Farming

The RuneScape Wiki also has an article on: rsw:Farming

This article has a calculator here. Calculators determine experience and costs based on real-time prices from the Grand Exchange Market Watch.

This article is about the Farming skill. For information on training Farming, see Farming training.

For a list of all requirements and unlockables within the Farming skill, see Farming/Level up table.

Farming
Released		11 July 2005 (Update)
Also called		Farm
Members		Yes
Type		Gathering
Statistics
Players with 99		117,307 as of 22 May 2021 - update
Players with 200M XP		306 as of 22 May 2021 - update

Farming is a skill in which players plant seeds and harvest crops. The crops grown range from vegetables, herbs and hops, to wood-bearing trees, cacti, and mushrooms. The harvested items have a wide variety of uses, and are popular for training Herblore and Cooking. Many players sell their harvest for a significant profit.

The plants grown in farming patches are accessible only to the player who grew them. This is especially useful in the case of wood-bearing trees. Like wild trees, player-grown trees can be chopped down for logs and Woodcutting experience, regenerating after a short period of time. But, as they're only accessible to the player who grew them, they can be cut without competition.

Planted crops grow according to set timings, continuing even after a player logs out. This makes it possible to gain large amounts of experience from little in-game time, especially when growing high-experience crops such as trees. Players can also gain rapid experience by planning farming runs that maximise the number of plants grown at once.

Farming level up - normal

The music that plays when levelling up.

Farming level up - with unlocks

The music that plays when levelling up and unlocking new content.

General overview

The first thing any player will do when they begin training this skill is to rake away the weeds from one of the many farming patches found scattered around RuneScape. Once cleared, players have the option of applying compost to the patch, which will decrease the chance of the crop becoming diseased, and will also possibly increase the yield of the crop once it reaches maturity.

A player picking herbs grown from farming.

Compost

Compost can be bought in farming shops, or obtained by placing a total of 15 weeds or various other unwanted vegetables into one of the compost bins. Supercompost, which results in an even higher yield and further lowers chances of disease, is obtained by filling the compost bin with higher level farming produce such as pineapples, watermelons, calquats, coconuts, and high end herbs. Ultracompost may be made by adding 25 volcanic ashes to a full bin of supercompost or adding two volcanic ashes to a bucket of supercompost. Players can also cast the Fertile Soil spell from the Lunar spellbook at any point during the plant's growth cycle to apply the effects of supercompost.

Obtaining Seeds

Seeds are usually easy to obtain. They can be bought from players and stalls, stolen via Thieving or obtained as drops from an enormous variety of monsters. Any lower or intermediate level seeds are usually very cheap, ranging from 1-20 coins each, while the higher level seeds, such as tree, fruit tree, and especially upper end herb seeds, are usually thousands of coins each, if not more.

Growth and Disease

After growing for a preset period of time crops will mature and can then be harvested, provided that the crops have not become diseased and died while growing. Once planted, crops grow even if the player is not online, so one can plant a seed and come back at any time. Once the crops are fully grown they will remain in the patch indefinitely until harvested; that is, they will not die once fully matured.

However, during this time crops have a chance to become diseased, and die if left unattended in this stage. While players may wish to check on their crops and cure diseased ones, this can prove a time intensive process. Use of supercompost or ultracompost significantly reduces disease risk. To guarantee plants reaching maturity, players can pay nearby gardeners to watch crops.

Gardeners all charge for their services, but not in coins. The price that they ask depends on the crop that the player asks them to watch. For example, the price for protecting a patch of potatoes is two buckets of compost while the price for protecting a patch of onions is one sack of potatoes. They will also accept your payment-items in noted form. Gardeners cannot be paid to protect herbs or flowers. When the player has 50% Hosidius favour, the allotment, flower, and herb patches there will be protected by the local farmer at all times. Players can also unlock two herb patches which are perpetually protected from disease, for free, by completing My Arm's Big Adventure and Making Friends With My Arm.

Farming equipment

Tools

For farming, there are certain tools you will need to use, whether it's using a rake to clear a patch or digging up dead plants with a spade. Below is a table of the basic tools and their uses.

