The June 19th patch made changes to the gardening system. There are now only five stages to evolving plants from normal to perfect. And if you have the Seasons EP some plants will grow during certain seasons and be dormant during others. Sounds good ... right? Except, like me, many players are finding it difficult to get plants to evolve in a timely manner. There are also changes in the splicing system. I am sharing some of my research in this thread and welcome any feedback of your own experiences.Edit: Please be kind when posting. Information I have found helpfulCarl's The Sims Guides on YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0IIEZuaOermmnQCzudUo-g

Quality of plants not/very slowly progressing/ No evolve(Not evolving)Quote from SimGuruNick"I'm not sure this is necessarily a bug, I think it might just be part of the new gardening design. Evolutions have slowed down, as it's now an end-game long-term goal. The Evolve commodity starts at around 50, and evolution is available at 100. Fertilize gives a solid amount of evolve commodity, depending on the quality of fertilizer but it's around 8. So you need to fertilize a plant about 7 times before it's ready to evolve. There are other factors that can affect the evolution rate as well, such as sheltering the plant. Sheltered plants have the benefit of being protected from the seasons but the evolution rate is much slower. Bluebells, for example, evolve 4x slower when sheltered than when not."I will look into filing an issue regarding the Lessons not explaining all of this thoroughly enough. But if, after reading all of this, you believe that your game is still bugged and your plants just aren't evolving period, I would appreciate a save file to help us investigate."

Splicing doesn't produce new harvestable Quote from SumGuruNick "Splicing can produce a new harvestable, but there's supposed to be a lower chance that it does this. This is by design. For example, grafting a rose to a grape for bonsai buds will have the plant produce roses OR grapes OR bonsai buds, with the bonsai buds having the lowest chance. So if you're not seeing the new harvestable, I think it might just be a case of bad luck""EuphorialQueen" wrote:My issue with this change is it also lowers the change of getting other things that depend on having one of the spliced harvestables.---Bird of Paradise = Chrysanthemum + TulipBonsai Buds = Daisy + StrawberryBonsai Buds = Grapes + RoseCowplant Berry = Snapdragon + DragonfruitDeath Flower = Orchid + PomegranateDragonfruit = Strawberry + SnapdragonfGrapes = Bluebells + StrawberryOrchid = Lily + SnapdragonParsley = Basil + SagePlantain = Lemon * PearPomegranate = Apple + Cherry---I like the five step evolution idea in the upgraded gardening system but thought it was supposed to make things easier.Not happening and leads to frustration. @EuphorialQueen Rare seed packets, available in Build/Buy, were added to help with this."EuphorialQueen" wrote:I understand the intent of the rare packets. https://ea.i.lithium.com/html/images/emoticons/ea_heart.png I am grateful they are available. Getting ONE Bonsai Bud /maybe/ for 250 simoleons or worse paying 1000 simoleons for two magic beans .. ?I love this game and I am not going anywhere. I just don't want it to be impossible to complete certain goals within the limits set by the game.

@Rawla You are welcome. Taking so long to evolve is my biggest concern as well. I rarely if ever play on Long unless it is required for a challenge. After the patch I was testing the new garden system. My poor gardener could not complete step two of the Freelance Botanist aspiration because nothing was evolving. After installing Seasons I put him in the Gardener career. Some of the work-at-home tasks could not be completed because he needed to evolve a plant and it was not happening.

The new garden system is now impossible to get the grafted plants to work properly you get the 2 types like the Lilly and the Snapdragon but impossible to get the Orchid to help craft the death flower from level 6 grafting now level 9 and still no Orchid same with the cow plant grafting it says rare not impossible

"Sentinel1969;c-16576044" wrote:The new garden system is now impossible to get the grafted plants to work properly you get the 2 types like the Lilly and the Snapdragon but impossible to get the Orchid to help craft the death flower from level 6 grafting now level 9 and still no Orchid same with the cow plant grafting it says rare not impossibleFrom the looks of it that was an intended change :'( The seed packs in build/buy are supposed to provide "a chance" to get things like Orchids or Death Flowers. I have been experimenting with the bees. You can 'gather a swarm' and send them to get gifts. Sometimes they bring back rare seeds. Of course those with just the patch and not the Seasons EP do not have that option.

