Gardening FAQ - PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING - Updated April 29

[Xena Dragon]

In this thread you will find answers to the most commonly asked questions related to gardening in UO.

Q: Where can I read more about the plantgrowing system?
A: You can do so here: http://uo.stratics.com/content/basics/plantgrowing.shtml

Q: Where can I read more about cross pollination and known plants?
A: You can do so here: http://uo.stratics.com/content/basics/crosspollination.shtml

Q: Where can I see all available plants in all available colors?
A: You can do so here: http://uo.stratics.com/content/basics/plantcolors.shtml

Q: Where can I find which two plants to cross to get a certain outcome?
A: You can do so here: http://uo.stratics.com/content/basics/plantcrossing.php

Q: Where can I learn more about plant resources such as red leaves, orange petals and green thorns?
A: You can do so here: http://uo.stratics.com/content/basics/plantgrowing.shtml#resources

Q: Are there more sites where I can learn more about plants?
A: Sure there are, you might want to try these for starters:
Lady Willow's "Little Garden"
Casey's Plant Hysteria
UO Craft's Gardening Troubleshooter
Tower of Roses - Gardening

Here are pictures of all current available plant types:

That makes a total of 17 plants, from left to right:

Campion Flowers (1st Gen)
Poppies (4th Gen)
Snowdrops (3rd Gen)
Bulrushes (4th Gen)
Lilies (2nd Gen) (previously known as White Flowers)
Pampas Grass (4th Gen)
Rushes (3rd Gen)
Elephant Ear Plant (4th Gen)
Fern (1st Gen)
Ponytail Palm (4th Gen)
Small Palm (3rd Gen)
Century Plant (4th Gen)
Water Plants (2nd Gen)
Snake Plant (4th Gen)
Prickly Pear Cactus (3rd Gen)
Barrel Cactus (4th Gen)
Tribarrel Cactus (1st Gen) (previously known as Cactus)





The point of the post you are about to read is to have the proper plants to make anything you (or your customer) wants in one week.
I have read some people are storing one of every single plant type and color, and that is fine if you have tons of free space in your house and you are one of those "I cant be bothered with it" types.
For the rest of us, we have limited room in our house, and want to maximize the storage to as few as possible.

Note, this was written under the assumption that there are 17 plant types (over 4 generations) and colors are limited to dull/bright plain/blue/red/yellow/purple/orange/green and white/black mutants. If that info changes, this guide is likely null and void.

<blockquote><hr>

The nine plants you will be storing are: TriBarrelCactus, PricklyPearCactus, Waterplant, SmallPalm, Fern, Rushes, Lillies, Snowdrops, Campion. (9 plants)
You store one for each of the major 6 colors [NO plain/white/black] (9plantsx6colors=54 total "fathers")
You store mothers of Cactus &amp; Campions of all 7 colors [Plain too]. (2plantsx7colors=14 "mothers" per set)
IMHO four sets of mothers is perfect. (54fathers+(4setsx14mothers)=110 total)

<hr></blockquote>

Why do you need multiple sets of mothers?
If you had one set of mothers and you used a blue cactus as a mother, you no longer have the ability to make more of any desired blue at whim. Sometimes you will have multiple orders, or multiple plants you personally would like. You should have a few mothers, and when you are down to your last of any mother, have it self-pollinate. Better yet, have the father cactus&amp;campions pollinated to the same color and type of itself and let the father grow to produce 8 seeds and don't take the seeds till you are running out of mothers.

Why do you pick four sets of mothers and not three or five?
The goal in my mind was to squeeze the entire production into one measly secure container[125 items max]! A total of 110 plants leaves you with enough room for arranging them within containers, which IMHO is necessary. If you do have a lot of space, feel free to add as many sets of mothers as youd like.

For those of you who still need more info, this guide was written assuming you know how to cross-pollinate.
An excellent quick referance is available from Willow at: http://www.celticmoon.com/plants/uogcheatsheet.html
I will not answer Q's like "How do I keep a plant in a state where it can still be pollinated to?", as that is answered in other FAQ's.
Anyhow, I will answer some other Q's you may have.

How can I make plain plants with this system?
As long as one parent is plain, it doesnt matter what the other parents color is.
Using this system, you only need plain colored mothers, and use any color to cross-pollinate it.

