Farming

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

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
Release date		11 July 2005 (Update)
Also known as		Farm
Members		Yes
Type		Gathering
Statistics
Players with 99		47,236 as of 1 August 2019 - update
Players with 200M XP		95 as of 1 August 2019 - update

Farming is a skill in which players grow crops using seeds and harvest useful items from them, or more commonly, harvest the plant itself. The crops grown range from the standard staples of vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, and hops, to more exotic and unusual crops such as wood-bearing trees, cacti, and mushrooms. The harvested items have wide range of uses, but are mostly used to train Herblore or Cooking, or simply eaten as food. Many players sell their harvest for a significant profit.

Once players have reached level 15 and beyond, they can begin to plant wood-bearing trees. Player-grown trees function just like their standard equivalents, which can be chopped down and regenerate after a short period of time to yield Woodcutting experience and logs. Player-grown wood-bearing trees have the added benefit of being only accessible to the player who grew them, which means that players will not need to compete against others when cutting wood from a tree they grew.

Farming level-up music

The first music that can be played when levelled up.

Farming has the unique perk of being an asynchronous skill, meaning that plants will continue to grow even after a player has logged out. For this reason, growing trees and fruit trees are a very popular training method since large amounts of experience can be gained with relatively little in-game time. Planning a strategy to maximise growth times for high experience-granting activities becomes very effective for rapid leveling, especially at higher levels.

Farming level-up music

The second music that can be played when levelled up.

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. Players can also cast the Fertile Soil spell from the Lunar spellbook at any point during the plant's growth cycle to apply supercompost.

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 ash to a full bin of supercompost or adding 2 volcanic ash to a bucket of supercompost.

A player picking herbs grown from farming.

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.

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.

Although this would seem to imply that players can simply plant their seeds and go back to their lives, there is a problem with this tactic. At lower levels, unattended crops are extremely unlikely to live long enough to reach maturity unattended. Even at relatively high levels there will always be a significant chance that crops will sicken and die. Therefore, all levels are recommended to pay nearby gardeners to watch crops. Doing so prevents the selected crops from dying, thus guaranteeing their reaching maturity for harvest.

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 2 buckets of compost while the price for protecting a patch of onions is 1 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.

Getting started

A common mistake for players who are new to farming is that they tend to wait next to their patch until their crops are fully grown, and become harvestable. Reasons why players wait is because crops do have the tendency to become diseased. However, many crops take more than an hour to grow fully, and most introductory crops take over half an hour. Do not waste your time standing near the farming patches wondering when your crops will grow; instead, do something else. If you fear your crops will become diseased there are a few ways to prevent this from happening while you are away (to most crops) and that will be further explained later. In addition, your plants will grow even if you are online playing or offline.

A good way to jumpstart your farming is to do the quest Fairy Tale I - Growing Pains. The experience reward will raise level 1 Farming to level 17. By completing this quest, players will also receive a pair of magic secateurs which, when worn, will increase the yield of crops by 10% while harvesting.

See Farming training for more information on leveling up.

Tools

For farming there are certain tools you will need to use, whether it's using a rake to clear a plot 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	Used for watering plants, which prevents disease during the watered growth cycle.
	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.

You can buy a lot of these tools along with compost in farming shops located below.

• North of Catherby
• North-west of Port Phasmatys
• North of Ardougne
• South-east of Falador
• South-east of Hosidius
• Inside the Farming Guild (requires 45 farming to access)

Tool storage

A tool leprechaun.

At any farming patch you will come across a tool leprechaun, whose job is to look after your farming tools.

You 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 into bank notes form by using the unnoted items on the tool leprechaun.

Seeds

Main article: Seeds

Seeds are essential in training the Farming skill, however, there are only a few ways in retrieving them. These include:

• Pickpocketing Master Farmers
• Stealing from Seed stalls
• Monster drops
• Bird's nests
• Purchasing from other players
• Completing Farming contracts

Compost

Patches treated with compost are less likely to become diseased. Using compost also increases the minimum and maximum yields on that patch, though 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.

To create compost you will need around 15 pieces of organic material such as produce, weeds, and rotten fruit. Put this in a Compost bin near a patch and close the lid and wait for around 60 minutes. Then, with an inventory of 15 empty buckets you can fill them all up with compost.

