Mutation Info, Research, and Theories (Updated 7/10)

Greenberry · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2015 2:18 pm

RE: Purple Peppers: So I looked up some info on real-life purple peppers (I didn't know that they actually existed) and it seems that they were originally only available during a period of time as regular bell peppers were maturing from green to red. Nowadays, they have actual breeds that mature from light purple to dark purple, but the info gave me an idea. I'm not having any luck with green or red peppers in Fall the way I'm doing things, so I think I'll advance time to Spring and Summer to try cross-pollinating reds and greens in those seasons. I'll keep my Fall save so I can go back to it if I'm wrong, but if I'm frustrated with the process and have a hunch, I might as well see where my intuition leads me, if only for a break.

Even if it doesn't work out, I'll work on getting Bell and then Magic Peppers unlocked. I might never manage to discover an unknown mutation, but I do at least volunteer to confirm White Peppers.

@Mommakat: SI is my favorite Harvest Moon game too. It's more challenging than a standard HM, but the game mechanics are not quite so obtuse, plus it has a guide so you don't end up with a field of dead, overwatered yams.

Also also, Mommakat, I know everyone else has said it, but you are the mutation MVP of this thread. You've made a lot of people's days, including mine, and I thank you for that.

~Milotic~ · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2015 3:04 pm

@Lirishae You maybe right, I definitely see where your going with that.

@Mommakat, Awesome keep us updated like you usually do and thank you for all your hard work.

@greenberry wow that is some interesting info about purple peppers, I didn't even think they really exsisted.

~Milotic~ · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2015 5:34 pm

Sorry for double posting, Just want to share my finalmfindings on spring before i forget to. (which i almost did)

I Can Confirm Red Cabbage -› Green Cabbage in spring at the following Levels HE to HE -7 on Barren Soil without Fertilizer or Rowan. My most Productive level was HE -3. I kept getting at least 8/54 without save scumming. Sometimes i got 9/54 and very rarely got 10/54. But the 8/54 popped up the most amd i never got below 8 on that level.
All the other levels i've gotten 4/54 or 5/54. no matter how much i've saved scummed at those levels i couldn't get more than 4/54 or 5/54.
So HE -3 is the sweet spot for me. Oh and when just a little bit of grass grew on the tiles it wouldn't mutate at all. So Barren Soil is Definitely the key. I can also confirm that selling 30 Green Cabbage to Sam or Hanna will unlock the seeds for it in Sams Shop.

No luck on any new mutations on Squash or Giant Potatoes.

My Summer im going to be unlocking Bell Pepper Seeds and Brown Carrot Seeds.

Gonna try to unlock Red Onion Seeds. And gonna try to unlock Durum wheat seeds.

Also to sum up for people to know:
Spring has 10 mutations ( not counting flowers)
Summer has 12 Mutations (not counting flowers)
Fall has 6 Mutations (not counting Flowers)
and
Winter has 13 Mutations (not counting flowers)

Lirishae · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2015 6:09 pm

@MommaKat: Harvest Moon is what I play to relax... If I wanted to grind, I'd play Disgaea, or if I wanted to test my luck, I'd play a hunting game like Monster Hunter or try to breed a shiny Pokemon. I deliberately skipped IoH and SI because to me they made farming too tedious to be any fun :/ I guess I just need to work on my mindset or something.

@Vell: Yeah, I completely hear you about the community. I would have quit long before now too. Don't feel obligated to do anything you don't want to! Although I am a total hypocrite for saying that >>; Glad to hear Powersaves is working out for you! It's really great for games like ANB and RF4, and also nice for games like Pokemon so you don't risk losing Pokemon you've had for ten years or more just because of a lost, stolen, or damaged cartridge.

@trichorse: Thanks so much for helping me look for angel lanterns! Don't feel obligated to do anything you don't want to, though. I hope you have better luck than I do!

@Greenberry: Odds are that Purple Peppers are spring, since three NPCs have a seasonal request for them in that season. Golden Peppers sound like a fall crop to me, and the pattern with the Harvest Goddess's requests suggest that it could be fall too. Thanks for volunteering to do a second confirmation on white peppers! ^^

@Milotic: No worries on double posting. Thanks for the info and update! I think there's 14 winter mutations though: Red Cabbage, Royal Herb, Teardrop, White Berry, Crimson, Yellow Corn, White Peppers, Purple Potatoes, Baby Carrots, White Carrot, Cream Pumpkin, Baby Spinach, Pink Spinach, and Romanesco. Unless you're not counting white peppers since I don't think anyone has done a second confirmation for it yet.

~Milotic~ · Post Posted: Jan 27, 2015 6:28 pm

Your right there is 14 mutations in Winter. i forgot to add the White pepper info to my winter list >.< Time to go back threw the thread for the info.

AlexRae · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 12:31 am

Hi howdy ho there, Alex here with a great big collection of bad news.

No, literally, I collected ALL the failed mutation experiments posted in this thread, that had enough info to fill out in a sheet for. I did not include the failures that went towards discovering known mutations, but I can include those if people would like to have "what doesn't work" as well as "what does work"

Some posts by big contributors ironically lacked primary info. Such as Milotic, you posted "no luck with Squash or Giant Potatoes" in your post about Summer ... but you didn't say what you were using for elevation/soil/fert, so I can't really include those. Even if it's just the same as your Squash set up from Spring, I need you to say "same as Spring" - because I have that set up, I can just copy paste it and change Spring to Summer for season.

Anyways, there's that. I can now also confirm that Grapefruit trees give fruit on the 4th day after their flowers die and that they re-fruit in 2 days. For gits and shiggles I tried leaving fruit on the tree for 4 days (two harvest cycles) to see if fruit would become great if left to "mature" on the tree. Nope! At least, not with only 4.

