Sugar Cane - What you should know

[NateS]

Seeds:
The cheapest way is to buy sugar cane pallets from the pallet category. They sell at $340 per 2000L. So at $170/1000L, this is even cheaper than using cane from a previous harvest. Much like potatoes, this is also an option. You can also use regular seed bags but these cost MUCH more.
NOTE: It takes roughly 12,000L of seed per ha.

Planters:
Gessner Single Row: seed cap 8,000. Fert cap 990
This planter took me 67 minutes with a worker to work exactly 1 ha. It uses roughly 1000L fert per ha which is double that of the other planters.
TT8022 Single Row: seed cap 12,000. Fert cap 1100
Took my worker 58 minutes to work a ha with this guy. It has a larger capacity and uses half the fert as the Gessner.
Gessner Two Row: seed cap 16,000. Fert cap 1400
Worker completed the ha in just 26 minutes as this planter is twice the width of the other 2.
PLANTING NOTES: Planting is a painfully slow process that should be reserved for a worker. Planters can be filled with auger wagons, however, the wagons can only be filled with the much more expensive 'big bags. AFTER planting, the crop shows up as 'harvested in the map overlay as opposed to the first growth stage like most crops.

Growth:
Sugar Cane takes twice as long as other crops to grow. On normal growth mode, this meens it takes just under 2 game days to get from planting to harvest as opposed to 1 game day for standard crops. When first planted, the crop shows as harvested in the map overview. It then goes through the growth stages as normal (though twice as slow). When ready to harvest, it shows the Remove Tops state just as beets and potatoes. After harvesting, it reverts to the harvested state. MAJOR POINT: SUGAR CANE DOES NOT NEED TO BE RE-PLANTED AND WILL GROW BACK ON IT'S OWN at the same speed as it grew the first time.

Harvesters:
Lizard SET 7: Single row harvested that can have a trailer mounted to the back or driven next to. I tried both ways with limited success. The worst part of this harvester is that it offsets to the right and the worker goes back and forth down the rows which means half the time the tractor is actually driving right through the yet to be harvested cane. If you work this harvester yourself and have crop destruction on, you will lose much of your crop either from your tractor or the trailer behind the harvester.
Case A8800 Multi-Row: Twice as nice, eight times more expensive! Comes with an optional trailer hitch that, sadly, can't connect to ANY trailer (possible bug?) So in this case, you must hire a worker and drive a trailer beside him.

Harvesting:
As stated above, I found the best method to be hiring a worker to pilot the larger harvester. Whichever harvester your worker is using, set the speed limit on your trailing tractor to 10kph. Since I knew this would take a while and I had to follow the whole time, I chose to grab a semi and one each of the Randon trailers (included in the expansion) hooked together. This is not realistic but having to dump over and over again would just make it take longer for testing purposes. It still took 50 minutes to harvest 1 ha.
NOTE: After harvest, there is a thin layer of what looks like straw. You cannot do anything with it and it does not disappear unless you cultivate/plow. If you leave the cane as is to regrow, it just grows over this 'bed'. (possible bug?)

Trailers:
The 3 smaller trailers included in the DLC are designed to dump into larger trailers ideally parked at the edge of the field. The 2 larger trailers also dump high on the left side. I was able to dump cane from the large trailers directly into the train cars on the GCV map. I would assume you could do the same with any of the smaller ones as well. They say you're not supposed to be able to store cane in silos but I waa able to transfer it freely between either train, the silo, and a trailer at the Central Transport Hub on GCV.
NOTE: Sugar Cane is accepted in MOST trailers but definitely try to sell in the largest possible quantities as we all know how fast the prices are crushed.

Crop Yield:
The short and sweet if it is about 225,000L per ha.
I haven't spent much time looking at the market price but on GCV (normal difficulty) I've seen prices around $250/1000L. That gets us to about $56,000. This is about double the price of a beet/potatoe harvest and quadruple that of a normal crop. However, you must factor in that it takes twice as long to grow so the higher yield price makes sense. Also, remember that cane does not need to be re-planted so the time and money it takes to plant could be considered a one time expense. Fertilization still needs to be done as usual. I have not gone so far as to see what effect 'Periodic Plowing Required' has on the crop. I would assume after 3 harvests you would lose that 10% bonus and have to decide if it's worth plowing it under and re-planting.

If I left anything out, please let me know!

[lefe1]

I'm confused it's cheaper to buy pallets than using cane from a previous harvest. they charge you to use your own sugarcane from your own harvest?

[Nigelbilt]

No, he means the price you can sell the cane for is higher (on average, like 270/1000 l) than the price to buy pallets (170/1000 l)

[NateS]

No, he means the price you can sell the cane for is higher (on average, like 270/1000 l) than the price to buy pallets (170/1000 l)

EXACTLY!!!

[NateS]

I will be updating this thread with harvest and yield notes but I am currently swearing at the game as I work out different harvest methods.

[Cajunwolf]

Cool Beans NateS, and I'll be following along because I haven't got that far yet. I don't guess you'd know yet if you plow the field after harvest, will the cane still regrow?

[Nigelbilt]

If you plow you have to re-sow

[Cajunwolf]

Kewl, that's what I was thinking.

[Omniplasma]

does sugarcane only work on the new map?

[NateS]

does sugarcane only work on the new map?

No, it works on GCV for sure and I would assume Sosnovka as well. It will work on mod maps as well, provided the modder add the crop, textures, sell points, all that stuff... then resubmit the map.

[CMDRTAKEDOWN]

On hard it's cheaper to use the harvested cane. Sale price is lower then to buy pallets.
Started planting by filling up a tipper then transported it to the filled. Tipped it out and used the front loader to load the planter. When I get enough money for a auger wagon I'll use a belt to load the auger. Then it should be easier to fill the planter from there.

[redglasses]

this is good info, I was wondering if it grew back, this will save me a ton of time. Thanks

[Omniplasma]

does sugarcane only work on the new map?

No, it works on GCV for sure and I would assume Sosnovka as well. It will work on mod maps as well, provided the kidder add the crop, textures, sell points, all that stuff... then resubmit the map.

I couldn't get it to plant on TWC for some reason. I owned the field and it was freshly cultivated.

[NateS]

OP has been updated for the final time... I think

[NateS]

does sugarcane only work on the new map?

No, it works on GCV for sure and I would assume Sosnovka as well. It will work on mod maps as well, provided the kidder add the crop, textures, sell points, all that stuff... then resubmit the map.

I couldn't get it to plant on TWC for some reason. I owned the field and it was freshly cultivated.

Again, the map maker must do a few things to the map and submit it to Giants.