Supercompost is created in a similar way but with higher-end materials such as pineapples and watermelons. Patches treated with supercompost yield more crops than ordinary Compost.

Ultracompost is created using volcanic ash on a compost bin or bucket that contains supercompost. Ultracompost yields even greater crops than supercompost and the crops are even less likely to become diseased. 25 volcanic ash must be used on a compost bin containing super compost to become ultracompost. Note that if 25 volcanic ash will be used regardless of how much super compost remains in the bin. For example, if 10 buckets of supercompost remain in the compost bin, the player will still add 25 ash even though only 20 would be needed if using volcanic ash on the individual buckets. It takes 2 volcanic ash to make 1 bucket of ultracompost when the volcanic ash is used on a bucket of super compost. It is more useful to add volcanic ash directly to a full compost bin, as you will need 5 less volcanic ashes than would be needed to create the same amount of ultracompost using buckets of supercompost.

Farming patches

See also: Farming/Patch locations

Allotments

There are six allotments in Gielinor: south of Falador, north of Catherby, north-east of Ardougne, south-west of Hosidius, west of Port Phasmatys and in the Farming Guild. Each full allotment patch contains:

• 2 allotment patches
• 1 flower patch
• 1 herb patch
• 1 compost bin

An additional allotment patch (with no adjacent flower or herb patches) can be found on Harmony Island, which can be accessed after completing The Great Brain Robbery.

Allotment

See also: Seeds#Allotments and Farming/Patch locations#Allotment/Flower/Herb patches

Three allotment seeds are needed to plant in each allotment patch. If paying a gardener to protect their crops, players must pay the gardener to protect each of the allotment patches within an allotment separately. 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.

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
1	Potato seed	Potatoes	2 buckets of compost
5	Onion seed	Onions	1 sack of potatoes
7	Cabbage seed	Cabbages	1 sack of onions
12	Tomato seed	Tomatoes	2 sacks of cabbage
20	Sweetcorn seed	Sweetcorn	10 jute fibres
31	Strawberry seed	Strawberries	1 basket of apples
47	Watermelon seed	Watermelons	10 curry leaves
61	Snape grass seed	Snape grass	5 Jangerberries

Flower

See also: Seeds#Flowers and Farming/Patch locations#Allotment/Flower/Herb patches

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

Farming level	Seed	Produce
2	Marigold seed	Marigolds
11	Rosemary seed	Rosemary
24	Nasturtium seed	Nasturtiums
25	Woad seed	3 woad leaves
26	Limpwurt seed	3 limpwurt roots
58	White lily seed	White lily

Herbs

See also: Seeds#Herbs and Farming/Patch locations#Allotment/Flower/Herb patches

A herb seed can be planted in a herb patch. 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.

There are nine herb patches throughout Gielinor, most alongside allotments. After completing My Arm's Big Adventure, players can use a herb patch at Trollheim, and after completing Making Friends with My Arm and building the Fire of Nourishment, players can use the herb patch in Weiss. In addition, a herb patch can also be found on Harmony Island, which requires the completion of the elite Morytania Diary.

Gardeners cannot be paid to protect herb patches. 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.

Farming level	Seed	Produce
9	Guam seed	Grimy guam leaf
14	Marrentill seed	Grimy marrentill
19	Tarromin seed	Grimy tarromin
26	Harralander seed	Grimy harralander
29	Gout tuber	Goutweed
32	Ranarr seed	Grimy ranarr weed
38	Toadflax seed	Grimy toadflax
44	Irit seed	Grimy irit leaf
50	Avantoe seed	Grimy avantoe
56	Kwuarm seed	Grimy kwuarm
62	Snapdragon seed	Grimy snapdragon
67	Cadantine seed	Grimy cadantine
73	Lantadyme seed	Grimy lantadyme
79	Dwarf weed seed	Grimy dwarf weed
85	Torstol seed	Grimy torstol

Hops

See also: Seeds#Hops and Farming/Patch locations#Hops patches

There are four hops patches: north of Lumbridge, north of McGrubor's Wood, Yanille and Entrana. 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.

