Guide to Hydroponics

Flower Power

Hydroponics and the Botanists who work there are important people on the station, especially in longer rounds. Botanists grow plants, obviously. Without plants, the Chef cannot make many types of food. Without those types of food, the denizens of the station will either have to live off of beef jerky and space twinkies, or starve to death. Now that you understand why this is important, let's get started!

Plants

Here is a chart with the types of plants you can grow, in case you forgot. Warning: a few of these plants are beta code and so can't be made unless spawned.

Name	Seed	Potting	Product	Notes
Berry				Can be mashed into jam.
Chili plant seeds				Very Spicy!
Corn		File:CornPlany.png		Tasty Corn! I like corn! Can be used to make corn pipes
Eggplant				Not too special.
Soybeans				Vegetarian delights!
Banana				Once eaten, gives a slippery peel.
Gold Apple	File:Gappleseed.png	File:Gappleplant.gif	File:Gapple.gif	Divine, and probably edible. A steady source of gold.
Reishi	File:Reishiseed.png			A mushroom with muscle-relaxing toxins.
Glowshroom	File:Glowshroomseed.png			Shroomy glowberries. Contains radium.
Ambrosia Deus	File:Ambrosiadeusseed.png	File:Ambrosiadeusplant.gif	File:Ambrosiadeus.png	The elite's choice. Contains Space Drugs, Bicaridine, Synaptizine and Hyperzine.
Cocoa Pod		File:Cocoapodplant.png		Give it to the chef to fill station with happiness.
Harebell				So useless only your bio generator will be happy to get some.
Sunflower				It's like being home again.
Poppy				Looks relaxing. Contains Barcaridine.
Starthistle		File:Weedsplant.png		You can't harvest from this you disgrace to space-gaia. Only plant worth eradicating anytime.
Cherry		File:Cherryplant.png		For pies and jelly. They can't be used as earrings ; a shame.
Nettle				Take with botanical gloves, whip intruders. Contains Sulfuric acid
Deathnettle				a mutated and deadly variety of nettle
Tower-cap	File:Tower-capseed.png	File:Tower-capplant.png	File:Tower-cap.png	Cut trunks with the hatchet to make wooden planks.
Egg Plant				It's an EGG plant, not an Eggplant
Blue-Space Tomato				An odd variety of tomatoes, with strange properties
Kudzu Pod	File:Kudzupodseed.png	File:Kudzupodplant.png	File:Kudzupod.png	An invasive species with vines that rapidly creep and wrap around whatever they contact
Rice Stalk	File:Ricestalkseed.png	File:Ricestalkplant.png		just plain rice. Can be used for pudding or sake.
Plastellium	File:Plastelliumseed.png	File:Plastelliumplant.png	File:Plastellium.png
Money Tree	File:Moneyseed.png	File:Moneyplant.png	File:Money.png	It prints money!
Tomato				Staple in making ketchup.
Wheat	File:Wheatseeds.png	File:Wheatplany.png		Grind into flour!
Amanita				Poisonous, do not eat.
Destroying Angel				Kills you dead, with poison.
Liberty Cap				Full of space drugs!
Plump Helmet				Tasty!
Chanterelle				Not as tasty.
Carrot				Good for your eyes!
Potato				You can make a small cell by sticking wires in it.
Apple		File:Appleplant.png		A piece of Eden.
Poisoned Apple		File:Appleplant.png		Don't eat it!
Whitebeet				A beet of white.
Grass		File:Grassplant.png	File:Grasstile.png	Greeny.
Watermelon				Filled with watery goodness.
Lime		File:Limeplant.png		A very sour fruit.
Orange		File:Orangeplant.png		Sweet and sour!
Lemon		File:Lemonplant.png		Ugh....sour...
Sugarcane				Come and get the sugar from the cane!
Poison Berries		File:Poisonberryplant.png	File:Poisonberry.png	Very poisonous berries.
Death Berries		File:Deathberryplant.png	File:Deathberry.png	EXTREMELY poisonous berries.
Blue Tomatoes				Slippery...
Blood Tomatoes				They are so red....
Glow Berries		File:Glowberryplant.png	File:Glowberry.png	Berries that glows in the dark. Might not be wise to consume
Walking Mushrooms				This is just creepy...
Killer Tomato				Not very deadly though.
Pumpkin				Carve this into a scary face or a hat!!!
Grapes	File:Grapeseed.png		File:Grape.png	Very grapey
Green Grapes	File:Greengrapeseed.png		File:Greengrape.png	These grapes can cure burns! WOOO!!!
Cabbages				Ewwww....
Ambrosia Vulgaris				A healing-like plant.
Ice Chili	File:Icechiliseed.png	File:Icechiliplant.png	File:Icechili.png	Also known as Chilly Peppers
Replica Pod				Nature's own way to defy God. Check the Pod People section to learn more.