Do I store dull or bright versions of these plants?
You can get dull/bright children exactly the same regardless, so it does not matter whatsoever.

How do I make bright/dull of any color?
To make a bright child plant, use the same color parents.
To make a dull child, cross colors using a chart.

I know I can cross blue/red/yellow parents to make dull orange/green/purple, but how do I make dull blue/red/yellow?
1st gen seeds: blue/red/yellow
2nd gen seeds: orange/green/purple
Crossing any 1st gen color with any 2nd gen color will result in a dull 1st gen child.
[ie. Dull Blue=Shiny/Dull Blue+ any shiny/dull orange/green/purple]

Um, but how do I make [insert any plant type] here with your system?
To make anything between a fern and a cactus you use a Tri Barrel Cactus for a mother.
To make anything between a fern and a campion you use a Campion as the mother.
1.Cactus = Cactus + Cactus
2.[Single Barrel] Cacti = PricklyPear [Cactus] + [TriBarrel] Cactus.
3.Prickly = Water + Cactus.
4,Snake = Small Palm + Cactus.
5.Water = Fern + Cactus.
6.Century = Rushes + Cactus.
7.Palm = Lillies + Cactus.
8.PonyTail = Snowdrops + Cactus.
9.Fern = Campion + Cactus.
10.Ears = PricklyPear + Campion.
11.Rushes = Water + Campion.
12.Pompas = SmallPalm + Campion.
13.Lillies = Fern + Campion.
14.Balrushes = Rushes + Campion.
15.Snowdrops = Lillies + Campion.
16.Poppies = Snowdrops + Campion.
17.Campion = Campion + Campion.

Q. What is up with that little symbol in the top right of the gump?

A. <font color=red>!</font color=red> : missed last check (due to beeing in a secure container)
<font color=yellow>--</font color=yellow> : Did grow on last check but no change at serverup / since your last login
<font color=blue>+</font color=blue> : Did grow at serverup / just now (with your last login)
<font color=green>+</font color=green> : Got a double-growth-check at serverup / right now (with your last login)

 

[Piotr]

 

[Guest]

<center>

Visit the Greenhouse

Frequently Asked Questions from the Greenhouse

</center>

Q: Where can I find seeds?
A: Seeds are found as loot on Boglings and Bog Things, a new spawn of creature that is part of the Current Scenario: Britannia Under Siege. They seem to be most commonly located in swamps and in the areas under attack by Blackthorn's forces. For more details, check our Quest Summary on the current scenario.

What are Boglings and Bog Things?
Boglings and Bog Things, both classified as "Creatures of Decay", are the newest addition to the Invasion on Britannia. Check out their details:

Creatures of Decay

Boglings
[*]CAN be Provoked, but not onto a Bog Thing
[*]Fast natural healing rate
[*]Spawn in groups
[*]Loot: 1 seed &amp; a few gold

Bog Things
[*]Immune to Barding
[*]Strong Melee attack
[*]VERY fast natural healing rate
[*]Creates boglings to aid in their battles
[*]Absorb damaged Boglings that come within a few tiles, replenishing their own health.
[*]Loot: 2 seeds, 100 gold, nightshade &amp; 10 boards

Q: Does Gardening require a new skill?
A: No, Gardening is a new playstyle, but does not require a new skill. Simply patience and a bit of knowledge, the latter of which we can help with here. However, potions are an integral part of keeping your plant alive, and Alchemists will have a decided advantage in the long run, simply because they will not have to rely on others for constant creation of their potions to keep their plants healthy.

I can't find a green seed! Where are they?
Green seeds do not spawn in the initial spawn, though they will likely develop with cross-pollination as time goes on. As of release, there are red, yellow, blue, and plain seeds.

Q: When do Plants do their daily growth check?
A: Plants can do their daily growth check :

1) If they are locked down in a house (and not in a container)
2) If they are in a container, and if - and only if - that container is inside a player (so a player's backpack or their bank vault).

A caveat of this is that if the container is inside a player, the plant will only do its daily growth check if the player logs in that day.