Item		Description
	Rake	Used for getting rid of weeds in a plot.
	Spade	The most useful Farming tool. Used for harvesting crops, clearing away dead plants and removing plant roots and bushes.
	Watering can Gricoller's can	Used for watering plants, which prevents disease during the watered growth cycle. Also used to water tree seedlings. Gricoller's can holds 1000 uses of water instead of 8.
	Seed dibber	Used for planting seeds in a plot.
	Gardening trowel	Used to fill plant pots with soil, as well as planting tree seeds in plant pots to grow saplings.
	Secateurs Magic secateurs	Used for cutting away diseased leaves from trees and bushes. Magic secateurs increase most variable yields when worn.
	Basket	Used for storing up to 5 pieces of fruit (Tomatoes, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Bananas).
	Empty sack	Used for storing up to 10 vegetables (Potatoes, Cabbages, Onions).
	Empty plant pot	Most often leftover after planting a sapling in a tree or fruit tree patch; needs to be refilled before use.
	Filled plant pot	Used along with a trowel to plant tree seeds, which, when watered, produce tree saplings that may then be planted in patches.
	Plant cure	Cures a diseased plant (other than trees and bushes).

Most of these tools can be bought in the several Farming shops.

Tool Leprechaun

A tool leprechaun.

A tool leprechaun can be found at any farming patch. Their job is to look after the player's farming tools.

Players can store the following:

• 1-100 Rake
• 1-100 Seed dibber
• 1-100 Spade
• 1-100 Trowel
• 1-100 secateurs or magic secateurs
• 1 watering can (8) or gricoller's can
• 1 Bottomless compost bucket
• 1-1000 plant cures
• 1-1000 buckets
• 1-1000 compost, supercompost and ultracompost

The tool leprechaun will also swap herbs (both grimy and clean) and harvested produce (with some exceptions) into bank notes form by using the unnoted items on the tool leprechaun.

Magic secateurs

Magic secateurs are obtained during the quest Fairytale I - Growing Pains. It is the only weapon in game that is capable of damaging Tanglefoot. When equipped, the magic secateurs increase the crop yield of herbs, allotments, grape vines, and hops by 10%, as well as yielding more higher quality herbs from Herbiboars; when held in the player's inventory, they function as normal secateurs without the crop yield bonus. Magic secateurs do not count as a weapon when travelling to Entrana, as there is a hops patch on the island. Additionally, because of the stab and slash bonuses, they can be an alternative to the Dramen staff on the island when using Melee.

Farming outfit

A male player wearing the farmer's outfit.

The Farmer's outfit is an experience-boosting set that grants bonus Farming experience when worn. A Farming level of 34 is required to wear any of the pieces, as pieces of the outfit are purchased from the Tithe Farm shop. The outfit costs a total of 400 points to purchase.

	Item	XP Boost	Cost (in points)	Boost per point (% per point)
	Hat	0.4%	75	0.0053
	Torso	0.8%	150	0.0053
	Legs	0.6%	125	0.0048
	Boots	0.2%	50	0.0040
Sub-total		2%
Set bonus		0.5%
Complete set		2.5 %	400	0.0063

Amulet of nature

The untradeable amulet of nature is used to monitor the state of a patch. Players can use it on a patch to bind the amulet to the selected patch. The amulet will remain bound to the same patch even after the plant is harvested or removed.

Players wearing the amulet will receive a message if the plant becomes diseased, finishes growing or dies. The message will be received upon log-in if it occured while the player was logged out. The amulet can also be rubbed to learn the current state of the patch.

Players can only have one amulet of nature at a time, but it can be rubbed and bound to new patches indefinitely.

Other

• The farming cape increases the yield of herb patches by 5%.
• A woodcutting axe is needed to chop down trees, fruit trees, hardwoods, crystal trees and celastrus trees. Regular trees, fruit trees and hardwoods can also be removed by paying 200 to the gardener instead. Redwood trees can only be removed by paying Alexandra 2,000. Calquat trees, spirit trees and Hespori do not need to be chopped down to be removed.
• Any kind of glove is needed to harvest cave nightshade from the belladonna patch.
• An amulet of bounty offers a 25% to use one seed instead of the regular three when planting them in allotment patches.
• A fishbowl helmet and diving apparatus can be useful when farming giant seaweed, but are not required.
• Herbs will be harvested directly into an open herb sack.

