Fruit Trees

Fruit trees are long-cycle crops in Starsand Island that take significantly longer to grow than standard farmland crops but produce harvestable fruit repeatedly once mature. Unlike regular crops (which you plant, harvest once, and replant), fruit trees stay in the ground permanently after planting. They go through a single long growth period, then produce fruit at regular intervals each season.

All fruit tree saplings are planted on standard farmland (not on Trellises, Paddy Fields, or Planting Boxes). They take up a regular farmland tile and require watering during their growth phase. Once mature, they no longer need watering and produce fruit automatically when in season. This makes fruit trees one of the most hands-off income sources in the game once the initial growth investment is complete.

There are nine fruit tree saplings available across three Farmer profession tiers. Five saplings unlock at Intermediate Farmer, and four more unlock at Senior Farmer. Each tree produces a specific fruit with its own sell price, seasonal availability, and yield per harvest.

All Fruit Tree Saplings

Fruit tree saplings become available as you advance through the Farming profession tiers with Graminova at the Happiness Seed Shop. The table below lists every fruit tree in the game, sorted by unlock tier and then by growth time. All sell prices listed are for a single harvested fruit.

Note: The Chirpy Plum (Expert Farmer tier, 505g sell price) is sometimes mistaken for a fruit tree, but it is actually a standard farmland crop planted from seed. It does not function as a permanent tree and must be replanted after each harvest like any other crop.

How Fruit Trees Work

Planting and Growth

Plant a sapling on tilled farmland, just like any other crop seed. During the growth phase, the sapling needs regular watering (manually or via sprinklers). Growth time is real-time from the moment you plant, not based on day-by-day cycles. A sapling with an 8 day 12 hour growth time starts counting the instant you put it in the ground.

Growth only progresses during the tree's designated season(s). If the season changes to one that is not in the tree's season list, growth pauses until the correct season returns. This is critical for trees with long growth times like the Lychee Sapling (30 days, Summer only). If you plant Lychee on Day 1 of Summer, you will not have enough time to finish growing it before Summer ends (each season is 28 days), and growth will pause through Autumn, Winter, and Spring before resuming the following Summer.

Because of the long growth times (8.5 to 30 days), fruit trees are a long-term investment. The initial wait is significant, but once mature, the tree produces fruit every season cycle without replanting.

Harvesting

Once a tree reaches maturity, it produces fruit that can be picked directly by interacting with the tree. Mature trees produce fruit automatically at the start of each applicable season. You do not need to water mature trees. Harvest the fruit when it appears and the tree will produce more next cycle.

Yield Per Harvest

Tree yields vary from 2 to 6 per harvest depending on the species. Camellia has the highest yield at 6 per harvest, making it the best tree for volume production. Banana and Persimmon have the lowest at 2 per harvest. However, Banana grows across three seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn), giving it more total production opportunities per year, while Persimmon compensates with the highest per-fruit sell price of any tree fruit at 334g.

Revenue Per Harvest

The total revenue from a single harvest depends on both the yield and the per-fruit sell price. The following table ranks every fruit tree by total coins earned per harvest, which helps you decide which trees deserve the most farmland space.

Camellia leads in raw revenue per harvest at 1,068g. Lemon is close behind at 984g per harvest and benefits from producing across three seasons, meaning it generates income during Spring, Autumn, and Winter. Banana has the lowest per-harvest total at 576g, but it produces across three seasons, which can add up over a full year.

Annual Profitability Estimate

A fruit tree produces one harvest per active season. Since each in-game year has four seasons (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter), the number of harvests per year equals the number of seasons a tree is active. The table below estimates total annual raw fruit income per tree.

Lemon is the most profitable fruit tree on an annual basis when selling raw fruit, generating 2,952g per year thanks to its three active seasons. Camellia earns the second-highest annual total and has a very manageable 10-day growth time, making it the best value for newer orchards. Lychee actually loses money in its first year when selling raw fruit because the 950g sapling cost exceeds the single-season revenue of 785g. However, Lychee becomes profitable from Year 2 onward, and its fruit can be processed into Lychee Jam for much higher returns.

These figures assume raw fruit sales only. Processing fruit through the Jam Maker or using it in cooking recipes increases the effective value significantly. Selling to the Sales Boat at Starsand Port also doubles the sell price (2x multiplier), which makes every fruit tree profitable in Year 1.

Season Planning

Because fruit trees only grow and produce during specific seasons, planning your orchard around the calendar maximizes output. The table below shows which trees are active in each season.

To ensure year-round fruit income, plant at least one Orange or Lemon tree for Winter coverage. Summer is the most productive season with seven active tree types, so prioritize getting all your saplings in the ground before Summer arrives.

Fruit Uses

Harvested fruit serves multiple purposes. Selling raw fruit provides immediate income, but processing through crafting stations increases the value per fruit substantially.

Jam Maker

The Jam Maker converts fruit into jams using a consistent recipe of 2 fruit + 3 Sugar. Jams restore large amounts of energy and sell at premium prices, making jam production one of the most profitable activities in the late game. The Jam Maker blueprint costs 1,600g from the Happiness Seed Shop and requires Junior Farmer certification.

Individual jams sell for around 500g or more each, which is significantly higher than selling the raw fruit. Scaling up jam production with multiple Jam Makers running in parallel is one of the best late-game money strategies. If you have access to GMax seeds, GMax fruit variants produce jam with an even higher value multiplier.