Growing The Afforementioned Plants

File:HydroponicsTraysRow.PNG

These are some pots. You grow stuff in them.

First, locate the hydroponics trays, sometimes referred to as "planting pots". this is where you will be planting the seeds. Take a seed in your hand, and click the pot. You will then get a message saying "you plant the seed in the pot.", or something along those lines. You can only plant one seed per pot. If you click the pot with an empty hand, you will get a basic analysis of the plant, and the nutrient and water level of the pot. Here is an example:

This pot has [plant] planted.

Water: 75/100

Nutrients: 8/10

This is an easy way to identify the plant, if you are not familiar with what they look like. It is also a good way to check on new species that have found their way into the "farm". If this happens, you will get a red message that says soemthing like "hydroponics tray has been overtaken by [plant]!". This can be good, bad, or a combination of both. Best case: a few Liberty Cap spores lodge themselves in the tray, and you get super duper high. Worst case: generic weeds. These grow very fast and serve no purpose as of now. All they do is take up space (get it? cause you're growing stuff on a space station?). An example of a useful weed (not the smokable kind), is the humble nettle. Nettles are a very useful plant, and a powerful weapon if grown properly. If you play the Botanist and get picked to be a Traitor, then do not fret. Just wait for some nettles to show up in your garden and kill those targets with FLOWER POWER! nettles are poisonous to begin with, but with skillful harvesting and increases of the Potency level, the nettles can deal a lot of damage, and have a very high knockout chance.

File:Nettle.PNG

This is a Nettle. nettles are your friends.

Invasion of the Pod People

Hydroponics get a very special type of seed, Replicate Pod Seeds. These are experimental, genetically engineered plants that grow (physically deformed) human beings. They are easy to grow, but take time just like cloning some one in a cloning pod.

How do I potato people?

Using a replication pod is simple! Just follow the following steps:

1. Find a dead person who is in need of cloning.
2. Take a blood sample with a syringe.
3. Inject a seed pack with the blood sample.
4. Plant the seeds.
5. Tend to the plants water and nutrition levels until it is time to harvest the cloned human.

Caring for your Vegetable Friends

Mushrooms: Just feed these fertilizer, don't need to water them.

Weeds: Just water them, they don't need plant food. Nettles are considered weeds.

Everything else: Feed them water AND Fertilizer.

If you plan to do something else on the station, give all of your plants some water. Plants whose trays are extremely low on water (<30 units) will have a blue exclamation point on their tray. Plants who are low on nutrients (<4 units) will have an orange exclamation point on their tray. If a pot is overrun with weeds (these weeds don't show up as a sprite), a glowing red triangle will appear on the pot. If the plant is dying or dead, a red symbol (it sorta looks like a "do not enter" sign) will appear on the pot. To fix the water problem, take your bukkit, fill it with water at one of the water tanks inside the farm, and pour the appropriate amount of water onto the plant. If a pot is full of water, you will not be able to add any more and the excess will splash onto the floor. To fix the nutrients, replace the solution using the nutrient dispenser, then taking the vial and clicking on the tray. Only do this if the tray needs nutrients. The easiest way to be a Failmer (Fail Farmer) is to replace the solution when there are 9 units left. The excess fertilizer dissapears forever, and the dispenser has a finite supply. Weeds can be removed by clicking on the tray while holding a mini-hoe in your hand. Keep clicking until you see the message "This plot is completely devoid of weeds. It doesn't need uprooting.". If a plant is dead, a single click will empty it from the tray. If your tray decides to sprout some annoying harebell or unwanted crops, a few sprays with the Plant-Be-Gone will kill it, albeit rather slowly.

