Botany

Botany

As a botanist, it is your job to grow enough food to stop the chef from seeking "alternative sources". Grow lots of wheat, and when you get tired of that, grow weed. Make weed smoothies and spike drinks with nettles. Just keep growing plants, and you'll do great!

Starting your shift

First identify the machines around you that you will be using. Coordinate with the Chef to see if they want anything specific to be grown, otherwise grow wheat and bananas and whatever else you feel like growing. You may also grow plants for Chemistry (Medbay), the Bartender, or to sell by Cargo.

Tools

There are many tools that can be used to keep your crops healthy and growing. The Hydroponics Tray is where you will spend most of your time as a botanist.

Hydroponics Tray

Stats · 2 row(s)

damage container	Inorganic
soil capacity	200u

It's a hydroponics tray, it grows plants with water. First fill the tray with water, then add seeds. Hydroponics tray lights indicate different things depending on color and position:

• Red Light, Left: Dead plant that needs re-planting. Use a spade to remove the plant.
• Flashing Orange Light, Center: The environment is sub-optimal. Check what is affecting the plant by Shift Clicking on it. It is likely weeds but it could be undesirable pressure or lack of oxygen. If weeds, use a mini hoe or spray 1 time with weed spray. Be warned, however, that overuse of weed killers can lead to unhealthy plants, possibly killing them.
• Blue Light, Right: Needs water. Use bucket on the water tank and fill the tray.
• Green Light, Left: Ready for harvest. Left click to harvest.
• Yellow Light, Right: Needs nutrients. Use any fruit and put it into the soil or get EZ nutrients from chemistry.

The lifecycle of a hydroponics tray is the following:

• Empty: no water, seed or nutrients
• Hydrated: you've added water to it (e.g. from a bottle or bucket).
• Ready for planting: you've added water and nutrients to it (i.e. fertilizer).
• Planted: you've added a seed to it
• Ready for Harvest: you've waited for the plant to grow
• Sampled: you've taken a sample (seed)
• Harvested: you've picked ready plants. Some plants will then grow again. Others will die and need replanting.
• Unhealthy: You've sampled too many seeds or sprayed it with deadly chemicals. The plant isn't coping too well. It'll continue to grow. Health can be restored by fertilizers or you can cut your losses and extract a seed (plant clippers) and replant.
• Old / Wilted: the plant has matured and will soon die. It will still be harvestable and you can extract seeds but only for a short duration. Extract the seed and then pluck it out / chop it down.
• Dead: the plant has been harvested and ceased growing. It should be plucked out / chopped down. No seeds can be extracted.

Seed Extractor

It extracts seeds. Insert crop, receive seeds.

Plant Genetics

Like all other forms of life known to NanoTrasen, plants pass traits to offspring in their genes. By manipulating plant genetics, botanists can produce plant varieties with desirable mutations that increase plant health and yield.

Traits

The phenotype, or set of observable characteristics and traits of a plant, can be determined through careful observation and study. A few common traits include:

• Bioluminescence: plants with this trait glow in the dark
• High yield: plants with this trait yield more fruit per harvest
• Less water: plants with this trait require less water than normal to grow
• Ligneous: plants with this trait require sharp tools to harvest
• Long life: plants with this trait live for more harvest cycles before dying
• Low light: plants with this trait need less light than normal to grow
• Pest resistance: plants with this trait are more resistant to pests
• Seedless: plants with this trait do not produce viable seeds
• Weed resistance: plants with this trait suppress weed growth

You can determine the phenotype of a plant simply by growing them and observing them! This is how Gregor Mendel, father of genetics, studied them in 1866.

Mutations

Plants treated with unstable mutagen will experience random genetic mutations, which can alter their genes and result in changes to their traits. You can save the plants with mutations you want by harvesting their seeds.

The more unstable mutagen you use, the more mutations you will get. Since many genes are vital to a plant's survival, most mutations will cause a plant to die.

Stats · 2 row(s)

damage container	Inorganic
drink capacity	30u

Cross-Pollination

You can use a sterile swab to transfer pollen from one plant to another. Plants that are cross-pollinated have a chance to transfer traits. Be careful re-using swabs; pollen is sticky!

Chemicals

Some chemicals have special effects on plants.

Click here to see all botanical chemicals.