Once withered, Corn cannot be harvested anymore, and must instead be cultivated or plowed to make room for a new crop.
You may harvest Corn during any of these ripe stages - the yield does not change beyond the first ripeness stage.Īt the 7th, final stage, Corn will wither - assuming the option of withering crops is enabled (otherwise it will remain ripe forever).
Once ripe, the Corn will go through two extra stages of ripeness (taking another 10 hours or so at "Fast" speed). Growth times are not exact, but on the "Fast" growth speed setting it will take about 21-22 hours of in-game time for the entire field to ripen. It requires 4 growth cycles to become ready for harvest, at which point it will turn visibly yellow. This translates to roughly $240 worth of seeds per hectare.Ĭorn grows at the same rate as most other crops. A Hired Worker can work even with an empty machine, but at a much higher price than normal.Ībout 400 liters of seeds are required to plant one hectare of Corn. You may not sow manually with an empty Sowing Machine. This can be done by pulling the machine to the Seed Pallets at your farm, and hitting the Refill button. Remember that the Sowing Machine must be filled with seeds before it can be put to work. Note that none of these three Sowing Machines are capable of cultivating the field as they sow, meaning that all Corn planting work must including a separate pass with a Cultivator or Plow prior to sowing. The three Sowing Machines also differ from one another in what other crops they can sow, with the Vitasem 302 capable of sowing most types of crops, but the Tempo F8 and Maestro 12 SW capable only of sowing Corn and Sugar Beet. The primary difference between these machines (other than their price) is their working width - the larger the Sower, the faster it will finish working the entire field. There are 3 such devices available in the base game: The Pottinger Vitasem 302 ADD (the player will have one of these at game-start), the Vaderstad Tempo F8, and the Horsch Maestro 12 SW. The wider the Cultivator/Plow, the faster the work will go.Īny piece of cultivated soil can then be worked with a Sowing Machine that is capable of planting Corn. Any Cultivator or Plow is suitable for this task. This is a necessary step even if the field was previously used for Corn. The process of sowing Corn begins with cultivation of the field, to remove the remains of whatever crop grew there previously. That Silage, however, is extremely valuable, making Chaffed Corn the most valuable type of crop. It is instead dumped into Fermentation Bunkers at either the Biogas Plant or the Cow Pasture, and then processed into Silage. Corn is normally the least lucrative type of crop, fetching less than 70% the price of an equal amount of Wheat, per hectare.Ĭhaffed Corn can also be stored in Tippers, but cannot be sold directly. It can be sold in a variety of locations on each map, for a variable price that depends on current market forces. Harvested Corn can be stored in Tipper Trailers or offloaded into the Silo at the farm. The resulting Chaff is then used in the production of Silage - a very valuable material that can be sold directly or used in Cow feed.Īs with all other crops, a Corn field can be Fertilized in order to double its yield. This type of Harvester shreds the entire Corn, and must continuously dump it into an external holding tank (a Tipper). This is done with a completely different device to the normal Harvesters, called a Chaffing Harvester. Unlike other crops, Corn is particularly suitable for Chaffing. Most Corn Headers are narrower than other kinds of headers, meaning that the Corn Harvest usually takes a little longer. Each Harvester in the game has a Corn Header available for it, with varying widths. Harvest must be done with a special Corn Header, as there are no headers that can harvest both Corn and other kinds of crops. There is no Corn Sowing Machine that can cultivate while sowing, so it is always necessary to cultivate the field separately first.Īfter four growing phases (about 21 hours of in-game time, at the "Fast" growing speed setting), Corn is ready to harvest. As with all other crops, Corn can only be sowed on a field that has been prepared by a Cultivator or Plow. Though the most basic one (which is already available on starting a new game) can plant all sorts of crops, including corn, more advanced Sowing Machines cannot plant the principle crops - only Corn and Sugar Beet. Corn is a special type of crop, that is not normally planted for regular harvesting purposes, but rather for the production of massive quantities of Chaff.Ĭorn can only be planted, grown and harvested using specialty equipment, most of which is not available immediately at game-start - particularly unique Harvesting Headers, different from those used to harvest the principle crops (Wheat, Barley and Canola).Ĭorn is planted using specialized Sowing Machines.