Plant Tycoon Strategies

Plant Tycoon is a real-time, gardening simulation, genetic puzzle game. Real-time means that unless you pause the game completely, it still continues to run when you turn the game off. Even when your computer is off. Starting with just a few seeds, the goal in the game is to nurture your plants and cross-pollinate the different species until you find the 6 Magic Plants of Isola. Along the way, you'll have to invest in better supplies for your plants, fight off bug infestations, and prune them to look their best for sale. Proceeds from your plant sales help finance your cross-pollination research and decorate your nursery.

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Download Plant Tycoon now from Big Fish Games! Click on the picture to begin your free trial. Click here for the Mac version.

General Strategy (No spoilers.)

• Start by planting the 8 seeds you have. Look in your seed storage and your seed tray.
• Self-pollinate your mature plants and harvest all the seeds available to build up your inventory. The plant will be "depleted" when all seeds have been collected from it.
• Don't bother using the insect poison on your early plants because they aren't worth the dose. Just toss out the plant.
• Catching bugs and selling (trashing) extra seeds are great ways to make a few more bucks.
  
• Prune dead leaves from your plants to make them easier to sell. You can also trim off leaves that hide flowers.
• Try to sell your plants all at once. More plants in the nursery encourage sales. Nursery decorations also encourage sales.
• Upgrade your soil and water as soon as you can. If the health of your plants degrade quickly, it's because the plant requires better soil and/or water. This is especially true of hybrid, cross-pollinated plants.
• When you can afford it, use 2-3 fertilizer bombs to help increase the number of flowers (and the potential sale price).
• You might want to set up a methodical cross-pollination system to help you find the Magic Plants.
• Buy extinct seeds or use the Mutation liquid to discover the rarest plants.
• Be patient! Adjust the speed of the game from the options menu to fit your schedule. Remember that the plants are still going when you're not actively playing the game.
• Hit spacebar to pause!

Okay, so patience is the name of the game, meaning to find all the Magic Plants, it's going to take you some time. So here is the biggest, most important CHEAT of all to help eliminate all that waiting. Highlight the white text below to find out what it is.

Change the time on your computer clock! That's right. On the fast game speed, forward your clock by 1 hour and your plants will be instantly mature. Pollinate and forward another 10 minutes. Now you have seeds! You will, unfortunately, have to wait when your plants are in your nursery. Forwarding the clock does not speed up sales. You can set your clock back to the correct time when you don't have any seeds planted. Note: Forwarding the clock may affect other programs on your computer.

The above space is intentionally white. Just in case you didn't want to see the ULTIMATE CHEAT.

There are 23 different types of plants (foliage) and 23 different flowers. Each type of plant exists with every single flower. Hence, there are a total of 23x23 plants, 529 plant species.

The 23 foliage are, in alphabetical order: Ananas, Astera, Ball Cactus, Bamboo, Fanleaf, Fern, Glaber, Gladiatus, Grass, Lemonbush, Maple, Maranta, Multiflora, Orchid, Pear Cactus, Pipe Cactus, Pitcher, Rare Oak, Reptans, Ridgeball, Scandens, Tigerfern, and Weeper.

The 23 different flowers are, in alphabetical order: Arthurium, Aureus, Baccatus, Blazing, Bluestar, Citrus, Daisy, Fabled, Fourpetal, Fragrant, Jalapa, Lilia, Mela, Mystic, Nox, Painted, Rosaceae, Spotted, Tahitian, Tilia, Venomous, Venus, and Viola.

You can find pictures of all the different seeds in this downloadable Seed Catalog (pdf). Photos of the plants can be found in this downloadable Breeding Chart (Excel).

There are 6 Magic Plants to find in the game. Each plant has special powers that affect your plants and/or your nursery. The descriptions are copied from the game.

Magic Tree of Fragrance
Fourpetal Maple: The intoxicating fragrance from this plant is universally pleasant and exotic. The wonderful aroma influences visitors in the nursery and attracts rare insects. This effect is automatic and permanent.

Rose of Joy
Rosaceae Fern: This breathtaking plant bears roses so beautiful that people come from miles to behold its wonder. Your nursery will always have a crowd from now on. This effect is automatic and permanent.

Fruit of Life
Mela Rare Oak: The presence of this magic plant makes your other plants robust, resistant to infestation, and bloom vigorously. This effect is automatic and permanent.

Fabled Rose of Isola
Fabled Lemonbush: Until now this plant existed only in myth. This rare rose will surely bring you great fame and riches. This effect is automatic and permanent.

Golden Berries of Wealth
Aureus Scandens: These magical berries cause customers in your nursery to more eagerly spend money... not just on this plant, but on all plants. This effect is automatic and permanent.

Flower of Knowledge
Nox Orchid: The essence of this flower gives you great insight and wisdom. Now you know exactly what each plant is worth. From now on your plants are automatically priced much closer to their true value. This effect is automatic and permanent.