When Should I Talk to Plants to Get the Harvest Quality Up 1 Level

[dannyr783]

Hello guys, i'm new here and have a question about gardening.

The guide said that if you talk to your plants as a green thumb it will boost the plant quality by one stage. I have constantly talked to my plants but they refuse to do this! Does it only take effect when they get harvested? Thanks

And also, how much life fruit will i get per harvest on one plant, and how long will it take to re-grow?

Thanks for the help

[jmz95]

That is correct, they will only be one quality higher in the harvest. Also, it may not happen every harvest, nor for every fruit you pick. For life fruits, you get approx. 2 per bush I believe.

[Swede1992]

I think that if you talk to your money trees they go up in quality faster than usual (the actual money tree is supposed to go up in quality anyway for those that don't know it). I've not done any formal testing on this, but have had so much experience that I confidently believe this is true.

[Saltypaws]

Every time you harvest the money tree it goes up a notch, never really talked to them though, guess could try that though.

[blulightin5]

Gotta love those money trees. I have 6 or them (soon to be 9). Now I don't need a job.

[Saltypaws]

In Riverview, there are three spots where special seeds spawn, when my sim picks them up, usually there around 5, three are usually money tree seeds, one is deathflower and the one is a life fruit seed.  Sometimes it is the other way around, so I accumulated quite a few money trees and life fruit plants.  I have talked to the plants and really not noticed any difference, but I probably wasn't paying attention on the upgrade, will have to do that.  Not sure if the location of the seeds is different for every bodies game, but I can write where they are and I guess we can find out.

[Swede1992]

Hmm, that's funny. I seem to always end up with death flowers or flame fruits. If I want life fruits or money trees (of which I still have plenty of) I really have to work for them!

[blulightin5]

I have a special seed spawner near my house, so I don't have to look that hard for any seed.

[Pam]

One of our members put together a handy map for finding Special Seeds in Riverview.  Look in this thread.

[Saltypaws]

Oh cool, thanks.

[Carl]

That is correct, they will only be one quality higher in the harvest. Also, it may not happen every harvest, nor for every fruit you pick. For life fruits, you get approx. 2 per bush I believe.

Right, toss in the random variation and you might not see the desired result, but it should be there regardless... and maybe there are factors unexplained such as being close to going up another level in quality but not quite reaching it despite your efforts. It's generally a good idea and for a loner Sim it's awesome for keeping social needs met. Just focus on your good plants with this action to avoid wasting time. I'm not talking to tomatoes so much, more like life fruit plants

[dannyr783]

Yeah thanks for the responses people. One other question:

After like 4 30+ week games i finally got the omni plant, does it go up in quality like the money tree does? Does it even matter what quality it is?

[Pam]

I'm not sure if talking to an Omni plant will do anything.  I've never noticed a result.  It always seems to me that they stay the quality of the seed that grow them.  And I don't think it matters because a bad Omni seems to produce the same as a great Omni.

[wildredchild]

I'm not sure if talking to an Omni plant will do anything.  I've never noticed a result.  It always seems to me that they stay the quality of the seed that grow them.  And I don't think it matters because a bad Omni seems to produce the same as a great Omni.

Unless you feed the Omni fruit, then the harvest will be several "qualities" lower then what you fed it.

[Pam]

Unless you feed the Omni fruit, then the harvest will be several "qualities" lower then what you fed it.

But I don't think that's because of the quality of the Onmi, is it?  Isn't that just the nature of feeding fruit to it?

[wildredchild]

Come to think of it, I think you may be right Pam.

[TheCub]

If you feed books or fish to an omni plant, the results will always be identical regardless of omni plant quality. I've fed perfect deathfish to both an outstanding and a horrifying omni plant, and I harvested perfect deathfish from both.

Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are affected by omni plant quality. Here are some examples I found:

Fed normal apple to outstanding omni plant – harvested great and excellent apples
Fed perfect apple to nice omni plant – harvested very nice and great apples
Fed perfect apple to horrifying omni plant – harvested putrid apples (this could be helpful for the bad apple opportunity)

It seems that if the quality of what you feed the plant is better or worse than the plant quality, the end result will be closer to (but not the same as) the plant quality.

[Pam]

Great information, Cub!  Thanks for sharing.  I've been wondering what the point is of different qualities of Omni plants and it sounds like you've got it figured out.

[RaShCl]

That is correct, they will only be one quality higher in the harvest. Also, it may not happen every harvest, nor for every fruit you pick. For life fruits, you get approx. 2 per bush I believe.

Ah, I see. This was 1 of the questions I wanted to get answered, but still have one about quality levels.

The guide says you get 1 default level in quality of the produce. So I assume that with the green thumb trait, when I plant a NORMAL, in this case a lettuce,
it will give me NICE Lettuces, +1 default quality level?

