Welcome to the Wizard101 Message Boards


Player Guide
Fansites
News
Game Updates
Help

Follow important game updates on Twitter @Wizard101 and @KI_Alerts, and Facebook!

For all account questions and concerns, contact Customer Support.

By posting on the Wizard101 Message Boards you agree to the Code of Conduct.

Plant Growth while Offline

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Nov 30, 2011
24
Recently I have actually gotten into gardening and ended up getting in over my head with too many plants and not enough energy. So while looking around for a solution to my problem I saw that plants don’t get to wilting if you don’t check in on them. So my real question is how much do plants progress towards mature/elder while you are offline, if it is quickly what makes it worth it to even check on them if you only want the elder harvest(couch potatoes, emps)?Or does the growth rate just drop of or plain stop after a certain point?

Nathan StormTheift 125

Armiger
Jan 18, 2010
2280
You mentioned that plants will not require needs tend to while you're away.

That is true, but I also wanted to point out that you must ensure that upon leaving your home, your plants have zero needs/pests.
If it's the case that they do have these needs/pests and you log off with them unattended, then, in that case, they will have chances of wilting.

Same can be said if a friend is at your castle upon the time of logging off.

Now, with that cleared up, onto the next issue.

The progression of plants increases the more "liked items" it is around.
For example, let's take your couch potatoes:

The plant likes Pixies, Red Garden Knomes, Litter among a few other things.
The Knomes and Pixies seem to have the highest progression rate on most plants.

However, I can't really give a detailed figure as to how long a plant will take to reach mature, elder etc. but I can say that the "likes" really do matter! Especially if you're able to pile on multiples of them.

Also, it is worth checking on them, especially if you're low on gold and reagents. Remember that these plants drop a decent amount of treasures etc. that can be sold at Bazaar for decent prices.


Mastermind
Nov 27, 2013
363
I have been tending a stack of evil magma peas, happily. Recently I put in some Couch Potatoes, nearby but not too close. Since then, the EMPs on the side of the stack closer to the Couches have been maturing to elder faster than the ones on the other side.
Couch Potatoes are not listed as a 'like' for EMPs but they do seem to speed up their growth. Has anyone else seen this?

Explorer
Sep 20, 2017
93
I also wanted to add something I noticed while tending my garden today with the very same couch potatoes.

While I harvested all my elder plants and attempted to reseed them again I saw something strange.

A few plants already had a 1/4 of it's progression bar to young already filled while some remained empty.

I stood there and was wondering why this was the case.

Each plant had equal access to the "likes"

So, I'm not sure why this happened.

Something just wanted to point out.


Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
H algar on Apr 29, 2018 wrote:
Recently I have actually gotten into gardening and ended up getting in over my head with too many plants and not enough energy. So while looking around for a solution to my problem I saw that plants don’t get to wilting if you don’t check in on them. So my real question is how much do plants progress towards mature/elder while you are offline, if it is quickly what makes it worth it to even check on them if you only want the elder harvest(couch potatoes, emps)?Or does the growth rate just drop of or plain stop after a certain point?

Nathan StormTheift 125
I have ridiculous gardens - across 5 wizards I have 3168 plants in constant rotation plus ultra seeds and a couple of other things I do randomly too. They cater for all my tc, gold and snack needs as well as providing useful reagents. I am not saying you should do likewise - most people would never need such extensive gardens and it would be a total chore to them. I like gardening so I enjoy it. I still have energy for fishing and pet training as well though and this is how:

You're right that as long as you don't log out from the garden the plants will only progress to their next trigger point and will not get any new needs (always leave the garden before logging out and always see to all needs before hand).

There are 3 stages:
1. seed - young
2. young - mature
3. mature - elder

Each stage indicates an essential 'trigger time'. You 'trigger' your plants when you visit them. If you plant your seeds and do not return for a long time they will still only trigger to 'young' when you visit. These triggers must be done by you visiting your plants.

If you do not visit your garden for long enough most plants will fully reach the point where they can be triggered to the next growth stage. The exception to this is plants that have a very long time between mature - elder. If it is more than 4 days they will need to be triggered mid-way through this growth stage otherwise they will regress all the way back to the beginning of 'mature - elder'.

The way I rotate my plants is by noting down the day/time they will reach the next stage. For mature-elder I note down the day/time they will reach elder and also the time for the next harvest.

EG if I plant some potatoes Thurs 8am I will note their first trigger is due at Thurs 1pm. This note is NOT telling me I must go to them Thurs 1pm, it is telling me I must not go to them BEFORE Thurs 1pm. It also lets me know how much energy to expect to need when I go. Whatever time I go after that they will trigger and start stage 2.

CONT...

Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
CONT...

