Guide to Botany

Your dream garden awaits!

Keeping it Green

When you click on a plant pot with an empty hand, you can check the plant to see how it is doing. Various indicators will appear when you do so, which describe the condition of the plant and soil - red indicators are bad, blue indicators are good:

Message	Meaning
The soil is completely dry.	The soil has run out of water. This will quickly kill the plant.
The plant is dying.	Maltreatment or harmful chemicals are killing the plant.
The soil looks rich and fertile.	Indicates the presence of compost in the soil. Remember, this dries out the soil quicker.
The plant glistens with good health!	Judicious compost and water use has resulted in a healthy plant!
The plant is flourishing!	The plant has extremely high health. Expect good harvests!
The plant looks strange...	You have managed to grow a rare mutant strain of plant. This could be good or bad!
Weeds have infested the soil.	This pot has been infested with a weed-type plant. You will have to take special measures to get rid of it.

In addition, you will receive a report of any chemical in the plant pot. Hopefully, there's at least water in it, but chemicals may also include stuff you've added like plant formula or compost. Some plants may produce nectar, a delightful treat for space bees. Harmful chemicals like toxic slurry may also appear, which usually require you to clean out the pot.

If you click and drag a plant pot onto yourself, you will completely clear out the pot. This not only empties any plant out of it, but completely cleans out all soil water, nutrients, everything. However, this will not work on pots infested with weeds! You must find a way to kill the weeds before emptying the pot if you want to get rid of them. Weeds will occasionally appear in unoccupied plant pots and may have various effects or even produce items, but remember - these are weeds and thus are useless and annoying at best, and downright dangerous at worst! Get rid of them when you can.

1986 Blue Ribbon Winner: Biggest Weed Harvest

Plants carry genes which affect various things relating to their growth and crops. While plant seeds are easy enough to come by from the dispenser or ordering crates of them from the Cargo Bay, these seeds start out completely plain and devoid of any particular genetic fluctuations. Every time a seed is planted, it mutates a bit - any seeds harvested from this plant will carry those genes, which will mutate again when planted - this way, you can breed plants for particular qualities. Genes can degrade as well as improve, however - so be careful not to end up with completely useless seeds which produce no crops, or result in plants that die instantly.

To get even more in-depth with planting you have the plant analyzer, which can scan a plant, fruit or seed for genetic variables:

Species	Tells you what kind of plant it is.
Generation	How many times this breed of plant has gone through a full lifecycle. Incremented by 1 whenever a seed is planted.
Maturation Rate	How long the plant takes to grow from a sprout to a crop-producing plant. Lower is better! This is only marginally useful to single-harvest plants.
Production Rate	How long you have to wait between each harvest. Lower is better!
Lifespan	How many harvests the plant will produce before dying. Higher is better! This variable is irrelevant to plants with only one harvest.
Yield	How many crops the plant will produce besides its normal amount. Higher is better!
Potency	How powerful items produced by this plant are. This could be good or bad depending on what the crop is. Will change the quantity of chemical that can be extracted from each harvested item.
Endurance	How much the plant can resist dehydration, poison, and fire.

With these, you can tell how much of a certain plant you can harvest, or how long it will live, or what you need to do to keep it alive. Some plants aren't just one-off harvests, you can tend tomatoes for multiple harvests if you want! In fact, should you keep the plant happy (with blue indicators above - rich and fertile, and very healthy), you will likely have a chance at harvesting MORE than you would if you had just plain watered it. Some plants may even inherit a special genetic mutation giving them indefinite life, as long as you tend to it. It pays to keep an eye on your plants! It's just a matter of knowing when to add water, or fertilizer, etc. Plants work the same way in real life - to an extent. Don't water your plants? They'll die. Overwater? Same deal. Be careful with your plants, they are fragile, little angels~

Apart from plain compost, botany starts with several plant formulas tailored to altering a plant's specific traits (all explained in the next section). If you want to experiment, call in the scientist or grab some Discount Dan's and test the effects of various chemicals in the soil.