File:AllHydroWarningIcons.PNG

A very, very, dead plant. Notice the pretty warning signs.

File:GrowingPlant.PNG

This plant is still growing.

File:HarvestPlant.PNG

This plant is ready to harvest, as noted by the greem "H".

File:PlantWeeds.PNG

The triangle means that the tray is full of weeds.

Chemicals, Wonderful Chemicals

Certain chemicals do special effects on plants and mushrooms. Either it kills, heals, feeds, or mutates the plant.

Things that you should feed your plants

Unstable Mutagens: Will either effect the potency, kill the plant, or change the plant's species. Does not add toxicity to the water. This is how Ice Peppers are made for example. Whine to and/or robust the Chemist to get some of this.

Radium: Lower chance to mutate plants, and causes more ill effects (and toxicity to the plant).

Nutriment: A fertilizer. You can get it from the Chef

Ammonia: A more pure fertilizer. Get it from the Chemist or hack the Nutri-Vend to get this.

Diethylamine: A very powerful fertilizer. Get it the same way you get Ammonia.

Anti-toxins: Makes your plant less toxic. You can get it by whining to anyone who works in Medbay

Cyroxadone: Heals your plant, via miracles. Get it from the Chemist, or find a nice doctor to steal some from cryogenics.

These will kill your plants

Toxins: DUH.

Acids: DUH.

Go Forth and Procreate

This section is about making new plants from existing ones. Remember, the seed dispenser will run dry very early into the round. And if you ask the QM for a seed crate, he will most likely laugh in your face and kick you in the dick for being stupid. So to make more seeds, you will need the help of Mr. Seed Extractor. This little box (located next to the NutriMax) is your best friend in long rounds. It is possible to use your leet Hacking skills on the seed dispenser to get more, but these are all either poisonous or full of space drugs. To extract seeds from a plant, pick up a plant product (Fruit, Vegetables, Shrooms, etc.). Then, click the seed extractor. You will then get 1-4 bags of seeds or mycellium from the product. Then, dump out the contents of one of those shiny hydroponics crates you have, and put the extra seeds inside. This will keep them neat and organized. If you don't want to waste one of your pretty green boxes, steal a crate from the Cargo Bay, or those pointless rooms right next to the mining dock. If a new species sprouts in your farm, keep it alive so you can make seeds from it and grow more.

Soil

Soil is an alternative to trays. Get some sand, use it to make sandstone, then take three sandstones to make soil. Sand can be dug by Shaft Miners on the Asteroids, alternatively you can grow grass in your existing hydroponics trays, then plant the grass tiles and dig them up with the spade (found in the back room), this will dig up some sand. Congratulations, you are no longer restricted to trays for growing now. Be warned though, it is not the most efficient method of planting, as there are no lights to indicate needs for water, fertilizer, etc. Removing soil is done with a shovel or spade.

Analyzing the Analysis

Upon selecting the Botanist, you will find that your apron contains a handy-dandy Plant Analyzer. You use this to get a highly detailed analysis of the targeted plant. The readout looks like this:

Age: How old the plant is. When a plant's age equals it's lifespan, it dies.

Endurance: The higher this is, the lower the water and nutrient levels can get before the plant dies.

Lifespan: How long the plant will live.

Yield: The maximum amount of product it will produce in it's lifespan.

Production: How many products it will produce at once.

Potency: The FLOWER POWER the plant posesses. If it is a chili, this equals hotness or coldness (for ice peppers). For shrooms, this equals toxicity. For drugs, this equals how long it gets you high. For Nettles, this equals damage dealt.

The analyzer also shows you the status of the pot. Weeds and pests can be remedied by hoeing or a few squirts of Pest Spray. Toxicity is important for shrooms, because it tells you how deadly it is. The water and nutrition levels are self-explanatory.