Hydroponics

This page needs revising! This page contains information that is either out-of-date or from a different source (e.g. Upstream SS14). Some information on this page may differ from how it actually works on Delta-V. Reason for revision: "Outdated due to the Rebase Update. Need to include the new plants, mutation and clean up plant genetics."

Hydroponics is the process of growing plants with added nutrients, but without soil. A Botanist performs this role.

Starting your shift

First you will want to identify the machines around you that you will be using. Coordinate with the Chef to see if they want anything specific to be grown, otherwise, grow 2 trays of wheat, 1 banana tree and whatever else you feel like growing. Once you give your chef a bit to work with you can start growing plants for Chemistry (located in Medbay), the Bartender or simply to sell by Logistics.

Tools

Refer to Botanist's Tools

Plants

Plant Name	Description	Plant Image	Produce Image
Aloe vera	Produces aloe, which can be used to make aloe cream. Aloe cream is useful for treating burns.
Ambrosia Vulgaris	Produces ambrosia vulgaris which is poisonous raw but can be used to make medicine.
Apple tree	Produces apples, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used in various cooking recipes.
Banana tree	Produces bananas, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used to make Banana bread or pulped for medicine. Their peels are useful for making people slip.
Berry	Produces berries. This is a high yield plant by default.
Cannabis	Produces cannabis leaves which can be dried and then crafted into a joint or blunt. Seeds come from Exotic Crates
Carrot	Produces carrots. Carrots are used in various cooking recipes. Carrot Juice is used in healing eye damage
Chanterelle mushrooms	Produces chanterelle mushrooms, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used to make Mushroom pizza.
Chili bush	Produces chilis, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used to make Bowls of chili, Enchiladas, and Queso. Grinding produces capsaicin oil.
Cocoa	Produces cocoa beans. This is the highest yield plant by default.
Corn stalk	Produces corn, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Corn is used to make Popcorn and Enchiladas. Grinding produces Cornmeal.
Cotton	Produces cotton. Grinding produces fiber.
Eggplant	Produces eggplant, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used to make Vegetable Pizza.
Egg Plant	Produces eggs slower than an animal can. Are used in Cooking.
Fly Amanita	Are used in Cooking.
Galaxy thistle	Produces galaxy thistle which can eaten raw as medicine or ground to produce a liquid medical Stellibinin.
Garlic	Garlic is used in Cooking. Grinding produces Allicin.
Gatfruit tree	Produces gatfruit.
Grape	Grapes are used in Cooking.
Lemon tree	Produces lemons. Lemons are used in various cooking recipes. They also help prevent scurvy.
Lime tree	Produces limes. Limes are used in various cooking recipes.
Lingzhi	Produces lingzhi which can eaten raw as medicine or ground to produce a liquid medical Ultravasculine & Epinephrine.
Nettle bush	Produces nettles which are poisonous raw but can be used to make medicine.
Oats	Produces oat bushels. Oats are used in various cooking recipes.
Onion	Produces onions, which can be eaten for light sustenance. A Chef can slice these with a knife to make onion slices which are used in various cooking recipes. Grinding produces allicin.
Red onion	Produces red onions, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Grinding produces allicin.
Orange	Produces oranges. Oranges are used in various cooking recipes.
Pea	Produces peas. Peas are used in various cooking recipes.
Pineapple bush	Produces pineapple, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Pineapples are used in various cooking recipes. Seeds come from Exotic Crates
Poppy flower	Produces poppies which can eaten raw as medicine or ground to produce a liquid medical Bicaridine..
Potato	Produces potatoes, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Potatoes are used in various cooking recipes.
Pumpkin	Produces pumpkins, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Pumpkins are used in various cooking recipes. Grinding produces pumpkin flesh
Rice	Produces rice, which can be eaten for light sustenance. Pumpkins are used in various cooking recipes.
Soybean	Produces soybeans which can be eaten for light sustenance.
Space tobacco	Produces space tobacco leaves. Unused?
Sugarcane	Produces sugarcane. Sugarcane can be ground into sugar and used in various cooking recipes.
Tobacco	Produces tobacco leaves which can be dried and then crafted into a blunt. Seeds come from Exotic Crates
Tomato	Produces tomatoes, which can be eaten for light sustenance. They are also used to make various Pizzas, Spaghetti, and Bowls of chili. Can also be thrown for fun.
Tower cap	Produces tower caps. Tower caps are a source of logs. A hatchet is needed to chop these trees down. The resultant produce can be turned into wood planks via a hatchet. Wood planks are used in Construction
Watermelon	Produces watermelons. Grinding produces water.
Wheat	Produces wheat bushels. Wheat can be used in a grinder to produce flour which can be mixed with water to make dough or used in various cooking recipes.