Seeds

Main article: Seeds

Seeds are items that members use to grow crops with the Farming skill. They are essential in training the Farming skill. There are various ways in retrieving them, for example:

• Pickpocketing Master Farmers.
• Stealing from Seed stalls.
• Monster drops.
• Bird's nests obtained during Woodcutting or from bird houses.
• Completing Farming contracts.
• Hunting certain implings, most notably Nature implings.
• Minigame rewards, such as various seeds from Wintertodt Supply crates and Barbarian Assault gambles or grape seeds purchased from Tithe Farm.
• Low level seeds can be bought from Olivia and Amelia.
• Purchasing from other players.
• Picking a vegetable from one of the non-player-owned fields dotted around RuneScape occasionally provides a seed as well.

Disease, payment, compost and watering

See also: Disease (Farming)

When a healthy crop ends a growth cycle, there is a chance it may become diseased. While diseased, the crop stops growing and does not advance to the next stage. Crops do not recover from disease on their own, and die at the end of the diseased cycle if left uncured. Dead crops yield no experience and require use of a spade to dig up their remains before planting another crop in the patch.

Players may treat plants in diseased herb, flower, allotment, bush, hops, tree, fruit tree, hardwood tree, spirit, celastrus, belladonna, cactus, and mushroom patches with plant cure to restore the crop to health. Doing so may let the crop advance to the next growth stage normally upon the end of the cycle, although it is possible that it may become diseased again. For diseased trees and bushes, the player may use secateurs on the plant to trim the diseased branch and restore the crop to health. Alternatively, if a player has access to the Lunar Magic spellbook they may use the Cure Plant spell instead, which is substantially more expensive but may save the player valuable inventory space during a crop run.

Crops grow in real-time, so they may become diseased when a player is offline. In addition, crops that have been cured of disease may become afflicted once again. Crops cannot become diseased in the first growth stage (i.e. immediately after the seed has been planted), and fully grown crops will not become diseased.

An amulet of nature alerts a player to disease occurring in a specific patch if worn, and may also be rubbed to check whether or not a plant is still healthy.

Reducing disease risk

Each crop type has a predetermined probability of becoming diseased each crop window. Treating a farming patch with compost, supercompost or ultracompost before (or immediately after) planting a crop reduces the chance of disease during all growth cycles, rounded down to the nearest 1/128th. Compost reduces disease risk by 50%, supercompost by 80%, and ultracompost by 90%. If an Iasor is planted and alive, disease risk of all crops is reduced by a further 80%, to a minimum chance of 1/128 per growth cycle. The risk of a plant becoming diseased without any treatment varies depending on the crop (and in some cases the specific patch).

Watering allotment, flower, and hops patches with a watering can reduces the risk of disease occurring at the end of that growth cycle. During the next growth cycle, the plant changes from being watered back to normal and has a higher risk for disease once more, unless it is watered again. Only allotment, flower, and hops patches may be watered.

Eliminating disease risk

Planting different flowers or a scarecrow provides protection from disease to a variety of crops in allotment patches once the flower is fully grown, while white lillies protect every type of crop grown in allotment patch.

Allotment, Hops, Bush, Tree, Fruit tree and some special farming patches allow you to eliminate disease risk entirely by paying one of the farmers near the farming patch to watch over it and ensure that it grows to completion. Payment may be noted, but must be in the exact form requested. For instance, a farmer does not accept five apples in lieu of a basket of apples. Visit the page linked below for a list of payments required to protect each seed.

See also: Seeds

Disease-free patches

• Completing My Arm's Big Adventure and Making Friends with My Arm unlocks special herb patches that are immune to disease, although herb yields may still be increased by treating the patches with super/ultracompost.
• With 50% Hosidius favour, the Hosidius allotment, herb, and flower patches will no longer become diseased.
• With the elite tier of the Falador Diary complete, the tree patch in Falador Park will no longer become diseased.

Compost

Besides reducing the chance of a farming patch becoming diseased, compost, supercompost and ultracompost also increase the minimum yield and maximum number of harvests received from allotments, hops and herbs. This also applies to giant seaweed patches underwater and celastrus bark from a fully grown celastrus seed. It should be noted that this only works for one set of seeds. Once the crops are harvested, another bucket of compost must be applied to the patch in order to receive its effects.

