Hello, everyone! In this tutorial, we’ll discuss the basics of fruit trees in Stardew Valley. There are eight types of fruit trees in the game, with Bananas and Mangoes only found on Ginger Island. Versions of the game without Ginger Island won’t have these two types of fruit trees.
The Six Main Fruit Trees: Apricot, Cherry, Orange, Peach, Apple, and Pomegranate
Fruit trees can be purchased directly from Pierre’s shop or found at the Traveling Cart, sometimes at lower prices than Pierre’s. They can also be found in chests dropped in the Skull Cavern. These six types of fruit trees can be used in the Community Center’s Artisan Bundle. The Fodder Bundle requires three apples, while the Wizard Bundle requires one pomegranate. Therefore, apples and pomegranates are essential for the Community Center Bundle progression.
Luckily, these trees mature in the fall, so planting them after the mid-summer crop harvest won’t be too late and won’t cause significant financial strain. Apricots and cherries bear fruit in the spring, but since fruit trees take 28 days to mature, there is little point in planting them outdoors in the first year. Oranges and peaches mature in the summer and are not required for the Bundle, so planting them in the first year to harvest can be economically challenging and unnecessary.
Bat Cave and Fruit Trees
Even if you’ve chosen the Bat Cave option, you should still plant at least one apple tree, as getting three apples in a short time requires some luck. Waiting for the bats to bring apples might delay the Bundle progression. For other fruit trees, if you’ve chosen the Bat Cave, you don’t need to plant them. The amount needed to complete 100% progression is not much, and using the Bat Cave to obtain apricots and apples for cooking and shipping one of each fruit is no problem.
All characters in the game love fruit. Among them, oranges are Gus’s favorite, peaches are Robin’s favorite, and pomegranates are Elliott’s favorite. However, fruit quality increases over time, starting at normal quality in the first year, and increasing one level each year until reaching Iridium quality in the fourth year. Since the demand for fruit is relatively low, the only way to obtain high-quality fruit early is through the Bat Cave. As a gift, it’s better to give gold-star crops than regular-quality fruit.
Fruit Tree Growth Mechanics
While fruit trees don’t require watering, they won’t grow if there are any objects within a 3×3 area surrounding them, including flooring. Once matured, placing objects around them won’t have any impact. The edges of the map and the edges of patterns don’t affect fruit trees, meaning they can be planted along the map’s edge. Fruit trees must be at least two tiles apart to grow properly.
If a fruit tree is struck by lightning, it will turn into a black, smoking trunk and won’t produce fruit. Instead, it will produce coal for four days. If it continually produced coal, that would be great! That’s it for the basics of fruit trees in Stardew Valley. See you next time!