PolyCrops

PolyCrops overhauls farming with a genetics system, crossbreeding, irrigation, and analytical tools. Grow better crops through selective breeding and keep your fields hydrated with tanks, pipes, and sprinklers.

Getting Started

Craft a PolyCrops Guide from a Book and a Wheat Seeds for the complete in-game guide.

The separate Field Journal is used to record mutation discoveries and analyzer results once your farm is up and running.

Start by placing Crop Plots on farmland, then plant seeds. Crop Plots are the foundation of the PolyCrops system — vanilla farmland works but doesn’t support genetics.

Crop Plots

Crop Plots replace vanilla farmland as the primary growing surface. They track genetic data, hydration levels, and growth stage for each planted seed. Place them on dirt or grass and they’ll auto-till.

Crop Sticks

Crop Sticks are placed on top of Crop Plots to enable crossbreeding. Plant a seed in a plot with sticks, place sticks on an adjacent empty plot, and if two mature crops border the empty sticks — a mutation can occur.

Seeds & Growth

Seeds go through 4 growth stages before harvest. Growth speed depends on:

Light level (13+ for full speed)
Hydration (irrigated plots grow 50% faster)
Genetics (higher Growth stat = faster)

Harvesting a mature crop yields produce and optionally a seed with inherited genetics.

Genetics

Every seed has three genetic stats:

Stat	Effect
Growth	Speed of growth stages
Gain	Quantity of harvest drops
Resistance	Tolerance to poor conditions (low light, dry soil)

Stats range from 1–10. When two crops crossbreed, offspring inherit a weighted average of parent stats with a small random mutation.

Mutations

When two different mature crops sit adjacent to an empty Crop Stick, there’s a ~5% base chance per growth tick that a new crop type will mutate into the empty slot.

Mutation recipes define which pairs produce which results. Higher genetic stats on the parents increase mutation chance slightly. Consult the Field Journal for all known mutation paths.

Water System

Water Tanks

Water Tanks hold 16 buckets of water and supply nearby irrigation channels. Fill them with buckets, waterlogged blocks, or rain collection. Tanks auto-connect when placed adjacent.

Irrigation Channels

Channels carry water up to 15 blocks from a tank. Place them along crop rows at the same Y-level as your Crop Plots. Each irrigated plot grows significantly faster.

Sprinklers

Sprinklers sit on top of irrigation channels and hydrate a 5×5 area of Crop Plots below them. They’re redstone-controllable — pulse redstone to toggle watering schedules. Sprinklers consume 1 bucket of water per minute of operation.

Seed Analyzer

The Seed Analyzer is a block that reveals a seed’s genetic stats. Place a seed inside and wait 200 ticks (10 seconds) for analysis to complete.

Analyzed seeds display their Growth, Gain, and Resistance stats in their tooltip. Use this to pick the best parents for crossbreeding.

Magnifying Glass

The Magnifying Glass lets you inspect growing crops in-world. Right-click a Crop Plot to see growth stage, hydration, and (if the seed was analyzed) genetic stats in chat.