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
3	Barley seed	Barley	3 buckets of compost
4	Hammerstone seed	Hammerstone hops	1 marigold
8	Asgarnian seed	Asgarnian hops	1 sack of onions
13	Jute seed	Jute fibre	6 barley malts
16	Yanillian seed	Yanillian hops	1 basket of tomatoes
21	Krandorian seed	Krandorian hops	3 sacks of cabbages
28	Wildblood seed	Wildblood hops	1 nasturtium

Bushes

See also: Seeds#Bushes and Farming/Patch locations#Bush patches

There are five bush patches: west of the Champions' Guild, Rimmington, south of Ardougne, south-west of Etceteria and in the Farming Guild. One bush seed is needed to plant a bush. All bushes except poison ivy are susceptible to disease.

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.

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
10	Redberry seed	Redberries	4 sacks of cabbages
22	Cadavaberry seed	Cadava berries	3 basket of tomatoes
36	Dwellberry seed	Dwellberries	3 baskets of strawberries
48	Jangerberry seed	Jangerberries	6 watermelons
59	Whiteberry seed	White berries	8 Mushrooms
70	Poison ivy seed	Poison ivy berries	Not protectable

Trees

See also: Seeds#Trees and Farming/Patch locations#Tree patches

There are six tree patches: at Lumbridge, Varrock Castle, Falador Park, Taverley, the Gnome Stronghold and Farming Guild. As with other tree seeds, it must be used 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 “clear” option on the tree to instantly remove it. Gardeners can instantly remove a tree for a fee of 200.

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
15	Acorn	Oak logs, Oak roots, Oak leaves	1 basket of tomatoes
30	Willow seed	Willow logs, Willow roots, Willow leaves	1 basket of apples
45	Maple seed	Maple logs, Maple roots, Maple leaves	1 basket of Oranges
60	Yew seed	Yew logs, Yew roots, Yew leaves	10 cactus spines
75	Magic seed	Magic logs, Magic roots, Magic leaves	25 coconuts

Fruit trees

See also: Seeds#Fruit trees and Farming/Patch locations#Fruit tree patches

There are six fruit tree patches: at Gnome Stronghold, east of Catherby, west of Tree Gnome Village, Brimhaven, Lletya and Farming Guild. As with other tree seeds, before a fruit tree seed can be planted it must be used 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 be planted in a 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.

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
27	Apple tree seed	Cooking apples	9 sweetcorns
33	Banana tree seed	Bananas	4 baskets of apples
39	Orange tree seed	Oranges	3 baskets of strawberries
42	Curry tree seed	Curry leaf	5 baskets of bananas
51	Pineapple seed	Pineapples	10 watermelons
57	Papaya tree seed	Papaya fruit	10 pineapples
68	Palm tree seed	Coconuts	15 papaya fruit
81	Dragonfruit tree seed	Dragonfruit	15 Coconuts

Special patches

See also: Seeds#Special and Farming/Patch locations#Special patches

The following plants may only be grown in their specific patches:

Farming level	Seed	Produce	Payment
23	Seaweed spores	Giant seaweed	200 numulite
35	Teak seed	Teak logs	15 limpwurt roots
36	Grape seed	Grapes	Not protectable, does not become diseased
53	Mushroom spore	Mushrooms	Not protectable, can become diseased
55	Mahogany seed	Mahogany Logs	25 yanillian hops
55	Cactus seed	Cactus spine	6 cadava berries
63	Belladonna seed	Cave nightshade	Not protectable, can become diseased
64	Potato cactus seed	Potato cactus	8 Snape grass
65	Hespori seed	Hespori	Not protectable, does not become diseased
72	Calquat tree seed	Calquat fruits	8 poison ivy berries
74	Crystal acorn	Crystal shard	Not protectable, does not become diseased
76	Kronos seed	Kronos plant	Not protectable, does not become diseased
76	Iasor seed	Iasor plant	Not protectable, does not become diseased
76	Attas seed	Attas plant	Not protectable, does not become diseased
83	Spirit seed	Spirit tree	5 monkey nuts, 1 monkey bar, and 1 ground tooth
85	Celastrus seed	Celastrus bark	8 Potato cactus
90	Redwood tree seed	Redwood logs	6 Dragonfruit

Farmers

This section is a stub. Please help expand it.