Q: If I have been logged out for a week, will my plant grow 7 days worth when I log back in for the first time?
A: If a plant inside a player has been "logged out" for a day or more, it will still grow 1 day when the player logs back in with it. But it will only grow a maximum of 1 day, no matter how long its been logged out. So yes, you could theoretically log out with your plants in your pack to avoid losing them if you cannot log in for many days.

Q: Do plants grow once per RL day, or UO Day?
A: Plants grow based off of real-time days, not UO days.

Q: How does the growth timer work?
A: The "growth check" cycle on a plant sitting out in the world (say, locked down in a house) is performed when objects are loaded after server maintenance (a 24 hour timer is also checked, to make sure that plants don't grow an extra step if the server goes down unexpectedly). For plants inside player backpacks and banks, this "growth check" is performed when the player logs in (the 24 hour timer is still checked, as above). The 24 hour timer is in "real time", not "uo time".

I still don't understand plant growth. Help!
Here's the best way to think about plant growth:

Once your plant has grown its first stage (the "free day" where the 24 hour timer is ignored), if it's already grown within the last 24 hours, don't expect it to grow again until the plant is "loaded" sometime after 24 hours *have* passed. Plants can be "loaded" by server maintenance, or logging in with one in your pack. If they're "loaded" but 24 hours have *not* passed, you'll have to wait until they're "loaded" again and 24 hours *have* passed.

One note : when I use the word "grow", I actually mean "do a growth check". This implies that the plant *tries* to grow. If the plant is not healthy or vibrant, it will try to grow, but will fail, but that still counts as your "day's worth of growing". There's also an intentional (read : not a bug!) way that you can accelerate your plant's growth, but I'm not spilling the beans on that one! Part of the discovery process! ^_^

Final note : If you ever think that you have a plant locked down that should have grown but didn't, go ahead and try putting it in your pack, logging out, and logging back in. This fires the "loaded" trigger immediately on login, and will be a perfect test to see if your plant is ready to grow but was waiting for the load trigger.

Q: Why aren't seeds stackable?
A: Each seed has a variety of information stored on it that makes it different from other seeds. So, even if you had 18 red seeds, they might actually be completely different Types of seeds (that is, they produce different red plants). Since stacks of items aren't great at storing multiple pieces of information about the singular items within them, seeds will not be stackable.

Q: Can you lock down plants?
A: Plants are normal items in terms of lockdowns. You carry around a bowl, say, then drop it on the ground. Then target it for lockdown with the standard "I wish to lock this down." You can lock down a plant anywhere you can lock down anything else. It's important to remember that since plant bowls (which can be walked through) have the ability to grow into certain plants which cannot be walked through (say, a cactus), that you won't be able to lock them down near stairs or a door, just like any other blocking object.

Q: Can others water my plants if they are locked down?
A: If a plant is locked down, only the person that locked it down can interract with it in any way.

Q: Do plants block movement?
A: Partially grown plants (those still in their bowl, not yet "fully grown") will not block movement. Fully grown plants will block movement, based upon the type of plant they are. That is, we have not changed the properties of the art for any of the plants, so if they block movement in the game map, they'll block movement when grown through the plant system.

Q: If I don't own a house, how can I grow plants?
A: You can grow plants in your backpack or in your bankbox.

Q: How many plants can be grown in your bankbox and backpack?
A: You have 250 item slots you can "log out with", since you can fill your backpack with 125 and your bank with 125.

Will Plants grow in a sub-pack of my backpack or bankbox?
Yes, but be wary of thieves.

Q: How do you apply potions to plants?
A: You pour potions on the plant the same way you would water it. You use the water pitcher icon and target the potion that you would like to pour on your plant.

Can I user lesser potions on plants?
A: No, only greater potions can be used on plants. The various levels of Poison are still untested.

Can I pump my plant up with potions to make it stronger?
You can never apply more than 2 of a particular potion type to a plant per growth cycle. (If you try, you get the message "The plant is already soaked with this type of potion!") All potions are "used up" by the plant when it hits its growth cycle check, however. So when it tries to grow, it applies all potions that have been poured on it. After that, you could add 2 more for the next growth cycle. Additionally, you can never increase a plant's HP beyond its max. (MaxHP for a plant is a base # multiplied by the plant's current growth level - so plants get hardier over time)

Q: What are these resources that some plants will create?
A: At the moment, only two have been identified. A red leaf which can be used to seal the ink into a book, and a yellow flower which can be used for poison resistance. More are expected to be discovered as the system devlops.

