Making Errors When Choosing & Harvesting Will Bring Losing In Farmville

Tens of millions of people play Farmville, the staggeringly successful farming virtual world. And one of the top three most-asked questions is, “What are the best crops to grow?” But there is no accurate answer until you define exactly what you wish to accomplish. For instance, are you interested in making the most money or do you worry about your crops dying before you can get back to your computer? And do you know that some crops aren’t available at the novice level but must be earned?

You will want to acquire as much money as possible and one of the best crops to grow is peas. As with any crop, you will have to understand your costs before you can accurately predict your profits. Your pea harvest will bring in 381 coins and your costs are, fortunately, much less. First, you must plant your crop which will cost 190 coins. Then once it is ready for harvest, you must pay 15 coins for the harvesting and plowing. This leaves a healthy profit of 176 coins per crop which is an excellent Return On Investment in this staggeringly popular game.

Farmville wants to keep its players involved so crops grow at supersonic speed – but they die in a short time, too, unless you, the farmer, pay attention. So when deciding what crops to grow it’s not just about money but it’s also about how involved you are in your game. If you are going to be off your computer or uninvolved in the game for a couple of days, it’s best to plant either nothing or a long-time growth plant like because your crops are certain to die and you will have wasted the money you invested in acquiring and planting them.

We’ve also mentioned that some crops aren’t available until you’ve reached some of the game’s higher levels. But it’s fairly easy to reach Level 5 and once you’re there a terrific crop to plant overnight is the pumpkin. Pumpkins take eight hours to come to harvest and then you have a further eight hours before they wilt. They cost 30 coins and will bring in 68 coins once harvested.

When you’re a Farmville newbie, the options you have for planting aren’t very extensive. There are currently only 13 crops available at Level1 out of the dozens and dozens of possible crops in this virtual farming world. For instance, you can plant Eggplant which pays only 48 coins – and takes TWO FULL DAYS to mature! Another example of a poor crop is Soybeans which only pay 33 coins and take one day to mature. These crops are useful only if you will be away from your computer for an extended time. If you’re a serious gamer, though, they’re terrible. You won’t reach those upper levels quickly if you take such a long time to raise any money. Contrast those with Super Berries that pay 75 coins – and mature in two hours. You can have multiple crops of those in the time it takes to grow one Eggplant or Soybean crop.

At higher levels you will have a multitude of choices. For instance, if you only play the game occasionally, a good choice might be Broccoli. You can plant it when you reach Level35 and it pays a handsome 258 coins each time you harvest it. If you’re more intense and determined, consider Clover which is available at Level70 and pays 28 coins. Why is that a good crop? Because Clover matures every four hours – meaning you can harvest approximately six crops per day or 336 points over the two days it would require to grow one crops of Broccoli. Clearly strategy and understanding your goal is critical for success as a farmer.

A sure way to lose is to be haphazard about the crops you plant. “Hmmm … Pink Hibiscus are so pretty and I just love Sweet Potatoes so I think I’ll plant those” is a recipe for failure. It’s possible to be analytical about what you plant – and also have fun. At the very least, know costs, intervals and profits of whatever crops are available at your level. Further, figuring out the profits per hour will help you to see the best place to spend your time. Treat this like a real business and the reward are sure to come.

One last way to make a horrible mistake is to forget how long you have to harvest your crop before it rots in the ground. You will lose your seed money and your planting money if you make this mistake and it’s a painful loss. If you plant White Roses and forget about them, it will cost you 15 coins for planting and 620 coins for the seed, for a loss of 635 hard-earned coins. The pain of losing that much money has driven gamers right out of Farmville. The worst part is that it didn’t have to happen because it’s an easily preventable mistake.

Farmville rock stars aren’t ‘born under a lucky star’ – they’ve learned how to play Farmville by experience and listening to advice from good players.