All around Gielinor, there are NPCs standing at each farming patch location, who will protect your crops, thus guaranteeing a 100% success rate. However, not all patches are capable of being protected. Those farmers who will protect your crops will ask for a payment in return while others are locked behind quests and favours.

Look under Farming skill tab to see what payment is necessary for what you are growing. All farmer payments will be the same.

Making the most of farming

There are many unlockable perks that assist those training the farming skill, ranging from items to increase yield or simple quality-of-life aids such as utility spells. Farming is one of the most mobile skills in the game, and as such is deeply integrated into many areas across Gielinor.

Helpful Tips

• Try to complete Fairytale I - Growing Pains as soon as possible in order to get the magic secateurs, which increases yield for crops without a fixed yield by 10%. Since the requirements to complete the quest and get the secateurs are easy to get, the investment in earning the secateurs pays off greatly over time.
• If a farmer is looking after trees or fruit trees, it is common not to use compost unless you want the small experience gain for adding compost. Trees and fruit trees have a fixed yield, unlike allotments and herbs, and as such compost has no effect when the tree is protected by a farmer. A notable exception is the Celastrus tree, which is harvested for its bark. Since the bark does not regenerate over time, the celastrus tree behaves similarly to herbs and therefore benefits from the use of compost.
• Players who have access to the Lunar Spellbook can cast Geomancy in order to look at the health and status of all of their crops at once.
• Since farming is a very spread out skill, and therefore requires a lot of running around, the Graceful outfit can be of great benefit.

Hosidius farming

The city of Hosidius, in addition to containing two allotment patches, one herb patch, and one flower patch that players may use freely without favour, provides a number of benefits for training farming upon gaining Hosidius Favour:

• At 35% Hosidius favour, the Spirit tree patch located near the Saltpetre mining sites becomes available.
• At 50% Hosidius favour, the allotment, flower, and herb patches inside Hosidius become disease-free without needing to pay for protection.
• At 60% Hosidius favour, along with level 45 farming, players may access the Farming Guild in the Kebos Lowlands. While not being located within Hosidius itself, the guild was founded by Hosidius farmers.
• At 65% Hosidius favour, access to the Vinery is granted, where players can farm grapes after first preparing the patches by using saltpetre on the twelve available vine patches.
• At 100% Hosidius favour, players can participate in the Tithe Farm minigame. In addition to being the only way to obtain grape seeds besides buying them from other players, the rewards shop offers a number of farming-focused items such as the Farmer's outfit. Furthermore, unlocking the Tithe Farm minigame also unlocks its minigame teleport, which is a teleport option that is close to the Vinery and the Hosidius farming patches. However, using a Skills necklace to teleport to the Woodcutting guild is a similar distance away from the Hosidius Farming patch (requires 45 Agility for the river jump shortcut).

Mechanics

Growth cycles

Crops do not grow continuously; each plant has a discrete set of growth stages, advancing to the next during periodically repeating five minute periods called growth stage windows, more commonly known as a farming tick. Regardless of the seed, growth stage windows last five minutes. The frequency of growth stage windows occurring is determined by the type of seed, e.g. a spirit tree's growth stages take 320 minutes, which includes a 5 minute growth window followed by 315 minutes of inactivity, repeated multiple times. In comparison hops' growth stages last 10 minutes, including a 5 minute growth stage window followed by 5 minutes of inactivity, repeated multiple times.

The cycles of growth stages all start at midnight UTC, and repeat indefinitely until the next midnight, when they begin again. The 320 minute cycle for spirit trees repeats on the second midnight. The following tables list the start times for the growth stage windows. These last for five minutes, so add 5 minutes to the start time to obtain the end time for the growth stage window. Every seed has a growth stage window from 12:00 AM to 12:05 AM.

Cycle length	Start times (GMT)
5 minutes	All times ending in :00, :05, :10, :15, :20, :25, :30, :35, :40, :45, :50, :55
10 minutes	All times ending in :05, :15, :25, :35, :45, :55
20 minutes	All times ending in :15, :35, :55
40 minutes	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	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	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	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	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

The following is a schematic representation of the smallest unit of the growth stage windows. The green blocks represent growth stage windows, and the grey blocks represent units of time in which plants cannot grow.

