Digging up Potatoes

[ebrim 998]

So previous to 0.55 (in which I can't find any potatoes or other fruit&veg aside from seed packs) I always kept a potato in my inventory so that I had the option of making a plot and growing a bunch of them. In 0.55 this hasn't been possible and whether or not this is intended is not clear.

 

This said, if it is intended, I'm actually totally on board with it. Finding fresh fruit and veg in buildings always felt a bit wrong and bizarre. This leaves me in an odd situation though as it means no potatoes! So I was thinking, how could potatoes in the game be re-introduced and still make sense? Traditional seed packs don't really work quite as well with potatoes which don't have seeds as such but instead the "eyes" from which new spuds can grow.

 

Then I realized a great solution would be to make it so that when digging in greenhouses, you have a random chance to dig up a potato. The reasoning behind this is that potatoes of course make up a huge portion of the diet in many places and during Soviet times many people in Eastern Europe enhanced their diets by planting potatoes in the garden which are extremely hearty and grow rather quickly. As such it makes sense that a number of greenhouses in Chernarus probably have potato plants or had potato plants and that digging up a tuber wouldn't be too far into the realm of fantasy - no more than digging up a cooking pot or catching boots when fishing anyway. :)

[Tatanko 5591]

Leaked files are a touchy subject, but I will say this: potato "seeds" in packet form are already in but not yet implemented. Whether or not the current state of things is intended, packets would be one way of providing potatoes as a horticulture option without being able to find potatoes in the process of looting.

 

 

I like your idea, by the way! :)

Edited April 10, 2015 by Tatanko

[ebrim 998]

Leaked files are a touchy subject, but I will say this: potato "seeds" in packet form are already in but not yet implemented. Whether or not the current state of things is intended, packets would be one way of providing potatoes as a horticulture option without being able to find potatoes in the process of looting.

 

 

I like your idea, by the way! :)

 

Well, this is great news.

 

I'd still love to dig up a potato now and then. :)

Edited April 10, 2015 by Ebrim

[Whyherro123 2283]

When planting potatoes in a garden, do you actually plant the whole potato, or do you get to cut it up into eyes, then plant it?

 

If it is "the whole potato", then that is stupid. The whole reason why potatoes are such a great "survival crop" (asides from being high in energy and vitamins, as well as being able to grow on land other crops cannot), is the fact that you get such a return from them, essentially "exponential".

 

Think about it. Let us say you get 5-10 tubers from one plant. Cut one up into eyes, and you get 5-6 new plants from one potato.

 

From the sites I just read, you should expect to get 10X the weight in final product vs how much you plant. So, you cut up 10lb of potatoes (which could be as little as 5 tubers or so), planted in 10, 10ft rows, and you get 100 lbs of edible potato. Rinse and repeat.

 

It would be extremely easy to get a lot of good, starchy food that way, and combine them with corn, beans, and pumpkins, as well as some Goat milk (the famous "Irish Diet"), and you have yourself a compete diet with all the vitamins and nutrients you need.

 

Look up the "Three Sisters" method of agriculture, and you will realize that it is essentially what we do when we make in-game gardens. Easy to accomplish with only hand-tools, needs no fertilizer or crop rotation, and self-supporting.

 

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/many-potatoes-one-plant-54215.html

http://www.ufseeds.com/All-About-Potatoes_f.html

 

 

http://www.reneesgarden.com/articles/3sisters.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_%28agriculture%29

Edited April 11, 2015 by Whyherro123

[ebrim 998]

In the game it is the whole potato. I'm okay with that being the case as you can still build up a huge number of potatoes from one pretty quickly.