Sticking with last week’s theme in the Crop Spotlight, we will be taking an in-depth look at one of the three Hybrid Crops that we originally revealed before they hit the in-game Market in FarmVille back in early February of 2011. We took a close look at the Squmpkins last week, and the Purple Tomatoes will have to wait a while before receiving a proper analysis, as we are going to take a gander at something that would make even Popeye blush: Red Spinach.
Hybrid Crops are a brand new feature implemented near the start of this month, February of 2011. In order to plant Hybrid Crops, you are required to create them inside of the Greenhouse, which can be purchased on the FarmVille Market under the Buildings tab. In summation, you must mix two Crops together in order to craft a brand new Hybrid Crop.
Of the original Greenhouse Hybrid Crops, the Red Spinach is the lone 14 hour Crop in the entire batch. We have several 12 hour Hybrid Crops, such as the Long Onion and the Fire Pepper, and even a pair of 16 hour Crops in the aforementioned Squmpkin and the Lilac Daffy, but the Red Spinach is the only one in-between those two classifications.
In fact, there simply are not that many 14 hour Crops in FarmVille itself; the number is incredibly narrow at two, and they both share the same name. That’s right, the only two 14 hour Crops, as of February 2011, are Spinach and Red Spinach. Due to this, there are tons of variables to intercede our breakdown, as we can enlarge our focus to also encompass 16 hour Crops.
What we are trying to say is that, chances are if you are planting a 14 hour Crop, you are only planting that single Crop for the day. Most of us find time for eight hours of sleep per night, making a 14 hour harvest manageable as the sole piece of farming that you will accomplish for that 24 hour period, usually planted at the start of your day and harvested by the end of it. Due to this, we will eliminate the 12 hour Crop comparisons, which run on a rigid schedule where most folks usually plant and harvest at 12 hour intervals.
Because of this, we will focus on 14 and 16 Crops that are comparable, as they tend to be the “once per day” types that are under the same umbrella. But first, let us take a look at how to make the Red Spinach. You will open up your Greenhouse and mix fifty plots of Rhubarb for 3,250 Coins with fifty plots of Spinach for 1,750 Coins, a grand total of 5,000 Coins. This will create fifty plots worth the Red Spinach, which broken down equates to 100 Coins per plot. Once you have Mastered the Crop, you will no longer need to create additional packets in the Greenhouse, and will receive a 10 Coin discount per plot at 90 Coins each.
We will work with the math given on a starting level, as a lot of farmers do not plant Crops that they have already Mastered. The obvious comparison is Spinach, the only other 14 hour Crop in FarmVille at this time. Let’s be honest, there is no real comparison of value, only by name; the Spinach can be planted for 35 Coins and harvested for 95, giving you a total of 60 Coins worth the income. The Red Spinach, on the other hand, costs 100 Coins initially, and gives you 255 Coins – 155 Coins of which can be considered pure income. That nearly triples the Spinach’s net profit.
So let’s take a look at better Crops to compare with it. The 16 hour Crops are not quite similarly futile, but none of them can come toe-to-toe with the Red Spinach – not even the regular Asparagus or the Purple Asparagus, which barely toppled the 16 hour Squmpkin Crop we Spotlighted last week. Crazy, huh? Meaning that, despite the two hours of disadvantage, the Red Spinach still triumphs over all of these 16 hour Crops – including the other 16 hour Hybrid Crop, the Lilac Daffy. Who would have thought that this differently-colored Spinach would be the Crop to triumph over all others in its time range? Certainly not us.
Like all of the Greenhouse Hybrid Crops, Crop Mastery is a bit more complex than, for instance, Mastering a Crop like Carrots or Wheat, or even the Limited Edition Crops that are around for a month or so. The problem with Mastering Hybrid Crops comes in the fact that you cannot just freely plant whatever your heart desires, as you must first concoct enough seeds to plant inside of your Greenhouse. Since you may only make 50 per tray, it can take a little while to create enough seeds to Master the Crop, let alone actually planting and harvesting them. Be absolutely sure to use Red Spinach Bushels before every harvest, as it will allow you to complete the Mastery in 1,170 plots harvested instead of the 2,340 it usually requires.
Here are the Red Spinach’s official Mastery numbers:
• Mastery Level 1: 390 Harvests
• Mastery Level 2: 780 Harvests
• Mastery Level 3: 1,170 Harvests
• Grand Total: 2,340 Harvests
Stay tuned to FarmVille Post for more information on other Hybrid Crops!
