10 Sunflower
Who doesn’t like a good Sunflower? George, Clint, and Sebastion, that’s who. Sunflowers are a single-harvest crop that has a chance to drop 1-3 seeds when gathered. Sunflower Seeds are expensive at Pierre’s (200g), but make up for that by growing in two seasons and droppping their own seeds.
9 Giant Melon
Usually, it takes 12 days to grow a Melon in the Summer, but a patient Farmer who plants nine Melon Seeds in a square is in for a surprise. There is a 1% chance each night that 9 fully grown Melons will be visited by a fairy. The fairy will turn the Melons into a Giant Melon, which the Farmer can harvest with an axe for anywhere between 15-21 Melons. Unless the Farmer is seriously lucky, they will have to wait with their Melons in the field for most of the season. Melons are Penny’s favorite, and nearly everyone else likes them. (Since the probability of a Giant Melon is so low and the growth time is so long, the Melon sits at 9th on my list.)
8 Giant Pumpkin
Prepare for Spirit’s Eve with a Giant Pumpkin! While a Giant Pumpkin is about as unlikely to harvest as a Giant Melon, the Pumpkin itself is sitting at a pretty 320g minimum per crop compared to the Melon’s 250g. If you still have those 9 Pumpkins by the end of the season, give them to NPC’s who love them, like Willy, Abigail, or Krobus. Everyone likes a Pumpkin in the Spooky Season. (Just avoid giving them to Haley, Jas, Sam, or Vincent!)
7 Potato
Make this spud a staple of your Spring produce! Potatoes are dirt cheap as seeds and they can be harvested very quickly, even growing a second or third Potato from one lucky seed. In terms of turning a profit, an individual Potato is usually worth four times the 25g you paid for the Seed. To top off this economical tuber’s resume, all villagers except Haley, Abigail, Jas, Vincent and Sam likes them.
5 Grapes
Grapes are the archetypal wine-producing plant, grown in the Autumn and foraged in Summer. As a crop sold on it’s own, Grapes fall short of the other multi-harvest crops. The best gameplan to use with Grapes is to be patient and saturate the market with Wine. Vincent loves Grapes, but Penny hates them, and Abigail, Haley, and Jas dislike them.
4 Strawberry
The Strawberry Seeds can be bought from Pierre for 100g during the Egg Festival or produced with the Seed Maker. Strawberries take 8 days to mature and produce one berry every 4 days afterward, so it is best to save them and plant them at the beginning of Spring. A Strawberries planted the night of the Egg Festival will yield 2 berries, but Strawberries planted at the beginning of the season will yield 5 berries. Strawberries are the only crop that Maru loves, although her father, Demetrius, also loves them.
3 Blueberry
Blueberry Seeds are bought from Pierre’s for 80g and are planted in the Summer. It takes 13 days for the plant to grow 3 Blueberries, and it produces 3 more Blueberries every 4 days. Blueberry is placed above Strawberry because it just barely makes you more money and it’s used in more recipes, like tarts . Remember, if you’re trying to maximize profits in Stardew Valley, you aren’t running a farm, you’re running a vineyard!
2 Starfruit
The Starfruit is only single-harvest crop in the top five of my Best Crops list, and it deserves second place. The Starfruit only grows in Summer, and takes 13 days to harvest, but at a base value of 750g (Silver:937g, Gold: 1125g), the Starfruit is worth the effort. After the Farmer has spent enough money to repair the Bus, they can buy Starfruit Seeds in the desert . Starfruit Wine, especially when being sold by an Artisan Farmer, is valuable enough to fund whatever play Stardew Valley has to offer.
1 Ancient Fruit
An Ancient Seed takes 28 days to produce an Ancient Fruit worth at least 550g, but it continues to bear fruit every 7 days afterward. It grows in all seasons except Winter, meaning that the least a Farmer will gain by planting an Ancient Seed Spring 1st is 4,950 gp from one seed. Ancient Seeds are extremely rare, available only through digging, donating, and the Seed Maker. Knowing that this item exists excites me, even if I haven’t encountered it yet. Working hard to optimize my farm drives me to keep playing, so sweet are its rewards.
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