Precison Farming - Zielonka

[FarmerNeen]

Hello all,

Just after some advice on Precision Farming and in particular Zielonka and the new crop types. So I have 4 fields where I have potatoes, parsnips, carrots and beets. After my first harvest I did a mulch, I then spread lime, I then plowed the field based on telling me it needed plowing, I then used the tool to create my ridges, planted all my crops, after the first day of growing I then fertilized all 4 fields. No need for any rolling and no weeds growing. My expected yield and yield potential are over 100%.

After doing another another harvest on these 4 fields my environmental score is like 69. Does PF work different with these crop types or am I doing things in the wrong order, has me puzzled any advice would be greatly appreciated, Thanks everyone.

[Massey44]

Well with the rootcrops you are expected to plow so what you're doing is correct. What loses points in environment score is not using a direct drill, now it doesn't matter whether you plow, harrow, shallow or deep cultivate because no matter how low the tillage score is once you direct drill it maxes out which is really silly but that's how it works out. Unfortunately a lot of planters aren't direct drill and the new rootcrop planters aren't. The ridges don't seem to make any difference except in the base game which gives you a free fertilizer stage. Since PF is all about nitrogen and PH level I wouldn't expect them to add anything, although I did get the feeling they prevented weeds but given how often I usually plow anyway I'm not 100% on that.

Now you said you fertilized at the first growth stage, did you use the crop sensor too? I think it boosts your score slightly. One thing you can do is after fertilizing even though you have no weeds from plowing is to use a sprayer that has spot spraying, the John Deere one has 'See & Spray', the Keverneland and Kobatu ones (can't remember if those are mods) have 'Spot Spraying' which is exactly the same thing. Just fill up with herbicide and spray once in your fields, you won't use anything and you'll see the individual field environment score increase. This is also really silly too and for that reason I only ever lease the sprayer. For other crops you can also cheese this by using a mechanical weeder and then spot spraying for max weed control score. PF seriously needs an update. Lol

Also the environment score doesn't fully update until after harvest so sometimes you'll have a mix of scores like 69. 82 and 99 and if you ever combine fields you also get split scores so do the sprayer trick over both fields which you combined. Also rolling and mulching don't affect PF in any way but they still give you the 5% yield bonus if you do both. Now 69 is fine as an environment score so you don't really need to do more if you don't want to, the way it averages your score out between fields is a factor too, currently mine are 100, 85. 99 and 65. The last one is because I bought a field and haven't harvested it yet.

[LittleWatt]

If you don’t use organic fertilizer your Environmental Score will suffer. I suggest mulching, organic fertilizer, plowing. Adding lime whenever you want to the process. PF doesn’t require the ridger so it’s a role play option. Once the plants are visible (although I’m not sure it matters) use the crop sensor with chemical fertilizer.

Additionally, certain soil types like loam will give you a 125% yield. Whereas loamy sand will punish your yield of 80%-ish.

[FarmerNeen]

Thanks Massey44 and Littlewatt for your replies, Cheers.

[LittleWatt]

Some things I noticed during my first planting: the ridges don’t matter with PF. Also, the planter does not remove any existing weeds even though it will plant the new crops. Seems odd, but it happens. The field info does NOT suggest rolling the field. Since I’ve already planted everything and rolled them all, I’m not sure what the outcome is if you don’t roll. If you do roll the field, the ridges disappear like potatoes. You can safely do a double application of organic fertilizer as all the new crops take a lot of nitrogen. Red beets seem to use the most seeds followed by parsnips then carrots. Since there isn’t a variable rate, I’m just making a ballpark guess based on how much I had to refill the seeder. Since you get punished for the plowing, I’m wondering if using a subsoiler would be better. Or just running a disc harrow over the field after plowing, or a slurry tanker with cultivator attachment. I tried a spader on one field, it doesn’t remove weeds like plows do. And the plants do not need to be visible for the final chemical fertilizer application with the crop sensor. You can fertilize immediately after planting.

The yields of these crops are high. Field 19 netted me 167k liters of carrots on my first harvest. The prices go up near potatoes. So yields are around sugar beets (maybe even a bit more, but not quite sugarcane) with prices between sugar beets and potatoes.