The Sensitive Golden Crops
Along with your regular crops, you can grow special golden crops that sell for much more than the original version. To unlock the golden variety you will need to sell a total of 500 of the regular version. For example, sell 500 Turnips to unlock the seeds for Golden Turnips. You can sell the base crops to any vendor to have it count towards unlocking golden crops. These are seasonal crops, so you can only buy the seeds during the season that you can grow them in, even if you've sold the required number of crops in other seasons.
Not everything you can grow comes in a golden variety. Tree fruit, grains, tea leaves, spices, flowers, and water paddy crops do not have golden versions. Basically, the crops you can grow in the Tall Crop Field, the Root Crop Field, and the Leafy Crop Field will have golden versions.
Golden crops are difficult to grow and have a chance of dying/wilting as the crop moves from growth state to growth stage. Some golden crops are more sensitive to wilting than others; Golden Onion only has a 10% chance of wilting when it grows to a new stage, whereas Golden Melon has a 70% chance. When dealing with golden crops, it is a good idea to save your game before going to bed. If you awaken in the morning and discover too many of your golden crops have wilted, you can reload your save game to the night before and try again.
To help ensure the crop's health, there are three things you can do: use the Special Fertilizer that can be crafted at the Fertilizer Maker within your Seed Maker, use the Ferris Wheel greenhouse, or make the plant instantly mature by using the Super Mushroom mystery crop.
- Special Fertilizer will reduce the chance of the crop wilting as it grows by only 2%. It also requires Elli Leaves, which are for sale at the Ice Country vendor at the Trade Depot. When I've used Special Fertilizer its affect didn't appear to carry over when converting the golden crop back into seed. It isn't terribly useful, but it is better than nothing.
- The better option is to use the Ferris Wheel. The blueprint is available starting in Fall of year 4 from Silk Country. The building requires 60 Lumber, 30 Glass Stone, 10 Amethyst, 10 Emerald, and 5 Pink Diamond. Growing golden crops within the Ferris Wheel is a great way to handle the sensitivity issue, as golden plants will NOT wilt within the carnival ride. They also grow at twice the speed and do not require any watering.
- For golden crops that only have two growth stages (Turnip, Onion, Spinach, Carrot, and Radish) you can make them fully mature by picking a Super Mushroom if you happen to grow one in your field. Kenneth from Wheat County will randomly sell you a Mystery Seed for 1000 G when you talk to him. After you plant it you won't know what it will become until it matures. If you happen to grow a Super Mushroom, leave it be while you plant short-growth golden crops that correspond with your current season. Once your golden seeds are in the soil, pick the Super Mushroom to instantly turn the seeds into harvestable golden crops.
Besides selling for more money, golden crops can be used in cooking recipes to duplicate the number of cooked dishes you've crafted. For example, cooking one Turnip will result in one Turnip Salad, but cooking one Golden Turnip will result in two Turnip Salads.
Golden crops will also give you more friendship if you give them to a person who likes the regular version. A love-quality +500 FP crop will earn you +800 FP if you give a golden version, and a like-quality +300 FP crop will earn you +500 FP. This also works in reverse, so if a villager does not like a crop, then giving a golden version will cause you to lose more FP. Note that there aren't any crops that are a villager's special +1000 gift.
List of Golden Crops
You can increase the Star Rank of golden crops in the same manner as regular crops; by using regular Fertilizer and using the Seed Maker to convert the ranked up crop back into seeds.
| Crop Name | Seed Price | Vendor Location | Wilt % | Sell Price (1 Star to 5 Stars) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spring Season | ||||
| Golden Turnip | 1440 G | Silk Country | 50% | 450 G | 600 G | 750 G | 900 G | 1050 G |
| Golden Potato | 1980 G | Wheat Country | 50% | 690 G | 920 G | 1150 G | 1340 G | 1610 G |
| Golden Cabbage | 3470 G | Rose Country | 30% | 1350 G | 1800 G | 2250 G | 2700 G | 3150 G |
| Golden Cucumber | 2300 G | Sakura Country | 20% | 330 G | 440 G | 550 G | 660 G | 770 G |
| Golden Strawberry | 2950 G | Rose Country | 30% | 2250 G | 3000 G | 3750 G | 4500 G | 5250 G |
| Summer Season | ||||
| Golden Onion | 1440 G | Rose Country | 10% | 630 G | 840 G | 1050 G | 1260 G | 1470 G |
| Golden Pumpkin | 1050 G | Wheat Country | 30% | 1260 G | 1680 G | 2100 G | 2520 G | 2940 G |
| Golden Tomato | 1440 G | Silk Country | 50% | 300 G | 400 G | 500 G | 600 G | 700 G |
| Golden Sweet Pepper | 1440 G | Wheat Country | 20% | 600 G | 800 G | 1000 G | 1200 G | 1400 G |
| Golden Corn | 5130 G | Wheat Country | 50% | 1200 G | 1600 G | 2000 G | 2400 G | 2800 G |
| Golden Pineapple | 3830 G | Tropical Country | 20% | 4140 G | 5520 G | 6900 G | 8280 G | 9660 G |
| Golden Watermelon | 6300 G | Tropical Country | 10% | 6000 G | 8000 G | 10,000 G | 12,000 G | 14,000 G |
| Golden Melon | 6300 G | Wheat Country | 70% | 6600 G | 8800 G | 11,000 G | 13,200 G | 15,400 G |
| Crop Name | Seed Price | Vendor Location | Wilt % | Sell Price (1 Star to 5 Stars) |
| Fall Season | ||||
| Golden Spinach | 1980 G | Silk Country | 10% | 720 G | 960 G | 1200 G | 1440 G | 1680 G |
| Golden Burdock Root | 2970 G | Silk Country | 70% | 1320 G | 1760 G | 2200 G | 2640 G | 3080 G |
| Golden Carrot | 1760 G | Cabin Country | 30% | 690 G | 920 G | 1150 G | 1340 G | 1610 G |
| Golden Eggplant | 2160 G | Silk Country | 30% | 390 G | 520 G | 650 G | 780 G | 910 G |
| Golden Sweet Potato | 1080 G | Silk Country | 50% | 300 G | 400 G | 500 G | 600 G | 700 G |
| Golden Bell Pepper | 2300 G | Wheat Country | 20% | 360 G | 480 G | 600 G | 720 G | 840 G |
| Golden Andes Potato | 4320 G | Wheat Country | 70% | 3000 G | 4000 G | 5000 G | 6000 G | 7000 G |
| Winter Season | ||||
| Golden Radish | 1310 G | Sakura Country | 10% | 450 G | 600 G | 750 G | 900 G | 1050 G |
| Golden Napa Cabbage | 3470 G | Sakura Country | 20% | 1200 G | 1600 G | 2000 G | 2400 G | 2800 G |
| Golden Broccoli | 2660 G | Rose Country | 30% | 480 G | 640 G | 800 G | 960 G | 1120 G |
