Farming Basics
Farming in Rust provides a sustainable food supply and the ability to craft powerful teas that boost your stats. To start farming, you need:
- Large Planter Boxes (obtainable from the tech tree or loot)
- Seeds (found in food crates, by eating corn/pumpkin, or from hemp plants)
- Water (from water catchers, water barrels, or rivers)
- Light (natural sunlight outdoors, or grow lights indoors)
Place planter boxes on your roof for natural light, or inside your base with ceiling-mounted grow lights. Each planter holds 9 plants and requires regular watering. Plants grow through 5 stages and take approximately 1-2 hours of real time to fully mature.
Plant Genetics System
Every plant in Rust has a genetics string of 6 characters. Each character represents a gene:
G (Growth): Increases growth speed Y (Yield): Increases harvest amount H (Hardiness): Increases resistance to harsh conditions W (Water): Reduces water consumption X (Empty): Provides no benefit
Ideal genes: GGYYYY or YYYYGH depending on your needs. Plants cross-pollinate with neighbors -- placing plants with good genes next to each other produces offspring with similar genes. To breed perfect plants:
- Plant many seeds and check their genetics with a flashlight
- Remove any plants with X genes immediately
- Keep plants with Y and G genes and let them cross-pollinate
- Harvest clones from the best plants
- After 3-4 generations, you will have near-perfect genetics
Water Systems
Consistent water supply is critical for farming. Options include:
Water Catchers: Place Large Water Catchers on your roof. They collect rain and hold 50ml of water. Connect them to sprinklers via a fluid switch.
Water Barrels: Hold 20,000ml of water. Place near your planters and manually water with a watering can.
Fluid Switches and Sprinklers: Automate watering by connecting Water Catchers -> Fluid Switch -> Sprinklers. Use a timer to run sprinklers on a schedule. Each sprinkler covers a 3x3 area and uses 6ml/min.
Water Purifier: Converts salt water to fresh water. Useful if your base is near the coast. Requires wood to operate.
Composting and Fertilizer
Composters convert organic matter (plant fiber, food, animal fat) into Fertilizer. Fertilizer speeds up plant growth by 50% when added to a planter box.
Composting process: 1. Place a Composter near your planters 2. Add any organic material: plant fiber, cooked/raw food, animal fat, horse dung 3. Wait approximately 30 minutes for fertilizer to be produced 4. Each compost cycle produces 5-10 Fertilizer 5. Add Fertilizer directly to planter boxes (right-click on the planter)
Keep a composter running constantly and feed it with excess plant fiber from hemp farms. A well-maintained composter can fertilize 2-3 large planter boxes continuously.
Growing Teas
Teas are craftable consumables that provide powerful temporary buffs. They are crafted by mixing berries in a Mixing Table:
Max Health Tea (Red, Red, Red, Yellow) -- increases max HP temporarily Scrap Tea (Yellow, White, Yellow, White) -- increases scrap yield from barrels Ore Tea (Yellow, Blue, Yellow, Blue) -- increases ore yield from mining Wood Tea (Red, Blue, Red, Blue) -- increases wood yield from tree chopping Anti-Rad Tea (Red, Red, Green, Green) -- provides radiation resistance
(Berry ORDER matters in the Mixing Table -- the recipes above are the exact colour sequences.)
Tea quality depends on berry quality (basic, advanced, pure). Pure teas give the strongest buffs: - Pure Ore Tea: +60% ore yield for 30 minutes - Pure Scrap Tea: +100% scrap yield for 30 minutes
Growing tea berries follows the same genetics system. Focus on YYYYGH genetics for maximum berry yield. A dedicated tea farm with 4-6 planter boxes of each berry type can supply a large group with daily teas.
Indoor vs Outdoor Farming
Outdoor farming: Free light from the sun, but plants are exposed to raiders and weather. Place planters on your roof behind high walls for protection. Rain provides some water naturally.
Indoor farming: Requires Ceiling Lights (2 rW each) or Large Grow Lights (10 rW each) but is completely secure. Plants grow 24/7 under artificial light. Use a room with 3-4 planter boxes and ceiling-mounted grow lights.
Cost comparison: - Outdoor: Free light, needs water catchers, vulnerable to raiders - Indoor: 20-40 rW for lights, fully secure, requires electricity setup
Recommendation: Start with outdoor planters on your roof for simplicity. Once you have an electricity system, move farming indoors for security and consistency. Indoor farms also allow you to control genetics more easily since there is no random cross-pollination from wild plants.