The second part of my question is,  if the above is true that would mean that if I don't talk at all to a plant it can only give NICE instead of NORMAL, right? But all my lettuces  planted
had NICE and VERY NICE lettuces, so +2 levels of quality. So where does the second +1 came from then since I don't talk to them?

And even stranger is the fact that all my NORMAL tomato plants I also planted only had the NICE tomato quality so only +1 all 5 I planted. So that would be normal with the default +1 quality level due to Green Thumb trait.

So, I am puzzled since according to the Green Thumb all my lettuces and tomatoes should be only NICE.

Sorry if what I just typed sounds a bit strange and maybe boring. It may be even answered already, so if it is I apoligize for asking the same thing.

Thanks in advance.

BTW, I never knew that there was so much extra in the Sims 3 skill until I came across your site. It makes playing Sims even better so, a big thanks for the guides you put up.

Sincerely
Jean Paul Massaut
Groningen, Groningen
The Netherland's

[Edited for typos and punctuation. Please use Preview before posting to avoid excessive editing.  Thanks!  -Pam]

[blulightin5]

If you feed books or fish to an omni plant, the results will always be identical regardless of omni plant quality. I've fed perfect deathfish to both an outstanding and a horrifying omni plant, and I harvested perfect deathfish from both.

Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, are affected by omni plant quality. Here are some examples I found:

Fed normal apple to outstanding omni plant – harvested great and excellent apples
Fed perfect apple to nice omni plant – harvested very nice and great apples
Fed perfect apple to horrifying omni plant – harvested putrid apples (this could be helpful for the bad apple opportunity)

It seems that if the quality of what you feed the plant is better or worse than the plant quality, the end result will be closer to (but not the same as) the plant quality.

That isn't quite true. I have fed perfect items to my normal omni plant and they come back perfect.

[Pam]

That isn't quite true. I have fed perfect items to my normal omni plant and they come back perfect.

But what were the items?  Are you saying you fed perfect fruit to a normal Omni and got perfect back?  Or if it's fish you're talking about, we've already agreed on that one.

[Pam]

So where does the second +1 came from then since I don't talk to them?

I'm not sure anyone knows exactly why the plants will sometimes increase +2 in quality.  I've seen it happen for me, too, even if I don't talk to the plants.  Perhaps your Sim is taking very good care of the plants! 

[Metropolis Man]

I'm not sure anyone knows exactly why the plants will sometimes increase +2 in quality.

Make that +3. I just had a pretty rare occurrence in the Baby Boomer tourney with a Sim starting with a Nice plant from the Grocery store. The Sim had level 10 Gardening and Green Thumb and when I hovered over a couple of the plants they were Excellent. Some of the fruit from that plant might turn out Outstanding, so that would be a whopping 4 jumps from Nice.

[aws_137]

That is correct, they will only be one quality higher in the harvest. Also, it may not happen every harvest, nor for every fruit you pick. For life fruits, you get approx. 2 per bush I believe.

Ah, I see. This was 1 of the questions I wanted to get answered, but still have one about quality levels.

The guide says you get 1 default level in quality of the produce. So I assume that with the green thumb trait, when I plant a NORMAL, in this case a lettuce,
it will give me NICE Lettuces, +1 default quality level?

The second part of my question is,  if the above is true that would mean that if I don't talk at all to a plant it can only give NICE instead of NORMAL, right? But all my lettuces  planted
had NICE and VERY NICE lettuces, so +2 levels of quality. So where does the second +1 came from then since I don't talk to them?

And even stranger is the fact that all my NORMAL tomato plants I also planted only had the NICE tomato quality so only +1 all 5 I planted. So that would be normal with the default +1 quality level due to Green Thumb trait.

So, I am puzzled since according to the Green Thumb all my lettuces and tomatoes should be only NICE.

Sorry if what I just typed sounds a bit strange and maybe boring. It may be even answered already, so if it is I apoligize for asking the same thing.

Thanks in advance.

BTW, I never knew that there was so much extra in the Sims 3 skill until I came across your site. It makes playing Sims even better so, a big thanks for the guides you put up.

Sincerely
Jean Paul Massaut
Groningen, Groningen
The Netherland's

[Edited for typos and punctuation. Please use Preview before posting to avoid excessive editing.  Thanks!  -Pam]

Super Green Thumb lifetime reward perhaps? I don't know why sometimes, from a single Excellent plant, I get Outstanding and Perfect harvest from a single harvest. It happens.

[Edited for double quoting. - Swede]

[blulightin5]

That isn't quite true. I have fed perfect items to my normal omni plant and they come back perfect.

But what were the items?  Are you saying you fed perfect fruit to a normal Omni and got perfect back?  Or if it's fish you're talking about, we've already agreed on that one.

It was fruit that I feed it.

[Pam]

It was fruit that I feed it.

Ok.  That has already been addressed in a recent post.

[blulightin5]

Ahh, ok. Thanks.

