Weather and Crop Growth

The weather system in Island of Happiness is a big influence on the maturity period and ranking of your crops. You must learn to manage your watering cycles for successful crop growth.

In previous versions of Harvest Moon, a player could simply save the game the night before and check the weather the next morning; if it wasn't what he or she was expecting for the next day, reloading and going back to bed would reset the weather. In IoH, the weather is set 5 days before, and is very difficult to control. Basically, using the old save/reload trick does not work in this version of Harvest Moon.

The daily weather report will come from the wise old farmer, Taro. You will need to visit his house every day and talk to him. He will tell you the next day's weather only once, so make sure you are paying attention! There are 8 different weather patterns he could tell you.

WeatherWater
Points
Sun
Points
Taro's Words
(Examples)
Season
Sunny 03 "My gut's telling me it'll be sunny tomorrow." All year
Clear 01 "That breeze is telling me it'll be sunny tomorrow." All year
Cloudy 00 "My eyebrow are telling me it'll be cloudy tomorrow." All year
Drizzle 10 "My trick knee's telling me it'll be rainy tomorrow." Spring, Summer, Fall
Rainy 20 "These old bones/big toe are telling me it'll rain tomorrow." Spring, Summer, Fall
Snowy 20 "My old left knuckle is telling me it's going to snow tomorrow." Winter
Hurricane 30   Summer
Blizzard 30 "My old left knuckle telling me it'll snow tomorrow." Winter

The weather also affects the amount of stamina you lose when working outside. If the weather is Clear or Cloudy, you won't lose any extra stamina when using your tools. If it is Drizzle or Sunny then you'll get tired just a little bit easier. Finally, if the weather is Rainy or Snowy then you will lose a lot of stamina when working outside. In past Harvest Moon games you could eat a special Blue Berry to ward off the affects of bad weather working, but nothing equivalent exists in Island of Happiness.

Weather will affect your crops

Each crop has two scales relating to its growth cycle:

  • Sun Points are calculated based on how much sun the plant will receive. It will only earn the necessary sun points on Sunny and Clear weather days. You can't control how much sun a plant receives unless you are growing crops in the Greenhouse, where the sun points consistently are at 1 per day.
  • Water Points are something you do actually have some control over. Every time you water your crop you will earn 1 water point, and you do have the option of watering your crop more than once a day. The weather also will add water points.

The point systems bring more challenge to the game, as a farmer will have to delicately balance the levels of each one in order to successfully grow crops. Knowing how many points you need and how the system works will be greatly beneficial, since there isn't an in-game explanation.

Example: Turnip
Turnip
StageDays Sun Rain
Seed 22 to 102 to 10
Sprout 1 22 to 102 to 10
Mature Will die if receives
20 Sun and/or 10 Water
within 10 days

Your first crop, the Turnip, is the most basic plant to grow. The Turnip has 3 stages of growth; seed, sprout, and the final pick-me stage. The seed stage ideally takes 2 days to grow into a sprout, and the sprout takes 2 days before you can pick the Turnip. That means you'll have a Turnip in 5 days.

The amount of Sun Points and Water Points the plant receives will affect the number of days the plant takes to grow. For a Turnip, the seed-stage and sprout-stage need to receive between 2 and 10 points of Water, and the same amount for Sun.

So let's say it is Spring 10 and you have a bag of Turnip seeds you'd like to grow:

  • Spring 10 - Today's weather is "Clear", which will give you 1 Sun Point. You've planted your Turnip seeds and you have watered them once with your Watering Can.

    Day 1 Total: 1 Sun & 1 Water

  • Spring 11 - Today is a "Sunny" day, and that gives you 3 Sun Points. You also watered your crops in the morning.

    Day 2 Total: 4 Sun & 2 Water

  • Spring 12 - Your Turnip seeds now have sprouted. The seed stage needed between 2 and 10 points for Sun and Water within 2 days, and you ended up with 4 Sun and 2 Water. Now that you're successfully reached the next stage, you can start back at 0 points.

    Today is a "Drizzly" day, so you won't get any Sun Points at all! The rain will automatically give you 1 Water Point and you don't even have to take care of the Turnips today. Go out and have some fun!

    Day 3 Total: 0 Sun & 1 Water

  • Spring 13 - Oh drat, another "Drizzly" day! No Sun again today, but there isn't anything you can really do to control the weather. Since this is the 2nd day for the sprout stage, and it doesn't have the required Sun Points, it will not move to the last stage of growth. The plant won't die though, because you have not reached the maximum 10 Sun Points or 10 Water Points for this stage.

    Day 4 Total: 0 Sun & 2 Water

  • Spring 14 - It is finally a "Sunny" day, and you have earned the necessary 3 Sun Points. You decide to water your crops anyway, but you didn't really need to. Since you already have the minimum required Water Points, you don't have to water anymore. If you do water, then you run the risk of lowering the Turnip's Quality. Just reaching the minimum 2 points for each stage of growth will get you the highest Quality ranking.

    Day 5 Total: 3 Sun & 3 Water

  • Spring 15 - Your Turnip has finally matured! It took an extra day because of the two days of rain, but now you can harvest your crops. Although, if you leave the Turnip in the ground and continue to care for it, you will increase its Size ranking. If you do choose to leave it in the ground for a few days, but for no more than 10 days, make sure it does not receive 10 Water Points and 20 Sun Points.

    Day 6 Total: Success!