Growing pots it's time

[vancopower]

I believe that the time has come for little "farming" in TLD just for flavor and something to keep you occupied when you can't get out because of bad weather or waiting for wolf to go away. Don't get me wrong I don't want to turn TLD in a farming simulator, what I suggest is this:

- The survivor can find clay and plastic plant pots. (they have option create fertilizer 0.5 kg fish required.) 15 minutes

- The survivor can make fertilizer from fish, and dirt in a pot and leave it on the ground for some time, same mechanic as curing meat.

- plant pots change when they are 100% ready to fertilized plant pots. 

- The survivor can plant ( in a fertilized plant pot) mountain herbal tea, mushrooms, and other herbs like peas or onions which can grow in a pot I've grown them 100% tested.

- The survivor can create small tent which can also be used as a temporary shelter in the wilds, big enough to place about 4-5 pots to keep plants warm.

- Plants will need water every day, and fertilizer every week. (you can fertilize them with another fertilized plant pot in your inventory which will drop the stat by 20% when it drops to 0% fertilized plant pot reverts to plant pot which can be used again to start the process)

- Some plants will grow fast 5-6 day herbal tea for example, some plants will grow slow  30- 40 days and mushrooms which will grow slow 20- 30 days but then they can be harvested every day but they will need lots of fertilizer every 2 days. (Off course we must have  mars potato or Matt Damon potato ) just a joke

- The survivor could trim plants spray their leaves in order to keep the plants healthy (healthy plants produce more), just some things to do when there is nothing else to do around the house.

- the survivor could harvest plants when they grow or leave them in order for the plant to blossom and grow seeds and then collect the seeds.  Health is not important for collecting seeds.

 

This feature is meant  to spice up the game play when you just can't or won't leave the house for some reason. I am not recommending to turn TLD in to a farming simulator although it would be nice if we could plant some of those rare birch and maple saplings but in order not to abuse this  they should grow really slow like 90 days, 120 days or even 180 days. and the pots should be rare find.

[illanthropist]

It's baltic, nothings gonna grow, on a good day it's 1°C indoors!

[SteveP]

I suppose it would make an interesting possibility as something a survivor might try to do. It could be one of those experiments that don't work out too well. I think it's a good option for a Springtime version of the game. You would need to keep the interior temperature about 10C for seeds or potatoes to start. A cold frame is another option common in Canada that let's you get an early start. How would you deal with deer? At least they don't eat potato plants; toxic.

[vancopower]

Near my home city there are a lot of villages surrounding it, so every time I get out of the city I see this:

 

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I don't know how to explain it on English, we use the term "Folija" which means Foil. My point is no matter what the temperature is outside inside is always + 15 degrees more I asked some people what does it take to make this thing on a smaller scale they said couple of branches but not dry fresh elastic, you stick one end in the ground and try to bend the other making a curve and stick it in the ground as well, a couple of these and then you need to cover this with plastic foil but it is more of a tarp actually however it is letting light through. I asked why are they using this they said it allows them to start planting in the winter  so by the time spring arrives the veggies will be ready to harvest and by the end of the summer their production almost triples. 

The survivor could find plastic bags full of produce, and rip and sow the bags together making a tarp, and together with maple or birch sapling I don't know which is more elastic he could make this and stick some pots into it. Well it does not have to be a potato like Matt Damon   but some plants like tea, mushrooms will be great because they don't require light but quite the opposite come to think of it mushrooms will thrive in this type of environment because another thing that happens inside this FOIL is the water is not evaporating properly and stays in the air for a long time , and we all know that moist air is perfect for mushrooms. So at least now we know that is possible for mushrooms to grow.  

 

Also during blizzards when the temp. drops a lot the survivor would be forced to start up a fire in order to keep his plants from freezing. There you have it another use for fire. 

[Scyzara]

I guess it's theoretically possible to have certain cold-resistant plants germinate under TLD's indoor conditions, but they would never ever get enough light to grow well. It's just way to dark inside the buildings for a propper level of photosynthesis. So even IF the plants somehow survived for an extended amount of time, they would almost certainly remain very weak (pale yellow  stalks and leaves) and never yield any fruits.

Growing mushrooms would work with regard to the amount of light, but temperatures are definitely going to be a problem here. Most mushrooms need a pretty warm and humid climate to grow well - not exactly how I personally would describe TLD's interiors.^^

I'm pretty sure greenhouses (or foil variations of them) don't work in the Canadian winter either. At least not the non-heated versions that don't require electricity.

Non-heated greenhouses do a good job to offer wind protection and keep the inside temperatures some °C above the outdoor temperatures, but they can't do magic. TLD's night temperatures (and especially blizzards) would cause them to freeze through and kill everything inside for sure.^^

I don't want to discourage your idea in general, but I totally agree to SteveP that growing plants is much more fitting for a future spring (or summer) TLD setting. 