Q: Will the resources produced by plants be stackable?
A: The resource types from plants are all stackable (as each different type does not need any special qualities that would differentiate it from others in a stack), and the plan is definitely to make all new plant resources stackable as well.

Q: Does using Fertile Dirt to fill our plant bowls give any added benefit?
A: According to first reports, yes. It seems Fertile Dirt greatly accelerates the growth phases of plants. It does, however, require ~ 40 Fertile Dirt to fill a bowl, and reports are still sketchy. Use at your own risk.

Q: I just planted my seed, logged out and back in, and its already growing! What's wrong?
A: There is an issue currently with the interaction of a plant's first day of growth in certain situations that will get you a quick "free day" of growth. This will only be possible once in a plant's lifetime (the very first day it can grow can essentially be skipped). Suffice it to say, this "free first day" is a bug, and will hopefully be fixed in some manner during this Scenario.

Q: This whole process confuses me. Where can I go to learn how to get started?
A: UOLS has provided a Quick and Dirty Tutorial, and a The Green Thumb - Gardening in Detail section. We suggest you read both, though the quick and dirty should explain just about everything.

Q: I don't get all these symbols... what do I need to do to keep my plant healthy?
A: We reccommend a simple system.
[*]Dont water your plant unless it has a - sign on water.
[*]A yellow - or + means use ONE of the applicable type of potion.
[*]A red - or + means use TWO of the applicable type of potion.

Q: I still don't understand how to keep my plant healthy... can you explain more?
A: Basically you will have to use a greater health (yellow) potion to aid your plant. However, first you must make sure that you remove the problem that caused the damage!

[*]If it is under watered (yellow or red minus sign next to water pitcher icon) add just add water till sign goes away. Then add one health potion to restore plant to its health.
[*]If the plant is over watered (yellow or red plus sign next to water pitcher icon) the situation is more serious as there is no way to remove excess water. If this is just a one-day-old sampling than you may want to remove the seed from the pot and start over. Otherwise, add two greater health potions and hope that the plant will survive next growth check.
[*]If plant is diseased or poisoned add two health potions. One potion will allow plant to recover from the malady and other will restore its health.
[*]If plant is infested by insects (yellow or red plus sign next to a bug icon) then add greater poison (green) potions: one if the sign is yellow and two when it is red. Finally, add a greater health potion.
[*]If plant is infected by fungi (yellow or red plus sign next to a mushroom icon) then add greater cure (orange) potion: one if the sign is yellow and two when it is red. Finally, add a greater health potion.
[*]Finally, if none of the problem causing conditions is present, you probably over watered your plant, however, plant absorbed water and everything is fine now. Just add a greater health potion and your plant will be vibrant again tomorrow.

Q: Does giving a plant a cure and a poison at the same time cancel each outher out?
A: The poison and cure potions do not cancel each other out. The metabolism of a plant is much different to the metabolism of humans. We have successfully cured both insects and fungus at once using poison and cure potions at once.

Q: I used the right potions on my plant for an infestation, but its still there. What happened?
A: Look to see if any damage has been done to your plant. If it has not, then you succesfully healed the first infestation, and then caught a NEW infestation. The chances are fairly low for this, but possible.

Q: Will my plants stop attracting insects and fungi as they get older?
A: Current Statistics show that plants will always have a chance to become sick, but their increased HPs gives them a much better chance at surviving.

Q: Will using two strength potions keep my plants healthy?
A: Double measure of strength potions will protect your plant against fungal infection, and possibly even prevent infestation by insects, but more study is required for a definitive answer. Note that this will increase your TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) significantly, and early studies have shown that it is cheaper to just use potions to cure those maladies then to invest in continual preventive measures via strength potions.

