Overall Strategy Hints: (No spoilers.)
The secret to a successful start is patience! You need to breed and sell common plants until you have enough money to purchase the better soils that will support the more fragile hybrid plants. There are a lot of 'nice-to-have' things in the game, but don't purchase them until you have gotten a good start and are producing enough money. Pay attention to the prices you are getting for certain plants and pick the ones that are the most lucrative to breed and sell. Even in the beginning of the game, there are common ones that will produce cash faster. If you spend too much money on the wrong things, your plants will die and you'll have no money left to buy seeds and supplies (that's when you have to start all over with a new game).To get a very successful start in Plant Tycoon:
- Plant the 4 seeds that you find in you Seed Tray, as well as the 4 seeds in your Seed Storage screen. Go to the Gardening Supplies shop, buy the 3 common seeds, and plant them.
- Wait for the plants to mature. You can use the initial supply of growth chemicals to speed the growth of your first plants.
- When the plants are mature, self-pollinate the most valuable plants to produce more seeds for those plant species. Its a good idea to self-pollinate the other plants and save the resulting seeds to use later, when you want to expand your breeding program. After you harvest all of the seeds that are produced, sell the parent plants.
- If any of your plants get infested early in the game, it's usually better to trash them instead of spending money on insect poison. Each dose of poison can cost more than the plant is worth. Treat only plants that are worth the cost of the poison.
- If you like, you can experiment with cross-breeding one or two plants to see if you can get some seeds that will grow well in the starting soil, but you need to primarily breed plants that you know will survive and produce money. It's a good idea to plant only one of a new kind of seed to make sure that it will thrive in the soil you have. If not, you can save the other seeds for later, when you have better soil.
- Soil upgrades are the most vital purchase in your quest for the rarer and more valuable plants. Continue to plant, grow, and self-pollinate your money-makers until you have enough money to purchase the Bio-organic Soil. This soil will allow you to grow more fragile hybrids and experiment more effectively with cross-pollination.
- Once you have sufficient cash and Soil from Isola, you can freely cross-pollinate any plants in your greenhouse and begin experimenting with the chemicals in the shop. Many of those chemicals can greatly speed your quest for the Magic Plants of Isola!
- Use the game's speed settings to adjust plant growth to fit your schedule. Use the fast game speed only when you are actively playing or can check on your plants frequently, and pause the game if you will be away from it for more than a day. On fast speed, plants will be fully mature and ready for pollination in less than 1 hour.
- The game's beginning soil is suitable only for the common plants.
- Cross-pollinating different species produces increasingly valuable, but more fragile, hybrids.
- Better soil will be required to support the more expensive and fragile hybrids. When you upgrade your soil, the benefit to your plants is immediate.
- If your plants are steadily losing health, they are too fragile for the soil they are planted in. Try growing common plants until you can upgrade your soil.
- If you forget which seed you planted in a pot, double click the pot to produce an image of the seed that was planted there.
- Breed and sell plants to build your cash, so that you can buy improvements from the Gardening Supplies shop.
- Pruning can improve a plant's health and value, as well as make it sell faster. Removing dead leaves, revealing obscured flowers and improving a plant's shape all require pruning. Be careful, though, since pruning cannot be undone.
- Infested plants cannot be pollinated, and they may be damaged if the infestation goes untreated for very long. Infested plants should be treated promptly.
- Seeds in the Gardening Supplies shop are restocked and/or replaced every 24 hours.
- Magic Plants are found in several tiers of rarity. When you discover a Magic Plant, a popup message will appear that describes the plant's special properties. Your newly discovered Magic Plant will also be displayed in a golden pot in your nursery.
- Using chemicals, especially Mutation Liquid, can speed up your breeding program.
- If a pollinated plant dies, you may still be able to harvest its seeds.
- Clicking on the faucet on the Main screen (greenhouse) produces random, helpful tips for success in the game.
- You can determine how well you have priced your plants by how quickly they are selling. If they are selling rapidly, you should increase the price. If sales are slow, try reducing the price.
- Plants will sell faster and command higher prices in an improved nursery.
- The variety of plants that you have for sale in your nursery does not affect the rate of sales, but plants will sell faster if you have a lot of plants for sale.
- Upgraded nets make catching insects easier. Insect collecting is an optional part of the game.
Seeds shown are foliage types divided into Tiers based on their availability and viability. For each seed type, there are flower types that are also divided into Tiers. The viability of the plant depends on the tiers of both the foliage and flowers.
Tier 1 foliage and flowers can be found in the starter plants, seeds, and common seeds in the Supply Store. They will survive in all soil levels.
Tier 2 foliage and flowers can initially be bred from Tier 1 foliage and flowers. They can also be found in the endangered seeds in the Supply Store. They will survive best in upgraded soil, but with TLC can survive for some breeding programs at the basic soil level.
Tier 3 foliage and flowers can initially be bred from cross-pollinating Tier 1 and Tier 2 foliage and flowers. They can also be found in the endangered and extinct seeds in the Supply Store. They will survive only in the best soil, but with TLC some can survive for some breeding programs at the first upgraded soil level.
Cross-pollinating Tier 3 plants with other Tier 3 plants, or combinations of Tier 1, 2 and 3 foliage and flowers may result in new and exciting species for you to discover.
Tier 4 foliage and flowers are extremely rare! They can not be initially bred from cross-pollinating, but special chemicals are needed to find them. However, they can also be found in the extinct seeds in the Supply Store. They will survive only in the best soil, and are not known to be able to survive in the lower grade soils.
Show Seed Catalog (Spoiler Alert)
