Stardew Valley – Quick Reference: Seed Makers

Foreword

The following lists are simple: they are seeds that can be made by the seed maker, that are better off made with the seed maker than purchasing. Each seasonal segment ends with an analysis of that season’s wild seeds. The mathematics can be found at the end of the guide. 
 
This guide is strictly about gold value, not tactics. I made no attempt to address overpriced shopping at Jojamart on Wednesdays, nor the value of getting early or out of season crops when Pierre’s isn’t selling. You have to decide if it is worth operating at a loss in those situations. 
 
Guide has been updated to 1.4. Notes on Tiller Profession bonus added. 
 
 
 

Spring

Use Any Quality 

• Bean Starter 
• Strawberry Seeds 
• Unmilled Rice

 
Use Normal or Silver Quality, but not Gold 

• Garlic Seeds 
• Tulip Bulb

 
Use Normal Quality Only 

• Jazz Seeds 
• Kale Seeds* 
• Parsnip Seeds 
• Potato Seeds*

 
*Silver Kale and Silver Potatoes are right on the edge, but because the Seed Maker can fail it is better to sell those crops. 
 
Desert: Rhubarb Seeds 
Because of the need to buy a 500g bus ticket, it is cheaper to give up a rhubarb to the seed maker than purchase just a few seeds. You must buy 40 seeds to make a profit over sacrificing normal rhubarb, 13 seeds to profit over sacrificing silver rhubarb, or 8 to profit over sacrificing gold rhubarb. If you need fewer seeds, it is better to use the seed maker. If you need more, buy the seeds. 
 
Wild Seeds 
It is much cheaper to craft Spring Seeds than to use the Seed Maker. 
 
 
 

Summer

Use Any Quality 

• Corn Seeds 
• Hops Starter 
• Pepper Seeds 
• Sunflower Seeds 
• Tomato Seeds

 
Use Normal or Silver Quality, but not Gold 

• Poppy Seeds

 
Use Normal Quality Only 

• Sprangle Seeds 
• Starfruit Seeds*

 
Desert: Starfruit Seeds. It is always more profitable to put regular quality starfruit into the seed maker. If one would instead use silver quality fruit, buying the seeds is more profitable if at least 7 seeds are purchased, otherwise the added cost of a bus ticket is too great. If using gold quality fruit, the minimum purchase is 3 seeds. However, given the extreme value of starfruit wine, a farmer will need to put serious thought into if even a single fruit lost to the seed maker is worth it. 
 
Wild Seeds 
It is much cheaper to craft Summer Seeds than to use the Seed Maker. 
 
 
 

Fall

Use Any Quality 

• Corn Seeds 
• Cranberry Seeds 
• Sunflower Seeds

 
Use Normal or Silver Quality, but not Gold 

• Fairy Seeds 
• Grape Starter

 
Use Normal Quality Only 

• Bok Choy Seeds (Note: silver quality bok choy sells for the same price as buying two bok choy seeds)

 
Special: Artichoke Seeds. It is never profitable to use artichoke seeds in the seed maker. However, artichokes can be grown from mixed seeds in year one, and are not sold until year two. The seed maker offers a way to get an artichoke crop a year early. 
 
Desert: Beet Seeds. Again, the bus ticket. Buy 16 seeds or more at once to be cheaper than using normal beets, 12 to be cheaper than using silver, 9 to be cheaper than using gold. 
 
Special Note: Rare seeds cost less than putting sweet gem berries in the seed maker. However, rare seeds are a limited commodity. In theory, one could use the seed maker to fill the greenhouse with sweet gem berries year-round and still maintain a profit. 
 
Wild Seeds 
It is slightly cheaper to craft Fall Seeds than to use the Seed Maker. Players with the mushroom bins in the Farm Cave may choose to eat the loss simply for the relative abundance of low quality common mushrooms. 
 
 
 

Winter

The only seeds for Winter are Winter Seeds. It is more profitable to use the Seed Maker than to craft them normally. Note especially, Winter Roots are drop items from Blue Slimes which can be used to stock up on these seeds out of season. 
 
 
 

Special Seeds

Ancient Fruit 
There’s no other reliable way to GET ancient fruit. Yes, it’s worth it. Did this even need to be said? 
 
Cactus Fruit 
In addition to being a bus drive away, even sacrificing iridium foraged cactus fruit is a bargain when compared to the seed cost. 
 
 
 

Tiller Profession

The Tiller Profession adds a 10% value to all crops, changing the following results. 
Spring 

• Garlic – Use Normal only 
• Strawberry – Do NOT use Gold 
• Tulip – Use Normal only

 
Summer 

• Starfruit – DO NOT USE THE SEED MAKER 
• Summer Spangle – DO NOT USE THE SEED MAKER 
• Tomato – Do NOT use Gold

 
Fall 

• Fairy Rose – Use Normal only

Mechanics of the Seed Maker

The seed maker is unlocked at Farming 9, with a free unit given by the Dye Bundle of the Bulletin Board of the Community Center. The Dye Bundle requires Red Cabbage and Duck Feathers, hard to come by in Year 1, and Farming 9 is likewise a high hurdle, so the Seed Maker will likely factor in only in Year 2 and later. 
 
The seed maker consumes a crop, nearly any crop, and takes 20 game minutes to produce seeds from that crop. Daily luck and item quality have no effect on the process. 
 
The seed maker has a 97.51% chance to produce the seeds of that crop. That means if you feed 40 seedmakers cranberries, usually 39 of them will spit out cranberry seeds. The odd man out will probably produce mixed seeds, but once every 200 runs the maker instead produces an ancient seed. 
 
When the seed maker produces appropriate seeds, it produces between 1 and 3 seeds each time. This means the 40 crops of the previous example likely become 78 seeds, 1.95 seeds per crop lost. 
 
The question "is the seed maker worth it" therefor becomes "can I buy two seeds for the sale price of one crop?" 
 
Note that not all seeds are available for sale at all times. If you need certain out of season seeds for the greenhouse, the seed maker is the only reliable option. 
 
Wild Seeds 
The equation for wild seeds is a bit different. Wild seeds are always produced by sacrificing produce. The question then becomes which recipe is cheaper: one copy of each seasonal forage, or five copies of the specific seasonal forage needed by the seed maker. 
 

Hope you enjoy the Guide about Stardew Valley – Quick Reference: Seed Makers, if you think we should add extra information or forget something, please let us know via comment below, and we will do our best to fix or update as soon as possible!