Q: So how does Fertile Dirt work?
A: Augur posted the following observations regarding the mystery grow agent, which we at the Greenhouse 99.9% believe is Fertile Dirt:
[*]Has charges (so there is a maximum # of extra days you can get from it)
[*]Has a % chance to work each time your plant grows (so you won't *always* get an extra day of growth for each regular day of growth - and may not actually get to use *any* of the "charges" through your plant's lifetime, if you're very unlucky)
[*]Ignores the Health Check part of plant growth. This means, if you get an extra day's worth of growth through the bonus method, it does not do a Health Check for the plant (so you won't get multiple days of infestation or fungus, you'll just get 1 check for the day's regular growth)
[*]Only 1 extra day of growth can be gained for each regular day of growth. (So you won't get multiple "charges" being used in one day. It's a maximum of 1 bonus growth per regular growth)

Q: How do I know what stage my plant is in?
A: Plants have a different visual graphic for most stage's of growth. Check out the images below:

<center>

From Stage 6 on all plants appear as their adult plant graphic:

This is all we have seen, of yet... though new strains are bound to appear.</center>

Q: I have my plant locked down in a container and it will not grow! What is wrong?
A: Since the plant is in a container that is not inside a player, it will not grow. If a plant is in a container, that container must be inside a player for the plant to grow (so only inside a player's backpack or bank box).
Each time the plant gets its Growth Check in a container not inside a player, it just says "Oops! I'm not in a growable spot!" and resets its plant timer to the current time.

Q: What happens when a plant reaches it's maximum growth level?
A: Once a plant has reached maximum growth level (which is "day 9" for the plant), it pollinates itself automatically (if it hasn't already been pollinated through cross-pollination). Self-pollination means the plant will produce seeds *exactly* like itself. Each day of growth after a plant has reached Maximum level, it will (instead of growing) produce 1 seed (and 1 resource, if it's a resource producing plant).

Q: How do I collect pollen from a plant?
A: Although there is no actual "pollen" item ingame, you may cross pollinate your plants by making your selection in the menu, and targeting another plant. Plants can only cross pollinate another plant once, and that plant is always producing that seed. However, a plant which has cross pollinated another, can be cross pollinated to.

i.e. You have plants a, b and c

Pollinate b with a
and c with b
it is possible to pollinate a with c

Q: How many resources or seeds can a plant produce?
A: A plant can produce a maximum of 8 seeds and 8 resources during its entire lifetime. So this means you'll get a maximum of 8 seeds from a single plant. The # of seeds is capped to encourge people to continue growing plants to get more seeds. It works out (based off of 1 seed per day), that you can have another plant close to seed production stage by the time you've gathered all the seeds from the parent plant.

Q: When I can turn my plant into a decoration?
A: Decorative Mode can be activated any time after the plant has reached Maximum Growth ("9 days" of plant growth, which is "2 days" after the plant has turned from a bowl into the unique plant art for the plant type). Once you get the Decorative Mode button (it appears in the top-right corner of the Reproduction menu), you can click it and then click the Confirm button on it to set the plant to decorative mode. Setting a plant to decorative mode makes it just a piece of art - it doesn't grow, doesn't need watering, doesn't produce resources or seeds : you can't even open the Plant Menu by double clicking it any more. You can choose to set the plant to Decorative mode at any time after the plant has reached Maximum Growth - meaning you can set it Decorative right when the button first appears, or you can wait for the plant to produce all its seeds, or half its seeds, or whatever.

Q: Does a plant automatically set iself to Decorative Mode when it has produced all the seeds/resources possible?
A: The plant does not set itself to Decorative Mode automatically once all seeds/resources are produced, simply because the plant can "store" seeds/resources that it has produced, waiting for you to gather them. So you could have the plant produce 3 seeds, then gather all 3, then wait for it to produce the last 5, and let those 5 sit on the plant for weeks, then gather them when you're ready and finally set the plant to decorative mode.

Q: How do I know when my plant is done producing seeds/resources?
A: You'll know the plant is done producing seeds when the # is at 8 seeds, or you've gathered them all and there is an X instead of of 0 for # of seeds. An X means that the plant has had all its seeds gathered, and can produce no more.