Tools & Machinery

The fancy stuff you use to enhance your plants or extract useful chemicals. The are of course more options for the catering staff. Feel free to check Foods & Drinks for a full list of recipes.

Icon	Name	Description
File:PlantAnalyzer.png	Plant Analyzer	Provides you with a report of a plant's genes, its current condition, the presence of any mutations and other information. The functionality is also built into your PDA.
	Watering Can	Actually just a glorified beaker with a maximum capacity of 120 units. Often requested by chemists.
	Produce Satchel	This spacious satchel makes the life of every chef or botanist much easier. Almost any type of food-related item (dishes, bottles, seeds etc.) can be stored in them, and they also interact nicely with tables (drag & drop), crates, the food processor, mail chutes and other objects.
	Chainsaw	An electric chainsaw to keep weeds in check. Passable emergency weapon, but not very durable.
	Hydroponics Tray	The seeds go in here, obviously. You can plant them manually or by using drag & drop. The indicators are from left to right: "low plant health" alert, "ready to harvest" alert and current water level.
	Seed Fabricator	To unlock the more interesting seeds (notably cannabis), you'll have to mess with the wires. The required tools can be found in nearby tool storage. A hand-held version may be acquired by hacking the GardenGear vendor.
	GardenGear	Most basic tools and plant formulas are available from this vending machine.
	PlantMaster Mk3	Have a special or even new species in mind? This clever machine allows you to infuse seeds with certain reagents (drawn from an inserted beaker) and splice them together, or in other words tweak the desired genetic traits. It can also extract seeds from fruits or vegetables, which is great if you have a certain strain you want to grow more of.
	Reagent Extractor	Processes certain produce into reagents. Comes with two built-in storage tanks capable of holding up to 500 units each. You may then transfer said reagents to an inserted receptacle.
	CheMaster 3000	See Chemistry.
	Compost Tank	Converts unwanted or excess produce as well as seeds into compost. Use drag & drop to stuff them into the tank.
	HC Water Tank	This high-capacity tank holds 100000 units of water.

In addition, there are a number of plant formulas at your disposal.

Icon	Name	Description
	Weedkiller	Also known as atrazine. As the name implies, it will quickly spell the end for any uninvited guest like lashers or space grass.
	Compost	This basic additive improves the plant's health over time. Can be refilled at, you guessed it, the compost tank.
	Ammonia	Some plants grow slowly, so a bit of ammonia can speed up the process. Just be prepared to water them more often.
	Potash	This is the chemical to go for if you want large harvests, but it will likely shorten the plant's lifespan.
	Saltpetre	Saltpetre tends to have a good effect on the crop potency and is particularly useful for medical herbs, cannabis and chili.
	Mutagenic	Dumping unstable mutagen into the tray is an easy option to grow all kinds of crazy stuff, however you have little actual control. If a species has multiple possible mutations, it will probably be difficult to get the one you desire.
	Mutadone	As seen in medbay, but mutadone also works on plants. Mutating them wildly often damages their DNA and therefore this formula may be required to address some of the genetic problems. Unfortunately, mutadone slows down plant growth significantly as long as it is present in the tray.

