Rust Farming & Crops
Put seeds in a planter, keep it watered and pick them when ripe. What grows fastest, what yields most and which genes to breed for.
Fastest crop
White Berry
Ripe in 1h 13m in a watered planter.
Most yield
Potato
Yield 6 when ripe, the most of any crop.
Best setup
Watered planter
On bare ground with no water, 10 of 14 crops never ripened.
Genes to breed
YYYYGG
Y gives more yield, G grows faster. Breed out W and X.
Every crop, fastest first
14 crops · best in green| Crop | Watered planter | + Fertilizer | Bare ground | Best yield | Water/min | After picking |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White Berry | 1h 13m | 1h 46m | never ripe | 2.54 | 4 | withers |
 Corn | 1h 28m | 1h 33m | 2h 36m | 2.36 | 4 | withers |
 Pumpkin | 1h 28m | 1h 33m | never ripe | 2.5 | 5 | gone |
 Wheat | 1h 28m | 1h 21m | 2h 36m | 2.52 | 4 | withers |
 Red Berry | 1h 33m | 1h 47m | never ripe | 2.5 | 4 | withers |
| Potato | 1h 34m | 1h 52m | never ripe | 6 | 4 | withers |
 Blue Berry | 1h 52m | 1h 46m | 3h 35m | 2.54 | 4 | withers |
 Yellow Berry | 1h 52m | 1h 30m | never ripe | 2.34 | 4 | withers |
 Clothfrom Hemp Seed | 1h 58m | 1h 45m | 3h 33m | 4.51 | 5 | gone |
 Orchid | 1h 58m | 1h 37m | never ripe | 3.8 | 20 | gone |
 Rose | 2h 16m | 2h 30m | never ripe | 2.5 | 5 | gone |
 Sunflower | 2h 16m | 2h 4m | never ripe | 4.37 | 5 | gone |
 Black Berry | 2h 18m | 1h 29m | never ripe | 2.51 | 4 | withers |
 Green Berry | 2h 18m | 2h 9m | never ripe | 2.1 | 4 | withers |
Times are plant life at noon light. Nights lower the light, so a real cycle takes longer. You pick each crop once: then it withers or is gone. Open a crop for its clones, ideal conditions and stage times.
Genes
6 slots per plantY Yield
+25% grown yield, +1 clone per 2 genes
G Growth
+25% growth speed
H Hardiness
+0.2 ground quality off a planter, +0.05 temperature quality
W Water
+10% water use
- Clone a plant to copy its genes. Plant clones side by side to cross-breed. The genetics calculator finds the breed for you.
- Ground quality: natural soil caps at 0.6, a planter gives 0.6, fertilizer adds +0.4 for the max 1.0.
Chicken Pie: better crop genes for 10 min.
Sun under a roof
checked every 3 hoursOpen sky
Under a floor
036912151821
A stone floor 2.5 m above cut the sun at 12:00 and 15:00. Keep crops open to the sky.
Where to find seeds
pick wild plants with E
Black Berry BushBlack Berry and seed
Blue Berry BushBlue Berry and seed
Hemp FibersCloth and seed
Wild Corn PlantCorn and seed
Green Berry BushGreen Berry and seed
Wild OrchidOrchid and seed
Wild Potato PlantPotato and seed
Wild Pumpkin PlantPumpkin and seed
Red Berry BushRed Berry and seed
Wild RoseRose and seed
Wild SunflowerSunflower and seed
Wild WheatWheat and seed
White Berry BushWhite Berry and seed
Yellow Berry BushYellow Berry and seedFarm gear
Planters
Soil and fertilizer
Animals and traps
Animal output rates are set per server, so they are not listed.
Methodology
Tested in game on our own server. Every crop was grown until ripe three ways: bare ground with no water, a watered Large Planter, and a watered and fertilised Large Planter. Sun hours were read on hemp, open sky and under a stone floor.
Rust farming: common questions
- How long do crops take to grow in Rust?
- In a watered Large Planter, from 1h 13m (White Berry) to 2h 18m (Green Berry) of plant life at noon light. Nights lower light, so a real cycle takes longer.
- Do plants get sun under a roof in Rust?
- Less of the day. Of the hours we checked, open sky had sun at 9:00, 12:00, 15:00, 18:00; under a stone floor 2.5 m above, only at 9:00, 18:00.
- Can you grow crops on bare ground in Rust?
- Barely. On natural ground with no water, 10 of 14 crops never ripened. Use a planter and keep it watered.
- Which crop has the highest yield in Rust?
- Potato, with a yield of 6 when ripe, the best of every crop and setup we grew. Yield genes raise it further.