Two of the fields I own are grass. If I leave it alone will the grass grow or do I need to plow it over and start over?

FYI - I am using Lone Oak farm Mod and I am on day one of early srping.

Thank for your help!

[Sandhill]

1 It is normal...Seasons sets the conditions of growth (growth follows the seasons, not fast, slow, normal etc) and turns off withering (everything withers in winter but not before.)

2 The grass will grow once the soil is warm enough.

[jerdawg]

Cool Sandhill! Thanks for helping me out!

[Byzanoid]

I want to give you more specific information on the grass because I wish I'd gotten the same when first starting seasons. This is all from my personal experience so don't take it as 100% truth, but just considerations.

So when you start a Seasons game, everything starts as Harvested because it's the first of spring and winter just came through and killed everything.

Grass grows one stage each entire season. Grass will be harvestable stage 1 in spring, and will give even less than half of just waiting until Summer, where it will hit harvestable stage 2. This is actually it's final harvestable stage, and it will not grow any more than this. It will also hit Stage 2 again in Fall. So you can get two full cuts out of it.

In summer you can mow, and start fertilizing your grass fields in the harvested state to get all three fertilization levels before it's grown to it's final stage again. If you're using Crop Destruction mod, this is very important, as the 2nd harvest stage of grass will be 'crushed' by driving on it.

A usual routine I follow in my season games is to mow in the Summer and Fall, and do with it what you will. Mow in spring only if you Really need grass, like for animals, which have gone without fresh grass for the winter. I can't remember if this will effect the next season's growth state(keep it from becoming fully grown) or not. I'll have to test it.

Another thing to consider is if you're playing on a map prepared for Seasons or not. This mainly pertains to Bales, as you will have to get them under cover away from rain if the map's buildings have seasons/snow masks. If your bales get rained on, they will 'rot' a bit. The same kind of goes for Swaths of Hay, Straw, and Grass.

Grass rots fast, and will reduce every midnight. Rain doesn't have any effect on it, I think. It just rots fast no matter what.

Hay and Straw are a little more lenient, and only rot when rained on.

Use this information to plan your season's work accordingly! If you mow, plan to get it tedded(dried) or gathered before midnight! If you are baling hay/straw, get the bales in or sold before the next rain!

Enjoy and happy farming!

[ArnMan]

Wet grass will not ted up into hay. It just stays as grass if you ted it. This means you cannot make hay in the rain or after the rain until the wet crop icon goes away.

[VA gamer]

You may want to consider plowing and replanting your grass fields in any case, perhaps after your final harvest for the year. The yield seems to increase and you can also increase the field sizes in some cases.

[jerdawg]

Originally posted by Byzanoid:

I want to give you more specific information on the grass because I wish I'd gotten the same when first starting seasons. This is all from my personal experience so don't take it as 100% truth, but just considerations.

So when you start a Seasons game, everything starts as Harvested because it's the first of spring and winter just came through and killed everything.

Grass grows one stage each entire season. Grass will be harvestable stage 1 in spring, and will give even less than half of just waiting until Summer, where it will hit harvestable stage 2. This is actually it's final harvestable stage, and it will not grow any more than this. It will also hit Stage 2 again in Fall. So you can get two full cuts out of it.

In summer you can mow, and start fertilizing your grass fields in the harvested state to get all three fertilization levels before it's grown to it's final stage again. If you're using Crop Destruction mod, this is very important, as the 2nd harvest stage of grass will be 'crushed' by driving on it.

A usual routine I follow in my season games is to mow in the Summer and Fall, and do with it what you will. Mow in spring only if you Really need grass, like for animals, which have gone without fresh grass for the winter. I can't remember if this will effect the next season's growth state(keep it from becoming fully grown) or not. I'll have to test it.

Another thing to consider is if you're playing on a map prepared for Seasons or not. This mainly pertains to Bales, as you will have to get them under cover away from rain if the map's buildings have seasons/snow masks. If your bales get rained on, they will 'rot' a bit. The same kind of goes for Swaths of Hay, Straw, and Grass.

Grass rots fast, and will reduce every midnight. Rain doesn't have any effect on it, I think. It just rots fast no matter what.

Hay and Straw are a little more lenient, and only rot when rained on.

Use this information to plan your season's work accordingly! If you mow, plan to get it tedded(dried) or gathered before midnight! If you are baling hay/straw, get the bales in or sold before the next rain!

Enjoy and happy farming!

Thanks for the suggestions.....I will follow your rules and see how it all pans out for me. I have a question about tedding. In seasons mode does the grass dry imediately after tedding it? Im talking about the grass being fresh cut with no rain.
Do you have to Mow, ted, and bale all before midnight of the same day?
This is the first seasons game for me and I'm wondering what the heck am I going to do all the while I am waiting for a harvest.....lol. I guess you go logging right?
It seems foolish to buy any animals at this stage beings I have nothing to feed them with.

[jerdawg]

Originally posted by ArnMan:

Wet grass will not ted up into hay. It just stays as grass if you ted it. This means you cannot make hay in the rain or after the rain until the wet crop icon goes away.

Good information that I can use for sure...Thank you!

[jerdawg]

Originally posted by VA gamer:

You may want to consider plowing and replanting your grass fields in any case, perhaps after your final harvest for the year. The yield seems to increase and you can also increase the field sizes in some cases.

would it be a good idea to plow them up right now? Or do I have not enough time for it to grow?