As well as only occurring in growth stage windows, plants only grow when the player reaches a growth tick. A player reaches a growth tick every five minutes, though growth ticks may slightly vary from player to player.

Many other Farming actions occur with growth ticks. These include weeds growing and tree seedlings growing into saplings. These grow at any growth tick, so they may be treated as running on a growth stage window with a cycle period of five minutes.

Crops will advance a growth stage upon reaching the first growth tick that falls within a growth stage window. Thus, the first growth stage is typically less than the time between two growth stage windows for that crop. For example, herb seeds have 20 minute growth cycles. Suppose a player plants a seed at 6:35. A growth window for herbs will occur around 6:40. Thus, the herb will advance a growth stage when the tick falls within the growth stage window. The herbs will only have spent five minutes in the first growth stage instead of the stated twenty.

For a list of growth stage windows and growth times for each type of crop, see Seeds.

Variable crop yield

Herbs, allotments, hops, bushes, nightshades, cacti, limpwurt 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: Known to have an effect, but it is unknown how much.

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 Farming Level
• $ItemBonus$ = 0.1 with , 0.05 with , 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.

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 points 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.

• 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 Farming	22 Cooking
Garden of Tranquility	25 Farming	-
My Arm's Big Adventure	29 Farming	10 Woodcutting
Enlightened Journey	30 Farming	20 Quest, 20 Firemaking, 36 Crafting
Rum Deal	40 Farming	42 Crafting, 50 Fishing, 47 Prayer, 42 Slayer
Grim Tales	45 Farming	52 Herblore, 58 Thieving, 59 Agility, 71 Woodcutting
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	49 Farming	57 Herblore
Song of the Elves	70 Farming	70 Agility, 70 Construction, 70 Herblore, 70 Hunter, 70 Mining, 70 Smithing, 70 Woodcutting

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 Farming	20 Quest, 20 Firemaking, 36 Crafting
Fairytale I - Growing Pains	3,500	-	-
Grim Tales	4,000	45 Farming	52 Herblore, 58 Thieving, 59 Agility, 71 Woodcutting
Forgettable Tale...	5,000	17 Farming	22 Cooking
Garden of Tranquillity	5,000	25 Farming	-
My Arm's Big Adventure	5,000	29 Farming	10 Woodcutting
Rum Deal	7,000	40 Farming	42 Crafting, 50 Fishing, 47 Prayer, 42 Slayer
Song of the Elves	20,000	70 Farming	70 Agility, 70 Construction, 70 Herblore, 70 Hunter, 70 Mining, 70 Smithing, 70 Woodcutting
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	-
Client of Kourend	500 twice	Any	-
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	2,500	Any skill above 30	49 Farming, 57 Herblore
A Tail of Two Cats	2,500 twice	Any skill above 30	-
The Great Brain Robbery	5,000	Any skill above 30	16 Crafting, 30 Construction, 50 Prayer
King's Ransom	5,000	Any skill above 50	65 Defence
Darkness of Hallowvale	2,000 three times	Any skill above 30	5 Construction, 20 Mining, 22 Thieving, 32 Crafting, 33 Magic, 40 Strength
A Taste of Hope	2,500 three times	Any skill above 35	48 Crafting, 45 Agility, 40 Attack, 40 Herblore, 38 Slayer
Architectural Alliance (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 40	-
Curse of the Empty Lord (miniquest)	10,000	Any skill above 50	Some players will need 31 Prayer
One Small Favour	10,000 twice	Any skill above 30	36 Agility, 25 Crafting, 18 Herblore, 30 Smithing
Recipe for Disaster (The final battle)	20,000	Any skill above 50	175 Quest, 48 Agility, 50 Mining, 53 Fishing, 53 Thieving, 25 Herblore, 59 Magic, 40 Smithing, 50 Firemaking, 40 Ranged, 40 Crafting, 10 Fletching, 10 Slayer, 36 Woodcutting
Total	84,800

Changes

Date	Changes
16 May 2019 (update)	Inspecting a farming patch will now reveal the growth stage of the plant.
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.

References

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