Beginner Guide
Farming in Rust can look like a spreadsheet simulator. We are here to simplify it. Here is everything you need to know to get your first crop.
What Do You Need to Start?
You literally only need three things to start farming:
- A Planter Box: Large is better than Small. Put it on the ground or on foundations.
- Water: You can use a water jug filled from a river to splash the planter box.
- Seeds: Gather Hemp from the forest or pick Pumpkins near a river to get seeds.
Plant the seed in the wet planter box. Wait an hour. Boom, you are a farmer.
Why Do People Care About Genetics?
If you look at the plant you just grew by holding E to inspect it, you will see 6 letters. These are its Genes.
Genes are randomly rolled when you plant a wild seed.
- Green letters (G, Y, H) are good. They make the plant grow faster or yield more.
- Red letters (W, X) are bad. They make the plant drink all your water or literally do nothing.
If you are just growing a few pumpkins to eat, ignore genetics completely. If you want to fill a box with medical syringes every day, you need good genetics.
How Do I Get Good Genetics?
You can’t just find a perfect seed. You have to “Crossbreed” them.
- Plant a bunch of seeds.
- When they grow, look at their genes.
- If one looks pretty good (mostly green letters), select the Clone option instead of harvesting it. This gives you a physical “Clone” item.
- Do this until you have a box full of clones with different green letters.
- Use our Calculator! Put your clones into the calculator on this site. It will tell you exactly how to plant them in a cross-shape so they combine their best green letters into one super-plant.
The One Golden Rule for Beginners
If you are overwhelmed by all the math, tie percentages, and center-weights, just remember this one rule:
A plant with 0 red letters is always a massive success.
If you managed to breed a plant that has YYGHGY, you won. It doesn’t matter if the ultimate “God Clone” is GGGYYY. Your plant has zero W and zero X genes. It will grow fast, consume very little water, and give you loads of cloth.
Save a clone of that plant, put it in a box, and use it to plant your entire farm forever. You just beat Rust farming!