[vancopower]

56 minutes ago, Scyzara said:

I guess it's theoretically possible to have certain cold-resistant plants germinate under TLD's indoor conditions, but they would never ever get enough light to grow well. It's just way to dark inside the buildings for a propper level of photosynthesis. So even IF the plants somehow survived for an extended amount of time, they would almost certainly remain very weak (pale yellow  stalks and leaves) and never yield any fruits.

Growing mushrooms would work with regard to the amount of light, but temperatures are definitely going to be a problem here. Most mushrooms need a pretty warm and humid climate to grow well - not exactly how I personally would describe TLD's interiors.^^

I'm pretty sure greenhouses (or foil variations of them) don't work in the Canadian winter either. At least not the non-heated versions that don't require electricity.

Non-heated greenhouses do a good job to offer wind protection and keep the inside temperatures some °C above the outdoor temperatures, but they can't do magic. TLD's night temperatures (and especially blizzards) would cause them to freeze through and kill everything inside for sure.^^

I don't want to discourage your idea in general, but I totally agree to SteveP that growing plants is much more fitting for a future spring (or summer) TLD setting. 

Well I noted in the beginning, I suggested this as  flavor feature not as a farming simulator few pots here and there and the plants would come for the mountain so they will be accustomed to the climate somewhat. I understand that the climate has changed due to the disaster but consider this indoors is always +10 degrees at least add another 15+ degrees from the "greenhouse" as you pointed out and also if you use pots the plants are even more insulated from the ground let's say this adds another +5 degrees, so even if the weather is -40 Celsius the plants will be at -10 degrees which you will easily counter with starting a fire until the weather returns to let's say -25 so you will have 5 degrees at least.

medicinal herbs like tea, mushrooms they could grow. I think that as a feature it would be interesting, also as they say desperate times call for desperate measures as it is now there is not much to do when you have to stay at home you can only sleep which waste of resources if anyone has better idea I would love to read about it

[Dirmagnos]

Among other things i was considering to be added, to make trips into already explored/picked clean regions to be worth an effort, was adding couple of small greenhouses to PV.

With player requiring to do some initial repairs and then to maintain them every now and then. With need to shovel some snow for water regularly, to fill water tank(s). And with slow-burn stoves(coal being the most time-efficient) to keep temperatures on appropriate levels. With cold-resistant seeds present by default to grow stuff.

They would require weekly attention(depending on what fuel is used and how much water is available, it can be less), to resupply water and fuel. Growth rate would be slow, due to lack of sunlight in the winter, but it would provide something to do and additional veggies for food.

Water requirements would be actually rather low and main problem would be keeping temperatures at appropriate level, since even one day without heat would mean that crops would freeze.

[vancopower]

44 minutes ago, Dirmagnos said:

Among other things i was considering to be added, to make trips into already explored/picked clean regions to be worth an effort, was adding couple of small greenhouses to PV.

With player requiring to do some initial repairs and then to maintain them every now and then. With need to shovel some snow for water regularly, to fill water tank(s). And with slow-burn stoves(coal being the most time-efficient) to keep temperatures on appropriate levels. With cold-resistant seeds present by default to grow stuff.

They would require weekly attention(depending on what fuel is used and how much water is available, it can be less), to resupply water and fuel. Growth rate would be slow, due to lack of sunlight in the winter, but it would provide something to do and additional veggies for food.

Water requirements would be actually rather low and main problem would be keeping temperatures at appropriate level, since even one day without heat would mean that crops would freeze.

Even better than my idea A chance to travel in TLD is always a welcome feature for me, I only can add in order to make fertilizer you have to bring fish another useful mechanic to make you travel even more.

[SteveP]

This reminds me of the mini-green houses that my folks use in Alberta to get an early start for tomato plants outdoors. The larger these plants get in the spring, the more harvest you'll have later in the year when the blooms start and later when the fruit matures. Basically you have a water filled cylinder (the commercial product) or a small plastic tent and you add some plastic bottles with water to provide the thermal boost during night hours. I think I mentioned the cold frame which is good for bean sprouts and lots of stuff that will be transplanted later.

Canada is a miserable place to survive in winter without technology & mechanized transportation. Nothing is actively growing outside. The sap isn't running in the trees yet. Animals are living off stored fat, hibernating or eating things like willows, bark, dried grass, stored pine nuts & seeds and lichens or eating other animals. In the Arctic regions the food pyramid is very shallow by which I mean it takes a lot of plankton to feed krill to feed fish to feed seals to feed the polar bears. On land, the caribou subsist on lichens and must range over huge areas. In urban areas, people are reliant on agriculturally grown foods and a lot of it comes from the US. We have lots of our own agriculture and export wheat and such as well as beef and so forth. Fishing is a declining industry as fish stocks decline due to over fishing and climatic variation. The fish living under the ice in lakes is very slow moving and almost dormant.

I wonder if tapping the birch trees in winter is a plan that would yield sap in spring time? Maples could also be tapped especially the sugar maple although I think it's not common on the West coast.