See also: Compost_Bin#Mechanics

Visit the page linked above for instructions on how to make the different tiers of compost.

Crop types

Main article: Farming/Patch locations

Crops and trees can be farmed in allocated farming patches, which can be found in several places. All farming patches are divided into a category, therefore seeds can only be grown in certain patches.

Allotment, flower, and herb

This article has a strategy guide here. All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Allotment, flower, and herb patches are often found together as 2 allotment patches, 1 flower patch, 1 herb patch, and a compost bin.

An additional single allotment patch can be found on Harmony Island, which can be accessed after completing The Great Brain Robbery. Also, additional herb patches can be accessed at Trollheim after completing My Arm's Big Adventure, in Weiss after completing Making Friends with My Arm and building the Fire of Nourishment and on Harmony Island after completion of the elite Morytania Diary.

Allotment

Main article: Allotment patch

Allotments are used to grow certain fruits and vegetables that are often used in the Cooking skill. Each allotment crop requires three seeds to be planted in each patch. Players can pay a nearby gardener to protect their crops, but must do so for each patch, even if two are available. Having fully-grown flowers of the corresponding type will protect adjacent allotment patches from getting diseased for as long as the flowers are in the patch, as an alternative to paying a gardener to protect the patch.

Fully grown allotment patches can be harvested by clicking on the fully grown crops; harvests are generally between 3 and 56 crops. After a patch has been harvested, it is cleared for re-planting.

Flower

Main article: Flower patch

A single flower seed is needed to plant in a flower patch; a fully grown flower protects specific allotment crops depending upon the flower's type. Flower patches cannot be protected by a gardener. Most flowers yield one flower when harvested, clearing the patch. Limpwurt seeds, at minimum, will yield three limpwurt roots. The yield can increase depending on the player's Farming level.

Herb

Main article: Herb patch

A herb seed can be planted in a herb patch; as certain herb types are expensive, growing herbs with a high Farming level can be lucrative. Herb patches cannot be protected by a gardener. The herb patches at Trollheim and Weiss never become diseased, and the Hosidius patches are also protected if the player has at least 50% Hosidius favour. Harvests generally range between 3 and 18 grimy herbs. Using ultracompost, Farming cape and magic secateurs, a player will gain an average of 9.5 grimy herbs when harvesting a herb patch.

Hops

This article has a strategy guide here. All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Main article: Hops patch

There are four hops patches: north of Lumbridge, north of McGrubor's Wood, in Yanille and on Entrana. Hops grown here can be used with the Cooking skill for brewing. Four hop seeds, or three jute seeds, are needed to plant in each hops patch. Harvests generally vary between 3 and 46 hops. After a hops patch has been harvested it will be cleared for re-planting.

Bushes

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Main article: Bush patch

There are five bush patches: west of the Champions' Guild, Rimmington, south of Ardougne, south-west of Etceteria and in the Farming Guild. A player can check the health of and then harvest berries from fully grown bushes. This is done by hand and yields a minimum of four berries, with any extra berries depending on the player's Farming level. Unless a bush is dug up, it will continue to regrow berries over time.

Trees

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Main article: Tree patch

There are six tree patches: at Lumbridge, Varrock Castle, Falador Park, Taverley, the Gnome Stronghold and Farming Guild. Players can grow trees by using a seed on a plant pot filled with soil to create a seedling. The seedling then needs to be watered. After a few minutes the seedling will turn into a sapling, which can then be planted in a tree patch.

A fully grown tree acts similarly to the trees that are used in the Woodcutting skill. After checking a tree's health, players can cut it down using an axe to receive logs. As with non-player grown trees, there is a chance of a farmed tree dropping bird's nests. Once a tree is cut down it will leave a tree stump, which can be left to respawn or dug up to gain tree roots and to clear the patch. Players who do not wish to cut down and dig up a tree can use the right-click “pay” option on the tree to instantly remove it. Gardeners can instantly remove a tree for a fee of 200.

Fruit trees

This article has a strategy guide here. All information on mechanics and strategy will be on this page.

