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Plant Industry

Plants are a large staple of the food and drink industries.

Summary

Required Other Industries

There are two sources for plant-based food, either gathering from naturally growing plants or trees (by a farmer with the herbalist skill) or from plants grown in crop plots (by a farm with the grower skill).

Designation Gathering

The easiest method to gather plants is using "gather plants" from the designation menu. Designate an area with naturally grown shrubs and dwarves with the plant gathering labor (herbalist skill) will begin harvesting viable plants from that area. This will create a lot of work in a biome with dense ground vegetation, like a jungle. In the badlands or a desert, there will be very few ground plants to gather.

This method will not gather fruits or nuts that have fallen on the ground (according to the wiki).

Zoned Gathering

A plant gathering zone can be created and it acts as a permanent gathering designation for the entire zone. This means as shrubs and plants grow in the zone, it will create a plant gathering job to be performed.

The plant gathering zones are additionally effective because within the zone, dwarves will use stepladders to gather fruit and nuts from trees, and will also gather fallen fruit and nuts. If you are in an area with fruit or nut trees, using a gathering zone to harvest them will provide a good amount of plants for cooking and brewing.

Farm Plots

A farm plot is built from the build menu. They cannot be placed on rock floors, they require dirt, mud, sand, loam or clay as a floor to be built. Depending on how much variety you are planning to grow, having multiple smaller plots is usually better than having one or two huge plots.

Only small plants can be grown in farm plots (no trees), and what seeds you get from above-ground plants need to be grown in similar light conditions. The subterranean plants are usually all available as seeds at embark. They can be grown at underground dark farms without an issue. You can grow aboveground crops underground as long as there is an acceptable light level for the plants to grow.

Production

Produces raw vegetarian food. Eat it as is or use it:

Tips

Subterranean Plants

The safest plants to grow are subterranean because you are not exposed to surface elements like rain or snow and you can secure the farms so that invaders or unwanted guests aren't going to be an issue for your food production.

Pig Tail

  • grows in summer and autumn from "pig tail seeds"
  • can be brewed into "dwarven ale" at a still
  • can be processed into "pig tail thread" at a farmer's workshop
  • can be milled into "pig tail slurry" at a mill or quern for papermaking
  • cannot be cooked into meals at a kitchen

Plump Helmet

  • grows in every season from "plump helmet spawn"
  • can be brewed into "dwarven wine" at a still
  • can be cooked into meals at a kitchen (will not produce spawn)

Cave Wheat

  • grows in summer and autumn from "cave wheat seeds"
  • can be brewed into "dwarven beer" at a still
  • can be milled into "cave wheat flour" at a mill or quern for cooking
  • cannot be cooked into meals at a kitchen

Sweet Pod

  • grows in spring and summer from "sweet pod seeds"
  • can be brewed into "dwarven rum" at a still
  • can be processed into a barrel of "dwarven syrup" from a farmer's workshop for cooking
  • can be milled into "dwarven sugar" at a mill or quern for cooking
  • cannot be cooked into meals at a kitchen

Quarry Bush

  • grows in spring, summer and autumn from "rock nuts"
  • can be processed into a bag of "quarry bush leaves" from a farmer's workshop
  • rock nuts can be used to create oil by milling and then pressing, and the press cakes can be cooked
  • quarry bush leaves can be cooked into meals at a kitchen
  • cannot be brewed into drinks at a still

Dimple Cup

  • grows in every season from "dimple cup spawn"
  • can be milled into "dimple dye" at a mill or quern
  • cannot be brewed into drinks at a still
  • cannot be cooked into meals at a kitchen

Above Ground Plants

You can grow above-ground plants underground if you provide enough light. You can brighten an underground area to be able to farm above ground plants by channeling down to whatever level you want to have the farm on, then you can put floors above it and it will not remove the light level.

Seeds for surface plants can be traded for with humans or gained from eating/brewing/milling plants gathered (either via designating an area or zoning an area).