Feedback: Updated Gardening System

Felicity_Bane
6 years ago
"EuphorialQueen;c-17140298" wrote:
Since the June 2019 patch 1.52.100.1020 I am curious to know if anyone is seeing anything unusual with gardening.
It seems to me the timing is a bit 'off' for some plants. Like some plants seem to take longer to mature and bear fruit/harvestables.
Feedback anyone?

Maybe? I've noticed that it's happening faster in Sulani and that plants don't need nearly as much watering. Like, I planted a coconut tree, and the next day it was producing coconuts.
LuvMySimz
Seasoned Rookie
6 years ago
Since a few month I noticed that in my game the death-flower bush only grows one flower. No matter how often I plant a new one, just one flower will grow.
No garden mods in my game.
EuphorialQueen
Retired Hero
6 years ago
"LuvMySimz;c-17149080" wrote:
Since a few month I noticed that in my game the death-flower bush only grows one flower. No matter how often I plant a new one, just one flower will grow.
No garden mods in my game.

That too is another unfortunate side effect of the gardening update. Death flowers do not sell for much but they are useful for certain cocktails, potions (scientist career) and hopefully to appease the Grim Reaper.
GypsyRozLyn
Seasoned Newcomer
6 years ago
I hate that weeding machine. It looks pretty strange for my off-the-grid witch doctor sim to pull out a weed vacuum.
I also hate how the plants look most of the time since seasons - even when they are a spring plant and blooming and have been watered - they look brown like they are all dried out.
InfiniteVerve
New Spectator
6 years ago
"EuphorialQueen;c-17140298" wrote:
Since the June 2019 patch 1.52.100.1020 I am curious to know if anyone is seeing anything unusual with gardening.
It seems to me the timing is a bit 'off' for some plants. Like some plants seem to take longer to mature and bear fruit/harvestables.
Feedback anyone?

I'm noticing this too... Things just seem off (and I am testing this in a vanilla/ new save game).
EuphorialQueen
Retired Hero
6 years ago
@SimChi
I also have been playing several saves each in their own vanilla fresh start folders.
I think that is why I noticed the subtle changes.
InfiniteVerve
New Spectator
6 years ago
"EuphorialQueen;c-17155692" wrote:

Yes! I noticed while playing a conservationist in Sulani. There are several plants near his home. I thought he was just going to go look at the plant. But he was removing wild plants.
I think that action is equivalent to weeding.
Not sure what triggers it though. Maybe the plant had been there too long? At least a new one sprouts up in its place later.

I don't have Island Living (couldn't afford it, and the excessive bug reports are concerning), though I wish I had the build/buy stuff- and the plants of course :D . My sims have been doing the removal (or trying to, until I catch them) in Willow Creek, Windenburg, Oasis Springs, and in the areas in Outdoor Retreat. I haven't played my DelSol game yet (mostly trying to find a mod to remove celebs, since I got the pack strictly for build/buy and the lots). I wish we could just get all of the build/buy and plants in one single pack, since there are also things I want from the Seasons pack - but, I don't want the gardening (seasonal; plants only growing in certain seasons) wrecking my gameplay. It would be nice to be able to just shut those 'features' off- while keeping the things (like plants, and build/buy) that I do want.
InfiniteVerve
New Spectator
6 years ago
@EuphorialQueen I've never seen the removal of wild plants (it wasn't even an option before the patch). I always play gardening/ outdoorsy sims, and they always harvest wild plants- but, since the patch I have started having the issue with wild plant removal (and it is suddenly an option). I think the removal thing came in for the Sulai pack, so that they could implement the gameplay with removing invasive species (?), but, it is affecting all wild plants... Kind of ironic, since people irl remove what they think are invasive species (until they later learn that the plant is actually good for the environment... ie: always learning, and unlearning things).
InfiniteVerve
New Spectator
6 years ago
"Gagea;c-17155836" wrote:
The option to remove wild plants has been in the game since Ourdoor Retreat. It only worked for the wild plants there, not in the other worlds. Sulani is the only other world with the option to remove wild plants.

Mkay... If it only worked for Outdoor retreat, then that does make it even more mysterious that my sims are doing it in Willow Creek, and all the base game neighborhoods, as well as in Windenburg.
EuphorialQueen
Retired Hero
6 years ago
Found this thread at AnswersHQ

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-INPUT-A-Sims-autonomously-removing-wild-plants/m-p/8016368#M97013