Main article: Fruit tree patch

There are six fruit tree patches: at Gnome Stronghold, east of Catherby, west of Tree Gnome Village, Brimhaven, Lletya and Farming Guild. Players can grow fruit trees by using a seed on a plant pot filled with soil to create a seedling. The seedling then needs to be watered. After a few minutes the seedling will turn into a sapling, which can then be planted in a fruit tree patch.

Once a fruit tree is fully grown the player may check its health and harvest it to receive 6 fruit. A fruit tree will continue to grow fruit over time, unless it is cut down and its stump dug up, with a new fruit regenerating every 45 minutes. Gardeners can instantly remove a fruit tree for a fee of 200.

Special patches

Main article: Special patches

Some plants may only be grown in their specific patches. See the main article for more information on these plants and patches.

Farming guild

Main article: Farming Guild

The Farming Guild is a members-only guild located within the Kebos Lowlands just north of the Kebos Swamp. The guild is a large greenhouse separated into three tiers, with each tier requiring an increasing Farming level to enter (boosts may be used for all tiers). To enter the guild, a minimum farming level of 45 is required along with 60% Hosidius favour.

Farming contracts

Because the guild needs to rotate the crops they're growing to stop the soil from tiring due to a lack of nutrients, Guildmaster Jane can assign farming contracts that require the player to grow certain crops within the Farming Guild. Players who complete them are awarded with seed packs, which contain an assortment of seeds and can include Hespori, Celastrus, and redwood seeds.

There are three tiers of contracts available, with each tier being restricted based on their Farming level and their level of access within the Farming Guild. Boosts may be used to accept a farming contract you are below the level requirement for.

Hespori patch

A fully grown Hespori plant, ready to fight.

The Hespori patch, accessible via the cave entrance, is a patch where players with 65 Farming can plant Hespori seeds. These are randomly obtained when harvesting plants throughout Gielinor or rewarded from farming contracts. The Hespori plant cannot become diseased, and therefore does not need to be watered, composted, or protected by a farmer.

Once the patch has fully grown, which is indicated by the flower behind the cave sprouting open or by going into the cave and checking, the Hespori can be fought as a solo demi-boss. Killing the Hespori boss grants Farming experience and seeds, including the unique white lily and anima seeds. It can also drop the bottomless compost bucket, which can hold up to 10,000 compost of any kind and doubles any compost added to it. In addition, it has a chance to give the Tangleroot pet.

The Hespori fight is instanced but has an item reclaim service that works identically to other grave systems like the Grotesque Guardians, Zulrah, and Vorkath. If the player dies during the Hespori fight, Arno will collect and return their items for a fee of 25,000 coins, but if they die in any dangerous area before doing so, any unclaimed items will be permanently lost.

Tithe Farm

Main article: Tithe Farm

Tithe Farm is a Farming based minigame that is located in Hosidius. The minigame revolves around intensively planting special seeds into farming patches, tending them until harvest, and depositing the produce into sacks in order to earn points. Players can speak to Farmer Gricoller for information on how to play.

Requirements

In order to play this minigame, players must have 100% Hosidius favour and a minimum of 34 Farming in order to pick up the Golovanova seeds (lowest available) from the table. When trying to enter without seeds, Farmer Gricoller will stop you.

Three types of seeds can be found on the table near Farmer Gricoller, each requiring a specific Farming level. Players can only take one type of seed, and boosts can be used, but boosted levels must be maintained when planting seeds.

• Golovanova seeds ( 34 )
• Bologano seeds ( 54 )
• Logavano seeds ( 74 )

Players will also need a spade, a seed dibber and a watering can (6 to 8 watering cans are recommended).

Rewards

After harvesting the plants, players should deposit the harvest into the sacks found nearby. Depositing harvests will reward players with points and farming experience.