Separator and Fruit Pulp

The Separator processes raw fruit into Fruit Pulp, a base ingredient required for many cooking recipes. The Separator works instantly (unlike the Jam Maker, which takes time), so converting excess fruit into Fruit Pulp is a quick way to build up cooking supplies. Fruit Pulp is also a key component in making livestock feed for ranching, so keeping a steady supply from your orchard supports multiple systems.

Cooking

Several cooking recipes use fruit directly or as processed ingredients. For example, Lemonade (made from Lemon and Sugarcane at the Juicer) sells for roughly 750g, which is more than double the raw Lemon sell price of 328g. Exploring the full recipe list is worthwhile because cooked dishes with fruit ingredients often sell for 1.5x to 2x the value of the raw components.

Gifts

Several NPCs like or love specific fruits. Check the gift guide for individual character preferences. Keeping a small stockpile of each fruit type ensures you always have a gift option available regardless of the season.

Speeding Up Growth

Ripening Fertilizer

The long growth times on fruit trees (especially Lychee at 30 days and Persimmon at 21.5 days) make Ripening Fertilizer extremely valuable. Ripening Fertilizer instantly advances crop growth by a set number of hours:

Applying multiple doses of Ripening Fertilizer III to a Lychee Sapling can shave several real-time days off the 30-day growth period. This is especially important if you are trying to plant and mature a Lychee tree within a single Summer. Without fertilizer, a Lychee planted on Day 1 of Summer will not finish growing before Summer ends.

Beehive Pollination

Placing beehives near your fruit trees provides a pollination bonus that speeds up crop growth. The pollination effect stacks with fertilizer, so combining both gives you the fastest possible maturation. Nutrient Soil IV (unlocked at Senior Farmer) further boosts pollination probability by 15%, and this can be layered on top of the bee pollination effect for even faster results.

Beehives can also cause fruit trees to produce fruit outside their normal season, which dramatically increases annual income. With a well-placed beehive network, a Lychee tree (normally Summer-only) may produce additional harvests in other seasons.

Orchard Layout and Farm Planning

Dedicate a section of your farm to an orchard. Fruit trees do not need replanting, so once your orchard is established, it produces fruit every season with minimal maintenance. Place sprinklers near fruit tree saplings to automate watering during the growth phase. Once mature, sprinklers are no longer needed for trees, so you can relocate them to crop rows.

A practical orchard layout groups trees by season. Plant all Summer/Autumn trees (Apple, Osmanthus, Snow Pear, Persimmon) in one cluster, Spring/Winter trees (Orange) in another, and multi-season trees (Banana, Lemon, Camellia) in a third section. This makes it easy to see at a glance which section is producing and which is dormant.

If you plan to run Jam Makers at scale, place them near the orchard to minimize the distance you walk when loading fruit into the stations. Players building dedicated jam operations often place 10 or more Jam Makers in a row adjacent to the orchard for maximum throughput.

Fruit Tree Removal

Planted fruit trees can be removed if you need to reclaim the farmland tile. To remove a tree, use your axe on it. This destroys the tree permanently, and there is no way to transplant a fruit tree to a different location. Earlier in Early Access, a bug prevented removal of planted fruit trees under certain conditions, but this was fixed in patch v0.2.1598.

Before chopping a mature tree, consider whether you truly need the space. A mature fruit tree represents weeks of growth time, and replacing it means starting from scratch. If you need to rearrange your farm, it is usually better to build around existing mature trees rather than removing them.

Senior Farmer Trial Requirement

Part of the Senior Farmer trial requires you to plant tree saplings and collect a total of 50 fruit from them. If you started growing fruit trees early in the Intermediate tier, you will likely have enough fruit stockpiled by the time you reach this trial. If not, Apple and Orange saplings have the shortest growth time (8 days 12 hours) and produce 4 fruit per harvest, making them the fastest way to meet this requirement.

Tips

• Plant fruit trees as early as possible. The long growth times (up to 30 days for Lychee) mean delaying planting delays your first harvest significantly.

• Place sprinklers near saplings during growth. Once mature, move the sprinklers to seasonal crop rows where they provide more value.

• Camellia is the best volume producer at 6 fruit per harvest and only 10 days to grow. Plant multiple Camellia trees for a strong fruit supply in Spring and Summer.

• Lemon grows across three seasons (Spring, Autumn, Winter), making it the most versatile tree despite its moderate yield of 3 per harvest. It generates the highest annual raw income of any fruit tree.

• Banana is affordable (600g) and grows across three seasons. It is a good budget option for new orchards when you are still building up coins.

• Lychee has the longest growth time at 30 days and only grows in Summer. Plant it at the very start of Summer and apply Ripening Fertilizer III to have any chance of maturing it within a single Summer season.

• Use Everlasting Seeds on fruit tree saplings if available to prevent crop death from missed watering during the growth phase.

• Sell fruit to the Sales Boat at Starsand Port on Mondays for a 2x price multiplier. This doubles revenue from raw fruit and makes even Lychee profitable in Year 1.

• Convert excess fruit into jam using the Jam Maker. Jams sell for significantly more than raw fruit and restore large amounts of energy.

• Do not waste expensive fertilizer on a tree that is about to go out of season. If the season changes before the tree matures, the sapling's growth pauses and any fertilizer applied during the wrong season is wasted.