Q: How do I know what sort of seeds I am buying?
A: There was alot of discussion put into this when the Plant System was being written up. The decision rested on the "mystery" part of not knowing what type of plant a seed would produce being, at least initially, considered an important part of the discovery process of the plant growth system. This was balanced by the concept that players would ideally trade fully grown plants instead of trading seeds - though we knew that some people would want to trade seeds to work on cross-pollinization. In the end, we went with the "mystery" aspect instead of allowing Item ID or something similar allow for identification of type. We're still reconsidering this decision for the future (when the plant system will be fully discovered and fleshed out by players) - but there are pros and cons to each decision. For now, I'd use the book-labeling method for yourself and to sell with. As a potential buyer, I'd stick with people I know, or buy fully grown plants.

Q: My plant has already taken visible shape, is it done growing?
A: Maximum Growth is 2 days worth of growth after Fully Grown (which is when the plant changes to the plant graphic instead of being in a bowl).

Maximum Growth also happens to be the time when :
[*]The plant self-pollinates if it already hasn't been cross-pollinated
[*]Any days of growth beyond Maximum growth will produce seeds/resources instead of growing the plant any more

Q: I do not understand how backpack gardening "loads" items. Help!
A: The trigger that "loads" objects in your pack when you log in is actually based off of whether your character has been backed up, or is still cached on the shard and waiting for back up. This back up process is completely different from the message/situation where you can't log in another character because your other character is still logged in (which can be bypassed by insta-logging). So in order to make sure your plants are getting "loaded", you'll need to log out and wait for a while before logging back in. Average time is hard to say, but probably 30 or so minutes should be good. You could get lucky and the backup process could be coming around and hit your character and save him in 5 minutes, but it could take longer, so it's best to wait a good amount of time before trying the "log out, log back in" loading trick.

Q: Can I put 125 plants in a secure containter and expect them to grow?
A: No, plants will not grow in a container, even if locked down in your house. They must be locked down individually, or in your backpack/bankbox.

Q: Do Full Grown plants retain their pots?
A: Pots will dissappear when the plant reaches "fully grown" stage. The reason for this is that you cannot connect two objects into one object in the game code. So you'd have a pot and a plant, and moving the plant would leave the pot behind, and vice versa. Another case is that you'd also have to make a new object and lock it down when a plant grew to full while locked down. Lots of little reasons not to do it - especially the fact that just having the plant allows players to decorate exactly how they want. If they want a "forest" look, they could possibly lay down some green cloth and have plants on it. If they want a potted plant look, they could stack the plant on a bowl. My opinion was that the easier it is for someone to take a base decoration and make different decorations out of it, the better.

Q: Where do I get water?
A: From a water trough (player craftable), water tile (special wave tile in an ocean or lake, which can be clicked on), or a barkeep (a type of NPC vendor which can be placed in a house by the owner).

Q: My plants keep reverting to empty plant bowls! What is going on?
A: Your plants are dying. You have either overwatered them or allowed them be killed by a disease, fungus, or insect infestation.

<center>

Credit goes to Augur of the Ongoing Content team at OSI for taking the time to answer most of these questions on the UO.com Boards, and to Red Rock Dragon, Vagabond. Dad, and Malabu for their valuable input.</center>

 

[Lady_Magica]

I can't get any mutant plants! Is there any way to make sure I get a mutant?

My suggestion is just to pollinate and pollinate and pollinate again. Typical results we've seen are about a 1% mutation rate.


There has been a way proposed to recieve a greater proportion of mutants. Acknowledgements to Fayetora for this method.

Note: <font color=red> This has not been validated by OSI. May potentially have no effect at all</font color=red>

About fungus &amp; insects, I did many many testing.
And seems I have been successful with raising probability of mutation.
(or maybe its just pure luck......)

Ok so here goes,
1) Do your normal routine till stage 6
2) When your pots bloom, look for plant with a) just insects, b) just disease and c) insect &amp; disease, and separate them from other plant.

3) These will be your father plant.
4) Pick one and cross it with others. *Important* you only need one stud.
save other father plants for later use.(keep them in secure box and make sure they stay red(!).)

5) Cross at least 60-100. and if you get mutation keep it.
6) After so many cross, and if no mutation, try another stud.
7) Repeat crossing

.....if you can find 'The One', it will produce more chance for mutation.
With my experience, 'just fungi' father plant seems produce more mutation than 'just insect'. I do not have enough data for 'fugi &amp; insect' yet.