Rewards		Points required	Notes
	Compost	1	Reduces chance of crops becoming diseased while growing throughout the plant cycle and increasing the minimum and maximum number of crops received upon harvest. The supercompost version is more potent.
	Supercompost	5
	Grape seed	2	A tradeable seed that can be planted in the Vinery to harvest grapes.
	Bologa's blessing	1	Converts 1 grapes into 1 Zamorak's grapes per scroll when harvesting them from the Vinery. Purchasing this requires level 50 Prayer and a one-time payment to Bologa for 75,000 coins while wearing an item affiliated with Zamorak. 1 point grants 10 blessings.
	Farmer's strawhat	75	A piece of the farmer's outfit. Appearance differs between genders.
	Farmer's jacket/shirt	150	A piece of the farmer's outfit. Jacket is obtained if male, shirt if female.
	Farmer's boro trousers	125	A piece of the farmer's outfit. Appearance differs between genders.
	Farmer's boots	50	A piece of the farmer's outfit. Appearance slightly differs between genders.
	Gricoller's can	200	Acts as a watering can but holds 1,000 doses of water. This effectively lasts 333 plants which is 3 full games of tithe farm before it needs refilling. Filled by using it on a water source.
	Seed box	250	Stores any amount of six types of seeds.
	Herb sack	250	Stores 30 of each type of grimy herb.
	Auto-weed	50	When enabled, weeds no longer grow in your Farming patches. This doesn't remove weeds that have already grown there, but it stops them from growing back. Once purchased, the ability can be turned on and off freely. Note: This doesn't affect farming patches involved in Managing Miscellania.

Mechanics

Growth timing

Crops do not grow continuously; each plant has a discrete set of growth stages, advancing to the next at periodic times called growth ticks. The frequency of growth occurring is determined by the type of seed, e.g. a spirit tree's growth stages last 320 minutes. In comparison, hops' growth stages last 10 minutes. The shortest is 5 minutes, which includes flowers, weeds growing and tree seedlings growing into saplings. For a full list of growth stage durations and the number of stages for each type of crop, see Seeds. The Kronos plant provides a chance for farming patches (excluding itself) to skip a growth stage during their next growth cycle; this chance is shared between all farming patches of that growth cycle.

The pattern of growth ticks is shown in the table below. However, there is an offset which is different per player, and persists through logins. To determine this offset, note the time when a slow crop grows, and compare with the closest time listed. Then apply the difference to every time in the table. For example, if a mahogany tree grows at 10:18 AM on Day 1, subtract 22 minutes from each time listed.

Cycle length	Main crops	Base growth times (GMT)
5 minutes	Flowers, saplings	All times ending in :00, :05, :10, :15, :20, :25, :30, :35, :40, :45, :50, :55
10 minutes	Allotments, hops, Potato cactus, Seaweed	All times ending in :00, :10, :20, :30, :40, :50
20 minutes	Herbs, bushes	All times ending in :00, :20, :40
40 minutes	Trees	12:00, 12:40, 1:20, 2:00, 2:40, 3:20, 4:00, 4:40, 5:20, 6:00, 6:40, 7:20, 8:00, 8:40, 9:20, 10:00, 10:40, 11:20. All times apply to both AM/PM.
80 minutes	Cactus, crystal	12:00, 1:20, 2:40, 4:00, 5:20, 6:40, 8:00, 9:20, 10:40. All times apply to both AM/PM.
160 minutes	Fruit trees, Calquat, Celastrus	12:00 AM, 2:40 AM, 5:20 AM, 8:00 AM, 10:40 AM, 1:20 PM, 4:00 PM, 6:40 PM, 9:20 PM
320 minutes	Spirit tree	Day 1: 12:00 AM, 5:20 AM, 10:40 AM, 4:00 PM, 9:20 PM Day 2: 2:40 AM, 8:00 AM, 1:20 PM, 6:40 PM
640 minutes	Hardwoods, Redwood, Anima	Day 1: 12:00 AM, 10:40 AM, 9:20 PM Day 2: 8:00 AM, 6:40 PM Day 3: 5:20 AM, 4:00 PM Day 4: 2:40 AM, 1:20 PM

In the table above, Thursday 24 June 2021 is Day 3. (Note: this is usually today, but does not update immediately when the date changes.)

The time for a newly-planted seed to grow to the second stage is typically less than the full time between growth ticks. For example, herb seeds grow every 20 minutes. Suppose a player with zero offset plants a seed at 6:35. A growth tick for herbs will occur at 6:40, and the herbs then grow to the second stage, having spent five minutes in the first growth stage instead of the stated 20.

The following is a schematic representation of the growth ticks. The green bars represent the times when plants will grow. Each time a plant grows, all plants with shorter growth stages will also grow, so there is a time every 640 minutes when all plants grow simultaneously.

