I have this issue with plants that are in AND out of season, covered AND uncovered - plants revert back to a dirt pile.
Sometimes this happens with no prompting - my Sim is just walking across the lot and nearly all plants revert to dirt piles. However I see the issue the most soon after I fertilize the affected plant or a different plant. It does not happen every time but it does happen often.
I have a small (less than 10 second) screen-capture video that I can share on my Dropbox that shows this actually happening if helpful.
Notes:
- Repairing the game does not fix the issue.
- If this happens after I have recently saved, I close without saving and revert back to the previous save. Even if my Sim does the exact same options, the issue doesn't always happen again to that exact plant again but it WILL happen to that plant or some other plant in the future.
- If this happens to a cowplant, resetting the cowplant will fix the issue. This does NOT fix the issue with regular plants. It will grow back on a normal schedule. You can shift-click/cheat the growth stage to maturity and harvestables will produce the next day at 5am in game time
Product: The Sims 4
Platform:PC
Which language are you playing the game in? English
How often does the bug occur? Often but sporadic
What is your current game version number? 1.72.28.1030
What expansions, game packs, and stuff packs do you have installed? All expansion packs, all game packs EXCEPT Journey to Batuu and Vampires, Stuff packs: Paranormal, Tiny Living, Laundry Day, Romantic Garden, Movie Hangout, Cool Kitchen, Perfect Patio, No kits, Free holiday celebration pack
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Get some plants - 20+ on my lot - various levels quality, wait until it's time to harvest the plants. Fertilize an unharvested plant. This sometimes produces the error. If it does not, harvest/fertilized other plants. Eventually, you will see the error. Good soil lot trait is currently applied (Not sure if this makes a difference)
What happens when the bug occurs? A single plant or many plants will change from maturity (fully grown and producing harvestables daily) back to the first stage of growth - pile of dirt.
What do you expect to see? The plant growth stage should remain unchanged.
Have you installed any customization with the game, e.g. Custom Content or Mods? Never
Did this issue appear after a specific patch or change you made to your system? Neutral/Not Sure