Available Crops

Name	Icon	Type	Harvests	Time	Notes
Grape		Food	Variable	Average
Orange		Food	Variable	Slow
Melon		Food	Variable	Slow
Carrot		Food	Once	Average
Lemon		Food	Variable	Slow
Lime		Food	Variable	Slow
Apple		Food	Variable	Slow
Banana		Food	Variable	Average
Avocado		Food	Variable	Slow
Pumpkin		Food	Variable	Slow	Make your own lantern!
Eggplant		Food	Variable	Average
Cucumber		Food	Once	Average
Garlic		Ingredient	Once	Average
Onion		Ingredient	Once	Average
Lettuce		Ingredient	Once	Slow
Potato		Ingredient	Once	Average
Synthmeat		Ingredient	Variable	Average
Corn		Ingredient	Once	Average	Processes into popcorn.
Soybean		Ingredient	Variable	Average	Processes into milk.
Chili		Ingredient	Variable	Average	Processes into hot sauce.
Tomato		Ingredient	Variable	Average	Processes into ketchup.
Peanut		Ingredient	Once	Average	Processes into peanut butter.
Wheat		Ingredient	Once	Fast	Processes into flour.
Sugar Cane		Ingredient	Once	Fast	Processes into sugar.
Cotton		Other	Variable	Average	Processes into fabric when used in an auto-loom.
Tree		Other	Variable	Slow	Grow your own barricades.
Contusine		Herb	Once	Average	Contains salicylic acid.
Asomna		Herb	Once	Average	Contains ephedrine.
Nureous		Herb	Once	Average	Contains potassium iodide.
Commol		Herb	Once	Average	Contains silver sulfadiazine.
Venne		Herb	Once	Average	Contains charcoal.
Catnip		Herb	Once	Average	Extract catonium to synthesize cat drugs.
Cannabis		Herb	Once	Fast	Make your own joints by combining a leaf with a sheet of paper.
Space Fungus		Weed	Infinite	Slow
Grass		Weed	Once	Average	Harvested seeds can be planted on most floor tiles.
Creeper		Weed	N/A	Fast	Attacks other plants and spreads into adjacent empty pots.
Lasher		Weed	N/A	Fast	Will lash out at nearby people with its thorns.
Radweed		Weed	N/A	Slow	Emits radiation, affecting nearby plants and people.
Slurrypod		Weed	Once	Average	Will explode if not quickly harvested, spreading toxic goop.
Man Eater		Critter	Once	Variable	Will climb out of the pot once grown enough.

Crop Mutations

Whenever a plant's genes would normally mutate (when planted, exposure to mutagen, in the gene manipulator), there is a rare chance that the plant will become a mutant variant of its normal self. These have different effects depending on the species! Some mutations don't appear unless specific conditions are met, for example plant stats (endurance, potency) or an infusion of certain chemicals. This list is not complete, so feel free to experiment or pester more experienced botanists.

Mutant	Icon	Species	Info
Seething Tomato		Tomato	Tomatoes with an explosive flavour.
Suspicious Tomato		Tomato	Crikey, aggressive vegetables.
Green Grape		Grape	Heals twice the amount of regular grapes.
Blood Orange		Orange	Contains changeling blood in addition to orange juice. Peculiar.
Clockwork Orange		Orange	An orange that is also a chronometer, how practical.
Rainbow Weed		Cannabis	Gets you extremely high.
Deathweed		Cannabis	Gets you extremely dead.
Lifeweed		Cannabis	Contains omnizine.
Omega Weed		Cannabis	The ultimate cannabis plant. Guaranteed to mess you up.
Chilly Pepper		Chili	Quite...chilling.
Fiery Chili		Chili	Extremely spicy!
Magic Mushroom		Space Fungus	Contains psilocybin, a potent hallucinogen.
White Mushroom		Space Fungus	Very toxic.
Glowing Slurrypod		Slurrypod	You really shouldn't eat this...
Synthorgan		Synthmeat	Harvests can either be synthbrains, synthhearts or a combination of both.
Synthlimb		Synthmeat	Grows synthetic arms and legs.
Synthbutt		Synthmeat	Grow your own hat!
Free-range Egg-Plant		Eggplant
Steel Wheat		Wheat	Use the food processor to convert the ears into iron fillings.
Rainbow Melon		Melon	The ideal party snack!
Immortal Melon		Melon	Can be harvested an infinite amount of times.
Immortal Banana		Banana
Strange Soybean		Soybean	Contains high-energy plankton, promised!
Money Tree		Tree	In space, money does grow on trees.
Shivering Contusine		Contusine	Contains salbutamol in addition to salicyclic acid.
Quivering Contusine		Contusine	Contains curare in addition to salicyclic acid.
Robust Asomna		Asomna	Contains methamphetamine in addition to ephedrine.
Fuzzy Nureous		Nureous	Contains hairgrownium in addition to potassium iodide.
Burning Commol		Commol	Contains phlogiston in addition to silver sulfadiazine.
Black Venne		Venne	Contains atropine in addition to charcoal.
Dawning Venne		Venne	Contains oculine, mannitol and mutadone in addition to charcoal.
Blooming Lasher		Lasher
Smoldering Radweed		Radweed
White Radweed		Radweed	Completely harmless.