ENERGY: I always know how much energy I will need before I go to the plants. This ensures I can see to all needs and leave the area afterwards.

trigger 1: 0 needs will be there so no energy needed!
trigger 2: First needs will appear - expect all needs to be showing
elder/re-planting: 2x the number of seeds you want to plant

If you go for harvests during the mature-elder stage assume there will be all needs so you are not caught short.

CP/EMP trigger times: You've asked the trigger times for these specifically and if they have all likes the times are as follows:

Couch Potatoes:

seed - young = 5 hours
young - mature = 11.5 hours
mature - elder = 3.5 days

(harvests every 14.5 hours during mature-elder stage)

EMP:

seed - young = 4 hr 20 min
young - mature = 9 hr 20 min
mature - elder = 2 days 21 hours

(harvests every 7.5 hours during mature-elder stage)

Remember that the trigger time to the next stage only starts when you visit them and trigger it, they will not progress further than one stage no matter how long you leave them.

By having a note of the times/day/stage when I log in I can see which is the best use of my energy. I will always forfeit a mature harvest I don't need for re-planting a stack that has gone elder. First triggers can safely be done using zero energy, so they're moving forwards. I do the highest energy needs first then see how much I have left for extra harvests on plants going through mature - elder....or to pet train/go fishing. If I want to use all my energy on pets or fishing I ignore my gardens (except first triggers that cost 0 energy) while I enjoy using my energy elsewhere.

I hope this is helpful and not too much of an overload of information! What can I say, I love my gardening haha

Good luck and enjoy!

A+ Student
Dec 24, 2009
1895
ChicoValerian on Apr 30, 2018 wrote:
I have been tending a stack of evil magma peas, happily. Recently I put in some Couch Potatoes, nearby but not too close. Since then, the EMPs on the side of the stack closer to the Couches have been maturing to elder faster than the ones on the other side.
Couch Potatoes are not listed as a 'like' for EMPs but they do seem to speed up their growth. Has anyone else seen this?
Couch Potatoes tend to draw Pixies, which are an automatic "like" for every plant within a certain distance.

I've run into this issue myself and cure it by casting a Pixie spell on the opposite side, on one of the EMPs. You can train for a Pixie spell from the gardener mole in Krokotopia. I think it costs 175,000 gold to train for casting your own Pixie - a pretty steep price.

Alia Misthaven

Mastermind
Nov 27, 2013
363
Thank you Freshta, that is likely the explanation. I do have Pixie trained, and will be more generous with them to balance things out.

Delver
Dec 08, 2016
226
Not sure if this is somewhat related to the topic, but since I'm currently in a predicament where I won't have any access to Wi-Fi for these next few days, I won't be able to log in and tend to the needs of my plants. I've done everything that was suggested above in the earlier posts, except I may have visited my gardens twice or thrice. I didn't stay in the houses for too long though and even unequipped the houses as further precaution. The problem I'm concerned and panicking about is the amount of likes my plants have. Does this mean my plants will progress/grow nonetheless? I have plenty of pets to train when I come back...so I don't think I handle seeing all of my Couch Potatoes and EMPs dead. I've also heard that you can't request for your plants to be reverted back to their original state if they happen to be stacked, which is a bummer.

Delver
Dec 08, 2016
226
Victoria FireHeart on May 1, 2018 wrote:
I have ridiculous gardens - across 5 wizards I have 3168 plants in constant rotation plus ultra seeds and a couple of other things I do randomly too. They cater for all my tc, gold and snack needs as well as providing useful reagents. I am not saying you should do likewise - most people would never need such extensive gardens and it would be a total chore to them. I like gardening so I enjoy it. I still have energy for fishing and pet training as well though and this is how:

You're right that as long as you don't log out from the garden the plants will only progress to their next trigger point and will not get any new needs (always leave the garden before logging out and always see to all needs before hand).

There are 3 stages:
1. seed - young
2. young - mature
3. mature - elder

Each stage indicates an essential 'trigger time'. You 'trigger' your plants when you visit them. If you plant your seeds and do not return for a long time they will still only trigger to 'young' when you visit. These triggers must be done by you visiting your plants.

If you do not visit your garden for long enough most plants will fully reach the point where they can be triggered to the next growth stage. The exception to this is plants that have a very long time between mature - elder. If it is more than 4 days they will need to be triggered mid-way through this growth stage otherwise they will regress all the way back to the beginning of 'mature - elder'.

The way I rotate my plants is by noting down the day/time they will reach the next stage. For mature-elder I note down the day/time they will reach elder and also the time for the next harvest.

EG if I plant some potatoes Thurs 8am I will note their first trigger is due at Thurs 1pm. This note is NOT telling me I must go to them Thurs 1pm, it is telling me I must not go to them BEFORE Thurs 1pm. It also lets me know how much energy to expect to need when I go. Whatever time I go after that they will trigger and start stage 2.

