Each mushroom grows better in a specific substrate. It grows adequately in one of the low level substrates (Dirt, Bone or Meat), and very well in one of the high level substrates (Organs, Limbs or Exotic).
Some substrates can be produced from any item with a certain keyword:
Some higher level mushroom boxes require multiple doses of substrate, instead of just one.
Moon Phases
Mushrooms also grow robustly if harvested during two (specific to the mushroom) out of the eight moon phases, and poorly in two others. Moon phase in game matches real life, based on GMT time zone. The current moon phase can be checked with the Moon Phase Check Lore recipe.
Mushroom Boxes
Mushroom boxes are made with Carpentry and Mushroom Farming recipes.
Lucky boxes have a 33% chance for harvesting a second type of mushroom and can last once, 12 hours or 24 hours.
Practice boxes have a slower grow time, but yield more XP per mushroom.
Fast boxes grow mushrooms 20% faster than normal, but have a -50% XP penalty per mushroom.
Box Duration and Clearing Boxes
Some mushroom boxes have a duration (other boxes typically grow only a single crop). For these boxes, the player will be able to start a new cycle as long as there is any time left on the box. If this new cycle uses up the remaining time on the box, the in-game interface will inform you that this will be the last crop this box will be fit to grow.
At any time, the player may opt to clean out a mushroom box. For a box with duration remaining, a new crop may then be started, requiring a new starter mushroom, and a new dose of substrate (or multiple doses, depending on box type).
Number of Boxes
A number of boxes can be placed simultaneously, depending on Mushroom Farming level:
The table below summarizes the best substrates, appropriate moon phases and normal growing time for all mushrooms. Mycology requirement is the level required to seed a box; attempting to seed a box with an unharvestable mushroom variety yields a warning in the user interface: "Error: Picking a <Fly Amanita> requires Mycology <77>, and your skill is only <64>. You wouldn't be able to pick the mushrooms you grew!"
Or click the thumbnail to the right for a chart of the moon phases.
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Having already checked that it is the Full Moon (and consulted an online reference so I know it will still be the Full Moon at harvest time when it counts), I plan to grow
, so I pull a stack of that out of storage, along with a couple of Fly Amanitas to get the boxes started.
I choose a location a little out of the way near a wall, where I will remember where my boxes are. I deploy both boxes, adding one mushroom to each, along with the two doses of substrate the interface informs me each box requires. I can now see that the boxes have 48 hours remaining and that this crop will be done in 22.5 hours (the 15 hour base * 150% because High Yield Boxes have 50% slower growth).
I make a note of the time window. I need to come back after 22.5 hours so the crop will be ready, but ideally with another 22.5 hours still "on the clock". From the 48 hour total, this gives me 28 - 2 * 22.5 = a 3 hour window. If I make it back in time, i'll be able to grow a second crop, and then a third if I again harvest that second crop before the 48 hours has expired. If I harvest the first crop after 25.5 hours, there will be less than 22.5 hours left, and I will only be able to produce one more crop of Fly Amanita with these boxes.
Mushroom Farming was actually one of the first skills planned for the game, at Skill ID #7.
There is a bug upon first learning the skill. Two recipes, Mushroom Box and Mushroom Substrate: Dirt, are supposed to be added to the player's arsenal. But Mushroom Substrate: Dirt recipe is not added (in many players' experiences). After quitting and restarting the game, the recipe appears normally.