Advanced Gardening for Dummies

The PlantMaster Mk3 is a powerful tool for the dedicated botanist. Instead of relying on Mother Nature and hoping for the best, you can tweak genetic traits with better precision. To this end, the machine is equipped with three distinct modules:

• A seed extractor.
• An injector to infuse seeds with chemicals provided by a beaker or other container.
• A splicing apparatus to create hybrids of the same or two different species.

Extraction

In case you don't already have seeds with the DNA of a particular plant, insert some fruits (one or two will do) and switch the computer to the extraction mode. It's that simple.

Infusions

Infusing seeds is a straightforward affair. Provide the machine with a seed and filled receptacle, bring up the seed list and proceed from there. Though the various plant formulas will usually be the choice for reliable results, you can use any reagent for experimentation. If the beaker contains several chemicals, you will be prompted to select one. Just keep in mind that every infusion requires 10 units.

Depending on various factors, an infusion may have undesired consequences. Here, the goal was to increase the potency of a cannabis seed with the help of saltpetre and while the operation was successful, it also had an effect on the yield trait. The outcome was beneficial in this example, but other potent reagents (unstable mutagen in particular) tend to have more negative side-effects.

Regardless of what you end up injecting, damage to the seed is almost guaranteed. It increases the chance of failed splicings, plants grown from them are less healthy overall and require special care. Compost is good, presence of mutadone in the nutrient solution is better.

Splicing

Adapted from a forum post by ISaidNo

Each plant species has a variable called "Genome" which is used to track how similar two species are to one another. Generally two species from the same group (eg fruit, veg, herbs) will have genomes which are close to each other, and thus easier to splice.

When splicing, the formula for your chances is worked out like so:

• 1: Start Splicing Chance at 100%
• 2: Compare the genomes of the two seeds, subtract the lower one from the higher one
• 3: Multiply the sum of step 2 by 10, then subtract that from the splicing chance
• 4: If either seed has damage from infusing, subtract damage amount from splicing chance
• 5: Cap splicing chance between 0 and 100 to prevent bugs
• 6: Perform the check to see if splicing succeeds or not

So, an example. You're trying to splice Weed (genome 2) with Synthmeat (genome 7).

You start with 100% splicing chance.

Subtract low genome from high genome: 7 - 2 = 5

Multiply that by 10: 5 * 10 = 50

Subtract that from the splicing chance: 100 - 50 = 50

Assuming you haven't damaged either seed with infusion, you have a 50/50 chance for this splice to succeed. That's not so good odds, of course. So how can we improve them?

When seeds are successfully spliced, the hybrid has a new genome which is the average of the two, calculated by adding the two plant's genomes together and then halving it. Assuming you successfully spliced Weed and Synthmeat, the new genome would be (from (2 + 7) / 2) 4.5.

What you need to do is chain. The genomes are generally done by group: Herbs have very low genomes, grasses and veg are in the middle, and fruit has very high genomes. Alien plants and weeds have genomes that are all over the place. This isn't a general rule either, there are exceptions here and there! Commol has a genome that's more in the vegetable group than the herb group with it being a root rather than a leaf, for example.

Out of this World

Certain artifacts can be put into plant pods with... unusual effects. Experiment!