Every harvest comes up at one of five grades: Poor, Plain, Fine, Prime or Heirloom. The grade depends on how well the crop was looked after while it grew and when you picked it. Finer crops make finer dishes, sell for more and give more spirits. Each grade is its own item ("Prime Turnip"): a small diamond in the grade's colour marks it on the icon, and Poor crops are drawn dull and brown.
The grades
| Grade | Spirits at harvest | Sells for | Seeds back |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poor | 50% | 60% | normal |
| Plain | 100% | 100% | normal |
| Fine | 150% | 140% | normal |
| Prime | 200% | 200% | normal |
| Heirloom | 300% | 300% | 1 more |
Spirits are the crop's own spirits as it comes out of the soil, compared with a Plain crop (always at least 1 of each). Prices are compared with a Plain crop of the same kind.
How the grade is decided
While a crop grows, the game keeps track of how it was raised, and gives it a score out of 100:
| Part | Up to | How to get it all |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 25 | Its bed never went dry while it grew. |
| Health | 20 | It stayed at full health (no wilting, frost or nibbling). |
| Weather | 20 | It grew in weather it likes (see below). |
| Raised on time | 10 | It grew in no more than 1.6 times its base days. |
| Ripeness | 25 | You picked it between 0.6 and 1.5 days after it ripened. |
Extras on top:
- Fed with Bone Meal (or by a tool's spirits) the whole time it grew: up to +8.
- Grown in beds worked by tools with "finer crops" spirits: more, depending on the spirit.
- Earth in its Spirit Soil: +6 (LIGHT), +12 (RICH) or +20 (DEEP).
| Score | Grade |
|---|---|
| below 40 | Poor |
| 40 to 61 | Plain |
| 62 to 79 | Fine |
| 80 to 92 | Prime |
| 93 or more | Heirloom |
Heirloom also asks more: the crop must have kept at least 95% of its health on average, and the weather must have been at least 85% to its liking (70% with Earth at DEEP in its soil). Otherwise it comes up Prime.
Weather a crop likes
- Sun crops: a clear day. Cloud and fog lower it, a little rain raises it. A sun crop under a roof scores much lower.
- Moon Squash: a clear night. Cloud lowers it.
- Rootling: a thick, overcast or foggy night.
- Frost counts as no good at all for crops that are not hardy.
Ripeness
A crop picked the moment it ripens scores only a little for ripeness. It reaches full ripeness 0.6 days after ripening and stays there until 1.5 days. After that it goes over and the score falls; 3 days after ripening it rots. When you look at a ripe crop, its name tells you its grade now and says "past its best" once it is going over.
Raising the grade at harvest
Some things lift a harvest after it is scored. The grade never goes above Heirloom.
- A bumper crop comes up a grade finer (see Farming).
- The Gardener's Charm perk Green Thumb: a grade finer, every time.
- Fire spirits in the Sickle: a chance of a grade finer (the FINER stat).
- A Farmer tenant, from their second heart, harvests a grade finer (see Tenants).
- A Spirit Bloom from DEEP Spirit Soil always comes up Heirloom.
Grades in cooking
When you cook, you choose which grade of each crop goes in. A dish's grade is the average grade of the crops in it (counting each crop as many times as the recipe needs it), rounded. A dish with no crops in it comes out Plain. A finer dish is stronger and lasts longer:
| Dish grade | Strength | Lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Poor | 75% | 60% |
| Plain | 100% | 100% |
| Fine | 120% | 130% |
| Prime | 140% | 160% |
| Heirloom | 175% | 200% |
See Dish Grades for more. Eaten raw, a crop does the same whatever its grade.
Tips
- Water every day and don't let crops wilt: that alone is 45 points.
- Wait half a day or more after a crop ripens before you reap it.
- Grow sun crops outdoors in fine weather, the Moon Squash on clear nights, and Rootlings when nights are foggy.
- Bone Meal and Earth in the soil are the surest way to Heirloom.