Variable crop yield

Herbs, allotments, hops, bushes, nightshades, cacti, limpwurt, celastrus and giant seaweed all produce varying amounts of items after you have harvested them.

For herbs, allotments, hops and giant seaweed, the mechanism to determine how many items can be harvested is based on "harvest lives". A fully-grown patch initially has three lives, with additional lives when compost is used (one additional life for regular compost, two for supercompost and three for ultracompost). Whenever an item is harvested, there is a chance of a life being saved, and the patch becomes empty when it is out of lives. The chance of a harvest life being saved can be increased in various ways:

• Farming level and crop type: This determines the base chance to save a harvest life and is a function of both Farming level and what is being planted. Generally speaking, the higher your Farming level, the higher the base chance to save; additionally the higher the Farming level requirement of the crop, the higher the base chance to save with the caveat that this effect decreases with Farming level, making no difference between crops at level 99.
• Wielding magic secateurs while harvesting: 10%
• Wielding the Farming cape while harvesting: 5% (herb patches only)
• Completing the Kandarin Diary: 5% Medium, 10% Hard, 15% Elite (Catherby herb patch only)
• Completing the Kourend & Kebos Diary: 5% Hard (Hosidius and Farming Guild herb patches only)
• Having an attas seed planted: 5%

The chance to save a harvest life can be approximated by:

$ChanceToSave={\frac {({\frac {Chance1\cdot (99-F)}{98}}+{\frac {(Chance99\cdot (F-1)}{98}})\cdot (1+ItemBonus)\cdot (1+DiaryBonus)+1}{256}}$

Where:

• $F$ = Farming Level
• $ItemBonus$ = 0.1 with , 0.05 with or , for a total of 0.15 with both
• $DiaryBonus$ as the percentage of higher yields listed in Achievement Diary Rewards
• $Chance1$ and $Chance99$ are the raw $ChancetoSave$ values at level 1 and 99 Farming respectively for the specific crop being grown.

The absolute minimum number of crops harvested is equal to the number of lives the player started with (for example, six with ultracompost), but theoretically, there is no upper limit on the maximum size of a harvest. It is however exceedingly rare to get very large harvests and over the course of multiple harvests it will tend towards the expected yield due to the law of large numbers, a negative binomial distribution of:

$ExpectedYield={\frac {HarvestLives}{1-ChancetoSave}}$

This average depends on knowing the chance of a harvest life being saved, which is unknown for majority of variable yield crops other than herbs, but can be estimated after numerous harvests.

The following estimates are based off of experimental findings (unless cited with exact numbers), with the use of both the magic secateurs and the Farming cape at 99 Farming with ultracompost:

• Herbs give an average of 9 herbs per patch.
• Allotments give an average of 40–50 produce per patch.
• Bushes give an average of 15–20 berries per patch.
• Hops give an average of 30–40 hops per patch.
• Nightshades give an average of 8 belladonna per patch.
• Cacti give an average of 10 spines per patch.
• Potato cacti give an average of 15–20 potato cacti per patch.
• Limpwurts give an average of 8 limpwurt roots per patch.
• Giant seaweed give an average of 33 per patch.

Farming pet

Main article: Tangleroot

The Tangleroot is a skilling pet that can be obtained when checking the health and harvesting the final crops of any fully grown farming patch. It can also be obtained while playing the Tithe Farm minigame. The chances of getting it are dependent on the player's Farming level, and the produce the player is harvesting. It may also be obtained from killing the Hespori.

Temporary boosts

Main article: Temporary skill boost

Boost		Level increase	Visibility	Other info
	Farming cape	1	Visible	Activating the cape's effect will increase the corresponding skill by 1.
	Spicy stew (brown spice)	±0-5	Visible	Depending on type of stew, any skill can be boosted or reduced by 0 to 5 levels randomly.
	Cider	1	Visible	Reduces Attack and Strength by 2.
	Mature cider	2	Visible	Reduces Attack and Strength by 5.
	Garden pie	3	Visible	Consists of 2 bites, restoring 6 Hitpoints per bite.

• Note that boosts are only needed at the time of planting. You do not need to boost to check the health of a tree/bush or to harvest produce.

