Crop Growth

Crop Growth in Windrose runs on a single global timer: approximately 70 minutes of real-world time from planting to harvest, applied to every crop in the game. There are no per-crop variances, no watering cycles, no wilt or rot penalties, and no modifiers. Crops continue to progress while the game is closed.

Growth Timer

The community-standard practice is to plant a full rotation before logging off and harvest at the next session. A four-slot Seedbed planted at night delivers four ready crops the next morning without any intervening attention.

Stages

The crop visibly progresses from seed to sprout to mature plant in the game world, but the community documentation does not formalize named stages or per-stage durations. The harvest prompt appears once the ~70-minute total elapses. There is no way to harvest early, and no visible reward for waiting past the ready state.

Seed Economy

Every harvest returns the seed used plus the crop. Planting 25 seeds across six Seedbeds returns 25 seeds at harvest. The farm is a self-sustaining loop after the first seed gather; the only reason to buy more seeds is to scale parallel Seedbed capacity.

For bulk yields on a schedule, the Farming Contractor in Tortuga runs an 8-hour passive job (50 seeds + 20 Silver Coins) that returns all 50 seeds plus a large crop yield. This is strictly additive with the player's home Seedbeds.

Practical Timing

At ~70 minutes per cycle, a day of active play can complete multiple rotations if planting and harvesting are scheduled around other activities (sailing, camp clears, quest progression). Players report treating farming as a background system rather than an active one: plant before leaving port, harvest on return.

See Also

• Farming System - farming overview

• Seedbed Placement - Seedbed build rules

• Farming Contractor - parallel automation