Question about the Hoe and it's modes.

[XelNigma 11]

Iv looked around and read the wiki but im still a little confused.

The wiki says the Hoe has 3 modes.

Mine has 4 (Counting the blank mode)

Clearly the outline of a water drop is the water mode that tells me if the farmland has access to water.

And the large "H" lets me know if the crop is ready to be harvested.

But my problem lies with the Nutrient mode. I assume its the one that looks like a mutated Tetris brick, how ever I don't see any thing when I hold it over a farmland with or without crops on it.

Same holds true for the blank mode.

Am I using it wrong?

Unrelated Note: I would suggest using just Letters or Symbols for the modes, not both. Seeing as we are limited on space, I think "N", "W", and "H" would probably be the best option.

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

The fourth mode you are finding is the normal one, in which it won't present any info. My guess is that it's there just so those who consider the other 3 modes cheating aren't forced to use them...

About the nutrient mode not wrking on farmland... my guess is it's broken, a bug Bioxx will probably get around fixing soon (if properly informed of it's existance.)

[mrpwase 66]

Am I using it wrong?

Are you using a stone hoe, or a metal one? The nutrient mode only works with metal hoes. That took my a while to figure out too.

[renadi 258]

As mrpwase said, the nutrients aren't listed with stone hoes, so you've gotta commit to farming before you get the information.

[XelNigma 11]

Ah thanks, yes Im using a stone hoe.

While were on this topic, Is there a way to untill a dirt block? Iv noticed I dont get a dirt block if i break a tilled dirt block.

I'm hesitant to report any thing as a bug seeing as I know so little about any of it, for all I know (like the stone hoe problem) it could be a legitimate part of the mod.

[Buczkowski 36]

Yes, this seems odd to me. I'm pretty sure jumping up and down should work on a vanilla dirt block at least, but doesn't on a TFC block.

[renadi 258]

We're not 100% certain the stone hoe thing is intended to be honest. We assume so because there's some logical reason for it, I'd be willing to say your not getting any dirt from breaking farmland could be called a bug.

[XelNigma 11]

Got my tin hoe, I see now why its the shape of a mutated tetris brick. Saddly I have no idea what the 3 bars mean, off to study the wiki.

Any tips or info the wiki might lack would be welcome.

[dockwithme 76]

I thought I remembered someone saying you can't break tiled dirt bc it would be easy to move around blocks with different nutrient levels or something. I'm sure it's something they are still trying to find a solution for.

Edit: Also, I didn't know that the nutrient levels only worked for metal hoes, thanks!

Edited 6 Dec 2012 by dockwithme

[Buczkowski 36]

Got my tin hoe, I see now why its the shape of a mutated tetris brick. Saddly I have no idea what the 3 bars mean, off to study the wiki.

Any tips or info the wiki might lack would be welcome.

The bars represent the levels of the different nutrient types. The specifics are unimportant.

[XelNigma 11]

So far pretty simple, the crops are divided into 3 groups, plant which ever crop likes which color in an area with a high amount of that color. Thats about all the wiki tells me.

But what If I place a plant that likes the red bar on a square will it eat up some of the red on that spot?

And by doing that will it increase the amount of the other 2 bars?

The specifics are very important!

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

So far pretty simple, the crops are divided into 3 groups, plant which ever crop likes which color in an area with a high amount of that color. Thats about all the wiki tells me.

But what If I place a plant that likes the red bar on a square will it eat up some of the red on that spot?

And by doing that will it increase the amount of the other 2 bars?

The specifics are very important!

It will consume from the red bar, without affecting the other ones. If there isn't nutrients left of the kind that plant needs, it will still gorw, but much slower. MUCH slower. The nutrient levels restore themselves over time, but it's reaaaally slow.

[MDub 68]

Ive been farming lately on my server, and IMHO, I think the nutrient consumption rates need work. As it stands, a single growth cycle for a given crops appears to consume ALL of the nutrients in the soil im growing on. In addition, having different cycle types next to one another doesnt seem to help at all. Im not seeing any diffusion of excess nutrients into adjacent blocks at all. It just seems to me that the crops shouldnt consume as much nutrient as they currently do to grow to maturity, and that adjacent complementary cycle types should have an effect on the soils nutrient recharge rates (obviously no so much that two complementary crops being adjacent to eachother would eliminate the need for crop rotation). I dont know much about agriculture, but I imagine that you could grow the same crop on the same land for more than a single year. If you decide you want to set up a house in a location with relatively poor soil, your looking at a few partial growth cycles of crops before you actually start getting crops to grow to maturity before winter hits and f's it all up, or at least thats how it worked out for me. In addition, given that you cant see nutrient levels until you have a metal hoe, this sort of forces us to relocate to a new area after progressing a bit in the tech tree. The last bit is just knit picking, and in all honesty, I relocated alot anyway . Do you guys feel the same, or do my farming skills just need work?

[XelNigma 11]

If they still grow even with no nutrients what causes the plant to die and drop the seeds?

I have some farmland squares that refuses to allow crops to stay on it despite having some (albeit low) levels of nutrients.

Annoyingly it takes a few days before it rejects the plant so I usually lose the bag of seeds, but not always.

I had this great plot, my hoe said i had really high levels of nutrients. That is until I planted stuff there then it dropped and dropped hard.

I assume it was just a graphical bug that said it was great farmland and I had to plant something before it would reflect the real levels.

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

The temperature, maybe? plants won't grow nor allow you to plant them under certain temperature limit. 0º, i think?

[LordOfWolves 514]

What does a metal hoe do more than a stone one? Apart durability...

[Kimbblesrath 503]

What does a metal hoe do more than a stone one? Apart durability...

You cannot tell nutrient levels with the stone hoe; only metal ones tell nutrients and those hoe modes.

[LordOfWolves 514]

You cannot tell nutrient levels with the stone hoe; only metal ones tell nutrients and those hoe modes.

Ah good thanksthanksthanks.

[Kimbblesrath 503]