I also can confirm specifically your dog gets sick if you don't pet/pick it up, it really does consider the feed a "treat" to encourage it to go foraging. I also had a dream that your dog has a better chance of bringing in better items after it rains? So there's that theory.

MommaKat · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 7:42 am

I'm sorry Milotic, I am testing in summer not spring. I can't seem to keep my seasons straight!

Lirishae, no you don't need a different mindset

We all get something different out of these games. Unfortunately my brain runs in overdrive most of the time, so I actually like the tedious repetitiveness of these crops; it tends to clear my brain at the end of a long day and slows it down. I am giving PowerSaves some serious consideration. It would help greatly with experimenting with fertilizer. I would only have to plant once and then save a number of files to test fertilizer on.

AlexRae, wow, that is quite the amount of work you put into the spreadsheets. Thank you, they are a great reference.

Looking at the "great big collection of bad news", those berries have been extensively tested! Just my two cents worth, but it is looking more and more like these mutations might be cross pollination. But where to start with that; there are so many crops to test with and a number of them still undiscovered. This is worse than fertilizer.

Thanks everyone for the wonderful comments and thanks you's. Like I said before, I am not an online poster, but I have enjoyed being part of this group discovering mutations and being able to contribute to a forum that has been an invaluable source of information for me over the years.

cradke · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 8:34 am

Question - has anyone ever had a crop that has never matured? I planted brown carrots at HE -16 in fall and they never matured.

Tests that yielded nothing:
Crops: Brown carrot, white carrot, bell pepper, red pepper
Season: Fall
Elevation/Soil: HE -16 (patchy/lush), HE -13 (patchy/lush), HE -10 (lush & swamp), HE -2 (patchy/lush), HE (barren), HE +9 (patchy/lush)
Fertilizer: none except Rowan
Test Size: groups of 9
Reloads: 5

Lirishae · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 9:54 am

@AlexRae: You didn't call me out by name, but I know I'm one of the people who has submitted incomplete testing reports. Sorry about that.

@MommaKat: I've been using Powersaves for awhile now and I didn't even think of planting once and saving to test different fertilizers. Thanks for the idea, as well as the kind words and the amazing work you are doing ^^

@Cradke: Yes, the plants that have no preferred elevation will not grow at HE-16 or lower. They just progress to their near-ripened state and stay that way for the rest of the month. That includes potatoes, carrots, brown carrots, barley, all flowers, and probably evergreen, but I never got around to finishing up tests for it to be certain.

trichorse · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 10:10 am

It's going to take me a bit longer than I'd planned to start testing strawberries in swampy soil at GS...my nephew managed to get a hold of my 3DS and erase my save file (I don't know how...lucky in random pushes, I guess, because he's not that devolped yet to be able to read directions(being just over a year old)). So I gotta start over.

~Milotic~ · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 10:26 am

trichorse wrote:It's going to take me a bit longer than I'd planned to start testing strawberries in swampy soil at GS...my nephew managed to get a hold of my 3DS and erase my save file (I don't know how...lucky in random pushes, I guess, because he's not that devolped yet to be able to read directions(being just over a year old)). So I gotta start over.

Sorry to hear that Trichorse, If you want i can make some swampy soil at GS Level to test Strawberries there, Just let me know either on this thread or threw a pm and what you were planning. It wouldn't take much for me to creat swamp at GS.

trichorse · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 10:29 am

I'll manage...It'll just take me a bit longer to get to the point where I can test it.

Lirishae · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 11:19 am

Oh wow, I'm so sorry to hear that, trichorse =/ I wish there was something I could do to help you.

Lirishae · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 11:53 am

All right, the Fall fodder corn with fish fertilizer results are in. No mutations, surprise surprise.

Areas tested:
HE+11, lush, adjacent to water and Goddess Spring
HE+8, dry, some distance from water
HE-3, dry soil, some distance from water
HE-9, dry soil, some distance from water
HE-10, swampy, adjacent to water
HE-13, lush, fairly close to water
HE-16, dry, fairly close to water

For HE+8, -3, -9, and -16, I grew 4 2x2 patches of Fodder Corn, one for each type of fish fertilizer (Mosquitofish, Carp, Barbatus, Goby). They were watered and fertilized every day until maturity. For the HE+11, HE-10, and HE-13 patches, I grew one 3x3 patch and used a mishmash of the four fertilizers. I used Rowan for the test and reset four times. The weather for harvest was sunny and foggy.

I did learn one thing though; Giant Pumpkin's preferred season is Fall. I couldn't grow a Great quality crop in lush soil, but growing it in dry ground netted me a solitary Great. So I'm going to try Pumpkin and maybe Zucchini and Squash tests to see if I can get that to mutate. I don't have cream pumpkin unlocked to try, unfortunately.

Vell · Post Posted: Jan 28, 2015 1:03 pm

Ooh, if we're recording what doesn't work, I can throw in with some Strawberry info!

I tested Strawberries at HE +11 through HE - 3 in barren soil, with and without berry fertilizer in Summer. No mutations. (I also tested Magic Berries and White Berries at these same elevations & fertilizers with nothing to show).

I also tested Strawberries at HE +11 through HE -3 in lush soil, with and without berry fertilizer in Summer. Also no mutations. At HE, I did test out one application (not multiple) of ALL buyable fertilizers and plain compost, with no hits.

Hope that helps narrow things down!

MommaKat, you should consider Power saves! I'm a staunch supporter at this point. I don't care or have used the cheat code aspects of it, but the ability to have multiple save files and so easily switch for testing purposes is just fantastic. I can see myself using it for all Harvest Moon/Story of Season/Rune Factory games, simply because it's nice to be able to have those other save files. Even my daughters went crazy when they heard they won't have to choose just one or two "bachelors".