In last 10 days my mutation rate was 41/350 (11.7%) 25 black, 16 white.

My next bloom started today, and was 2/35 (5.7%) 1 of each color.


....seems working..... but again I might be just lucky.




I'm getting RSI from having to mass-stack all these resources, is there any relief from this pain?

Credit to Magister for this discovery:

Hello all-

I harvest around 100 thorns a day and, like many of you, I developed carpal tunnel syndrome and a cranky disposition from all of the manual stacking.

Then I discovered this morning that UOAssist's "Organize Bag" agent will do it for me!

If this has been posted before, just flay me. If you didn't know about it, use it! Just identify the bag you want the thorns or whatever to go into, select thorns as the item type you want to organize, and run the agent. Presto.

And, as an aside, I LOVE the fact that plants grow while in bags. Makes it much easier to care for hundreds of them at a time. Simply divide your plants into bags, and utilize the "Use once" agent in UOAssist. Pop the bags in and out of the bank and your beetle. You *DO* have a beetle full of plants, right? You can organize by type, color, age or smell to your heart's content. I do hundreds of plants in about 45 minutes, on 3 different characters. If you need help figuring it out, or if you're a skeptic, ICQ me for a demonstration.

And they don't take up a single precious lockdown in my tiny trammel small tower! Brilliant! May this become a feature!

Please no flames about not wanting to pay $15 for a UOAssist license. If that is your position, I support your right to free choice! For my part, it was totally worth it. Please respect my opinion as well; it's not as if I get a commission from UOA sales...

 

[Guest]

<font color=red>Bonsai Trees:</font color=red>

Q. Where do bonsai plants come from?
A. Bonsai plants are grown from bonsai seeds which are available off a variety of monsters in the new islands of the Samarai Empire expansion.

Q. Do I have to upgrade to SE to grow bonsai seeds?
A. No you do not, however you do have to upgrade to go to the new islands to get the bonsai seeds. Otherwise you will need to buy seeds from vendors or have friends get them for you.

Q. Which is the best monster to get seeds from and where should I go for them?
A. General consensus is that Deathwatch Beetles are the easiest way to get bonsai seeds. These monsters are located in the desert north of Zento (on Makoto-Jima) named "The Waste". The Waste is home to Deathwatch Beetles, Deathwatch Beetle Hatchlings, orcs, and undead creatures. The orc camps are small and the undead creatures are in the western half of The Waste (and can be avoided if needed). Hatchlings do not carry seeds ever. Deathwatch Beetles carry seeds roughly 1/3 to 1/2 the time. All 5 seed types are available from the Beetles although Exceptional and Exotic are much harder to get.

It has also been theorized that different monsters on the islands have a tendancy to carry different seeds more often (or exclusively) to other types. For example, Rune Beetles seem to exclusively carry exotic seeds.

Q. So what are the seed types and how many different plants are there?
A. There are five seed types that we believe are in this order of rarity:
Common
Uncommon
Rare
Exceptional
Exotic

There are 8 different bonsai plant graphics and research has shown that they split up as follows, 2 are Common (1 green and 1 pink plant), 2 are Uncommon (1 green and 1 pink plant), 2 are Rare (1 green and one pink plant), 1 is Exceptional (a peach plant), and 1 is Exotic (a white plant), as can be seen in the following chart:

Q. Is there any difference in growing bonsai than any normal plant?
A. No, no difference at all. Bonsai plants have a 9 day growth cycle and pop on day 7 exactly as any normal plant. At day 9 they can be set to decorative mode. *please note that when you set your plant to decorative mode, it will lose it's title and read as "A Decorative Plant".

Q. Can bonsai be cross-pollinated or do they produce any resources?
A. No, bonsai behave in the exact same manner as mutant and rare plants do. You can not collect pollen, resources, or seeds from them.

Q. Do bonsai trees block character movement?
A. Yes, they do both as live plants (day 7 or later) and as decorative plants, they will block movement.

this faq is made with the most current information available to us as of this posting - if the need warrants, the faq will be updated
The information gathered in this faq is courtesy of all the posters of the Gardening Forum who worked hard to share this information with everyone to figure out the secrets of the bonsai trees. *smiles*
A special thanks to Armageddon for putting together the bonsai picture.