Quests

Quests requiring Farming

Quest	Farming requirement	Other skill requirements
Forgettable Tale...	17	22
Garden of Tranquility	25	-
My Arm's Big Adventure	29	10
Enlightened Journey	30	20 , 20 , 36
Rum Deal	40	42 , 50 , 47 , 42
Grim Tales	45	52 , 58 , 59 , 71
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	49	40 , 57
Song of the Elves	70	70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70

Quests rewarding Farming experience

Main article: Quest experience rewards

Quest	Experience reward	Farming requirement	Other requirements
Recipe for Disaster (Goblin generals subquest)	1,000	-	-
Enlightened Journey	3,000	30	20 , 20 , 36
Fairytale I - Growing Pains	3,500	-	-
Grim Tales	4,000	45	52 , 58 , 59 , 71
Forgettable Tale...	5,000	17	22
Garden of Tranquillity	5,000	25	-
My Arm's Big Adventure	5,000	29	10
Rum Deal	7,000	40	42 , 50 , 47 , 42
Song of the Elves	20,000	70	70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70 , 70
Total	53,500

Skill choice

Upon completing any of the following quests, players may choose to allocate experience to Farming. These rewards usually come in the form of items, such as lamps or books, and are independent of any experience rewards directly received for completing the quest.

Quest	Experience reward	Skills available	Skill requirements
X Marks the Spot	300	Any	None
Client of Kourend	500 twice	Any	None
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	2,500	Any skill above 30	49 , 57
A Tail of Two Cats	2,500 twice	Any skill above 30	None
The Great Brain Robbery	5,000	Any skill above 30	16 , 30 , 50
King's Ransom	5,000	Any skill above 50	65
Darkness of Hallowvale	2,000 three times	Any skill above 30	5 , 20 , 22 , 32 , 33 , 40
A Taste of Hope	2,500 three times	Any skill above 35	48 , 40 , 40 , 45 , 38
A Kingdom Divided	10,000	Any skill above 40	54 , 52 , 52 , 50 , 42 , 38 , 35
Architectural Alliance (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
In Search of Knowledge (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	None
Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 50	Some players will need 31
One Small Favour	10,000 twice	Any skill above 30	36 , 25 , 18 , 30
Recipe for Disaster (The final battle)	20,000	Any skill above 50	175 , 70 , 48 , 50 , 53 , 53 , 25 , 59 , 40 , 50 , 40 , 40 , 10 , 10 , 36
Sins of the Father	15,000 three times	Any skill above 60	62 , 60 , 56 , 52 , 50 , 50 , 49
Total	157,300

Update history

Date	Changes
16 May 2019 (update)	Inspecting a farming patch will now reveal the growth stage of the plant.
23 February 2017 (update | poll)	For a cost of 50 Tithe farm points, Farmer Gricoller of the Tithe farm will allow you to permanently rid your farming patches of the burden of weeds. After unlocking this reward, you'll only need to rid your farming patches of weeds once more in order to clear them permanently!
28 May 2015 (update)	Every farming patch now has the following left-click options: Rake, when they need weeding. Clear, when dead or a stump. Prune or cure, when diseased. Clear on fully grown bushes with no fruit left. Corrected the payment for redberry bushes in the Farming skill guide.
18 December 2014 (update)	Repaired the textures on some diseased farming trees.
27 February 2014 (update | poll)	High-level farmers can now get more roots when digging up a tree patch. One extra root is given for every 8 levels above the tree's Farming requirement, up to a total of four. For example, a yew tree has a Farming requirement of 60, so it gives two roots at level 68, three at 76 and four at 84. Stat-boosts are respected. When picking fruit from a Farming patch, your character will now automatically continue picking until the patch runs out of fruit or your inventory fills up. This applies to fruit trees, bushes, cacti, mushrooms and calquat trees.
29 August 2013 (update)	The in-game skillguide for Farming now shows the requirements for planting two and three spirit trees simultaneously. The messages you get on levelling up that skill have been updated too.
22 August 2013 (update | poll)	Players can now grow more than one spirit tree at a time. Level 91 Farming will be required for two trees, and level 99 for three.
22 February 2013 (update)	This content was included when the Old School RuneScape servers officially launched.