ARK: Survival Evolved Farming Guide: Crop Plots, Seeds, How to Get Fertilizer & More

ARK survivors don’t need to rely on foraging resources and hunting creatures to survive the harshness of the different ARKs. Remember, you can build a base or camp. Moreover, you can develop a farm for crops in your base of operations. So, keep reading as we explain farming in ARK: Survival Evolved.

Farming in ARK: Survival Evolved

Establishing a farm helps you become self-sufficient in ARK: Survival Evolved. Cultivate and harvest crops to accomplish different objectives, such as feeding survivors and taming dinosaurs. However, farming in ARK: Survival Evolved typically requires significant time to develop. Still, establishing a fully-functioning farm has benefits that outweigh its drawbacks.

Preparation

Every ARK: Survival Evolved farm requires specific things before it can grow crops. These items are the following:

• Crop Plot
• Seeds
• Water
• Fertilizer

Gathering Materials (Fertilizer, Seeds)

Farming in ARK: Survival Evolved involves going around different biomes as you collect the necessary items to start a farm. As mentioned earlier, fertilizer is one of the items required to start farming. Note that fertilizer can be a range of in-game items, including the different types of Feces. Still, you can find and use different items clearly identified as fertilizer, such as the Bonemeal Fertilizer. Next, you’ll need seeds that’ll soon grow into mature plants. For starters, you likely gathered berries when you spawned into an ARK map for the first time. Collecting these berries will also give you some Berry Seeds. These seeds are ideal for new players since they’re fairly easy to grow. Alternatively, you can travel to the mountains of The Island and The Center maps. Here, you can find Citronal, Longrass, Rockarrot, and Savoroot plants, along with their seed counterparts. If you’re not fond of gathering farming resources on foot, you can tame certain creatures to help you in this endeavor. Some of the best seed gatherers in the game are:

• Brontosaurus
• Iguanadon
• Mammoth
• Therizinosaur
• Triceratops

All Crop Plots and Supported Seeds

ARK: Survival Evolved lets players lay different crop plots to grow various plants. Note that not every plant can grow in a single crop plot. For example, small crop plots are unfit for growing large crops. The following are the different in-game crop plots and their supported seeds for your benefit:

• Small Crop Plot: Amarberry Seed, Azulberry Seed, Mejoberry Seed, Narcoberry Seed, Stimberry Seed, and Tintoberry Seed
• Medium Crop Plot: Amarberry Seed, Azulberry Seed, Mejoberry Seed, Narcoberry Seed, Stimberry Seed, Tintoberry Seed, Citronal Seed, Longrass Seed, Rockarrot Seed, and Savoroot Seed
• Large Crop Plot: Amarberry Seed, Azulberry Seed, Mejoberry Seed, Narcoberry Seed, Stimberry Seed, Tintoberry Seed, Citronal Seed, Longrass Seed, Rockarrot Seed, Savoroot Seed, and Plant Species X, Y, and Z seeds

How to Farm

After placing a crop plot and planting a seed, you must add fertilizer and water to the site. These two items are a must for the seed to grow and mature. Generally, you can bring water to the crop plot by filling up a water jar at a body of water, then pouring the gathered water into the plant site. Alternatively, wait for rainfall to arrive naturally (depending on the map). Next, you can fertilize the plant with your preferred fertilizer. Thankfully, the crops and plants in ARK: Survival Evolved aren’t selective about fertilizers, unlike some real-world foliage. But you may find out you’re running out of fertilizer sooner than later, especially if you’re trying to start a large farm. If so, you have several different ways to become self-sufficient in fertilizer gathering.

• Craft Bonemeal Fertilizer using 1x Keratin, 3x Spoiled Meat, 5x Hide, and 3x Charcoal
• Tame Dung Beetles to gather fertilizer for you
• Use an in-game Toilet to collect Human Feces, and use it as fertilizer for your plants

Note that a growing plant typically requires 100 Fertilizer per minute. That means keeping a plant growing for 24 hours requires 144,000 Fertilizer.

Farm Animals

Like farming in the real world, some ARK: Survival Evolved creatures can help you cultivate crops in your base or camp. Some excellent examples are the following:

Equus

Touted as the “horse” of ARK: Survival Evolved, it has a great weight reduction bonus, allowing it to transport goods efficiently. Plus, it’s a good creature to help rescue a comrade who slipped off a cliff reaching a little too far for berries.

Parasaur

The Parasaur is an early-game dinosaur that you can tame fairly easily. It has a cowardly personality and can become noisy when it senses danger. This trait is useful to place near a farm to help you warn against predators or nosy players in a PVP setting.

Ovis

Also called the sheep of ARK, these picky eaters can become livestock for your farm. These creatures produce Wool, which you can use to craft items like the Fur Armor from the Smithy.