CONT...
Hi Victoria ,
I sent a question to Support staff regarding any possible way to pause/hibernate plants to prevent progress of their growth and received a response saying there is no way to do so. However, it does seem as though you've already gone over this method you've mentioned of in the past and that it has worked effectively for you. Is this the case?

I'm getting extremely worried because my plants will most likely be dead once I come back from vacation. I've done everything that was suggested and even unequipped the house (a method I've heard of) as precautions.

A+ Student
Dec 24, 2009
1895
deathsummoner4 on Jul 8, 2018 wrote:
Not sure if this is somewhat related to the topic, but since I'm currently in a predicament where I won't have any access to Wi-Fi for these next few days, I won't be able to log in and tend to the needs of my plants. I've done everything that was suggested above in the earlier posts, except I may have visited my gardens twice or thrice. I didn't stay in the houses for too long though and even unequipped the houses as further precaution. The problem I'm concerned and panicking about is the amount of likes my plants have. Does this mean my plants will progress/grow nonetheless? I have plenty of pets to train when I come back...so I don't think I handle seeing all of my Couch Potatoes and EMPs dead. I've also heard that you can't request for your plants to be reverted back to their original state if they happen to be stacked, which is a bummer.
As long as all your plants' needs were taken care of before you left your garden, they will be waiting for you (alive and well) the next time you log in. Once needs are met, they can actually go weeks without you visiting them. If they were already well into mature stage, they might even be elder when you return.

The only time you will find wilting plants is if you left them with needs on.

If that does happen, don't worry. Taking care of them as soon as you return will revive the plant and set it back to its previous stage. (If it was mature, it would go back to young; if it was young it would go back to seedling.)

The only way you would return to dead plants is if you left them already wilting.

To kill a plant, you have to deliberately ignore its needs when it's wilting. Even if you find dead plants, there is still a way to salvage them. There is a utility spell that will revive a dead plant and return it to seedling stage. You should have already earned it from Farley in Golem Court, when you first started gardening. It takes 30 energy to revive one dead plant. But I'm sure you wouldn't have left them wilting, as it's obvious that you care a lot about your gardens.

So basically I'm saying: don't worry, your plants will be fine. Relax and enjoy your time away.

Alia Misthaven

Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
deathsummoner4 on Jul 8, 2018 wrote:
Hi Victoria ,
I sent a question to Support staff regarding any possible way to pause/hibernate plants to prevent progress of their growth and received a response saying there is no way to do so. However, it does seem as though you've already gone over this method you've mentioned of in the past and that it has worked effectively for you. Is this the case?

I'm getting extremely worried because my plants will most likely be dead once I come back from vacation. I've done everything that was suggested and even unequipped the house (a method I've heard of) as precautions.
Don't panic! They are almost certainly going to be fine. The important thing is that you saw to all needs and left the house before logging out...and it sounds like you've done that

The plants will continue to grow until they reach the next 'trigger' or 'stage'. They will not progress further than that until your wizard visits the garden causing them to change visually and start their next growth stage.

The stages are:

seed - young
young - mature
mature - elder

Whatever stage your plants were at when you left them, they will change visually and start their next stage when you visit the garden....no matter how long you leave them.

As long as you didn't leave any needs and you left the garden before logging out you will find your plants happily growing. If they were mature, you may well have a load of lovely elder plants waiting for you on your return!

You've done everything you can. There is no point worrying about them while you are away. You can't change anything or do anything different, so don't worry and enjoy your holiday! When you get back you can assess them...I hope you post back to us on this thread with good news that you were welcomed home to the Spiral by elder plants ready to help quicken up your pet training!

Let us know how you get on when you're back, but in the mean time have a lovely holiday!

Delver
Dec 08, 2016
226
Victoria FireHeart on Jul 10, 2018 wrote:
Don't panic! They are almost certainly going to be fine. The important thing is that you saw to all needs and left the house before logging out...and it sounds like you've done that

The plants will continue to grow until they reach the next 'trigger' or 'stage'. They will not progress further than that until your wizard visits the garden causing them to change visually and start their next growth stage.

The stages are:

seed - young
young - mature
mature - elder

Whatever stage your plants were at when you left them, they will change visually and start their next stage when you visit the garden....no matter how long you leave them.

As long as you didn't leave any needs and you left the garden before logging out you will find your plants happily growing. If they were mature, you may well have a load of lovely elder plants waiting for you on your return!

You've done everything you can. There is no point worrying about them while you are away. You can't change anything or do anything different, so don't worry and enjoy your holiday! When you get back you can assess them...I hope you post back to us on this thread with good news that you were welcomed home to the Spiral by elder plants ready to help quicken up your pet training!

Let us know how you get on when you're back, but in the mean time have a lovely holiday!
Thank you Freshta and Victoria for your kind responses. You two were indeed correct! My plants are safe and sound.