[RaShCl]

I was wondering, when do I need to talk to a plant so I can increase the harvested level by 1 ?

Because I have the the green thumb trait.

Just before they give fruit
or
directly after I planted them?

And secondly, how often? 1 time or more?

[kiko94]

I only knew that it raises the social need bar, I think before it starts producing, any time befor is good

[simsally]

According to the guide... 
"If your Sim has the Green Thumb trait, they can talk to plants to increase the quality of the harvested produce by one level. It will also by default give one more quality level. Super Green Thumbs (a Lifetime Reward) will bestow one quality level to the plant when it's first planted."
Check out the gardening section of the guide here  http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/skills/gardening/perfect-plants.php

[kiko94]

ah guess I missed that onen sorry  I edited my post to avoid confusion

[Sportsfan]

A related question: can you cancel the action before they complete talking to the plant and still get the same results?

[RaShCl]

According to the guide...  
"If your Sim has the Green Thumb trait, they can talk to plants to increase the quality of the harvested produce by one level. It will also by default give one more quality level. Super Green Thumbs (a Lifetime Reward) will bestow one quality level to the plant when it's first planted."
Check out the gardening section of the guide here  http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/skills/gardening/perfect-plants.php

Well I tried talking to the plants but no result what so ever.

As a test I planted some lettuce and tomatoes and talked to them every day before the next step of growth at 5:00 till the plant died and never ever did the  quality of harvest change.

So has anybody else that had luck in talking to  the plant?

I also have another question: every time I start a new game and a new character that I gave the green thumb shouldn't it  make my character start with the first volume of gardning book?  But every time  I start a new character with green thumb it doesent have the book.

I updated my sims with the latest patch and expansions ?

thx

[Sportsfan]

I have the same problem, but I don't get the books for handy trait either.

[simsally]

I actually think fertilizing the plants makes more of a difference then talking to them.  Even then it doesn't appear to affect all of the fruit.  You may get five out of ten very good fruit instead of good.  It just takes time and repeated replants of the best produce.  Thats the only way I have found to consistently raise the value of the fruit.  I don't even waste the time to talk to my plants, I just use the best fertilizers, replant, and repeat.

[Pam]

Skill books came in your Sim's inventory way back when the game was first released, but it changed long ago.  No skill books now.  You have to get them from a bookcase, the book store, or read them for free at the library.

[Gerak]

Skill books came in your Sim's inventory way back when the game was first released, but it changed long ago.  No skill books now.  You have to get them from a bookcase, the book store, or read them for free at the library.

I know it has been a long time since this post but I saw it and I finally know the answer to something LOL.
Every game I start has  the Gardening, Cooking, Logic Level 1 books in bookcases now. Just open a bookcase and read it or drag it to inventory.

[ejnarts1]

I've played a few gardeners so far and none of them have showed any kind of benefit, other than filling their social need, by talking to plants. I was under an assumption that doing so would nurse a plant less than "normal" back up to a common threshold. But, you know what they say about assumptions

So, does it do anything?...at all? Thanks.

[MarianT]

Yes, it will take the harvest up another level, e.g., a nice grapevine will produce very nice grapes, or perhaps even great grapes under good conditions. But you have to let the Sim talk until he's ready to stop.

[Pam]

It's not a 100% guarantee that the produce will improve, but generally, yes, talking to plants will increase the quality of the produce of the plant.

We already have topics about this.  If anyone knows where the best one is, link it here and I'll merge the topics together.

[Sportsfan]

Here:
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,727.msg11173.html#msg11173

[Pam]

Thanks, Sportsfan.  I thought there was a more recent one, but I'll go ahead and merge these two.

[Sportsfan]

There's quite a few. There's another one here:
http://www.carls-sims-3-guide.com/forum/index.php/topic,6152.msg125207.html#msg125207

[ejnarts1]

Not sure if this already posted. Site said this thread timed out. Apologies if it's a duplicate.

....was wondering if talking to plants does anything beyond fill the Sim's social meter? I would like to think it has similar effects to Sims 2 (but not so obvious maybe), but I've played numerous gardeners and I've seen no evidence of anything else. Thanks.

EDIT:
A friend of mine told me that it might increase the quality of the harvested produce. They weren't sure. I'm testing to find out.

[Schipperke]

Not sure if this already posted. Site said this thread timed out. Apologies if it's a duplicate.

....was wondering if talking to plants does anything beyond fill the Sim's social meter? I would like to think it has similar effects to Sims 2 (but not so obvious maybe), but I've played numerous gardeners and I've seen no evidence of anything else. Thanks.

EDIT:
A friend of mine told me that it might increase the quality of the harvested produce. They weren't sure. I'm testing to find out.

Ejnarts, we do have an existing thread about talking to plants.  I'm going to merge the two threads.  I also suggest you read the previous posts to see if your question has been answered there.