Chemicals

The raw plant can be eaten for a small medical effect or poison. This effect can be boosted if the plant was grown with Robust Harvest. Alternatively, the plant can be processed into a more powerful medicine.

Plant Name	Properties	Description
Aloe vera	10 seconds: 10 Aloe cream. Aloe & Kelotane	Kelotane can be ingested or injected to heal burn/shock damage. Aloe cream can be applied to the body to greatly heal burn/shock damage. Aloe can be eaten.
Ambrosia vulgaris	Kelotane & Desoxyphredrine	Kelotane heals burns, but is less effective than Dermaline. Desoxyephedrine causes poison damage and stuttering , but makes you somewhat stun/knockdown resistant.
Banana tree	Pulped Banana Peel	Effective against internal bleeding.
Chilli bush	Capsaicin Oil	Causes caustic damage.
Galaxy Thistle	Stellibinin	An anti-toxin that heals against amatoxin damage.
Lingzhi	Ultravasculine & Epinephrine	Ultravasculine rapidly flushes toxins. Epinephrine brings back people from a critical state. Do not Overdose.
Nettle bush	Histamine	A poison that can range from mildly annoying to lethal depending on the dosage. Used to mass produce Ultravasculine
Garlic / Onion / Red Onion	Allicin	Deals poison damage
Poppy flower	Bicaridine	Used for brute damage/stabilize someone who is badly beaten.
Galaxy Thistle & Aloe vera	Siderlac & Kelotane	Siderlac heals against caustic damage.

Layouts

You start out with the default layout of where trays and vending machines are, however, if you so desire, you can change that. All you need is a Wrench which you can get from an Tool Vending Machine which can be found in the Engineering hallway. Holding the wrench, you just click on each plant tray, and then carry it into its desired position. Make sure to wrench it back down or it might fly away later. You do the same for vending machines and water tanks, etc.

Example Layout.

Plant Genetics

You can Examine a Seed to see its Yield and Potency.

To reset the plant's genetics, put its produce into a SeedMaker. To retain the genetics, instead use Plant Clippers. To get multiple of the desired seed, plant the seed and use the Plant Clippers twice to get more seeds.

Plant Traits

Each plant has its default traits that are standard across all shifts. These can be altered via plant cross-pollination and mutation. Traits can be reset per seed via the SeedMaker.

Potency starts at 5 out of the Seed Extractor / Vending Machine but can be increased to 50 via 15u of Robust Harvest. Max potency is 100 and can only currently be achieved via mutations (e.g. via Unstable Mutagen). Potency affects the size of the plant and amount of chemicals it provides in the Reagent Grinder. For example highly potent medical herbs break down into more medicine and can be eaten for higher effect and higher number of bites. A higher potency in wheat equates to higher amounts of flour produced.

Yield differs by plant and can only be modified by mutation (e.g. via Unstable Mutagen) or cross-pollination via swabs. Yield affects the number of plants that will be harvested when a planted seed has grown. By default, the highest yield plant is cocoa.

Nutrients is the number of nutrients that the plant can be ground up into via a Grinder. The more nutritious the plant, the more nutrients it will add to a Hydroponics Tray when Composted. Note that when a Hydroponics Tray runs out of nutrients, it will make the growing plant Unhealthy. Eggplant currently has the highest nutrient count with no detrimental chemicals. Nutrients may also affect food that is created using this plant.

Vitamins is the number of vitamins that the plant contains. It can be seen when the plant is ground up in a Grinder. Vitamins may affect food that is created using this plant.

Grinding Output is any extra products that the plant produces when ground using a Grinder. For example Wheat is ground up into Flour. Watermelons when ground up produce Water. Extra products can change when using cross-pollination.

Plant Mutations

Plants treated with Unstable Mutagen will undergo random genetic mutations. Since many genes are essential to a plant's survival, randomly mutating them has a high probability of killing the plant. However, mutation is the only way to get some genes. A plant can be examined to determine whether it has any mutation traits. The Hydroponics Tray may also visibly show some traits such as glowing or inability to harvest with your hands.

The more unstable mutagen applied, the more mutations but the higher likelihood the plant will die before harvest. Using small amounts via a Dropper is thus suggested. For example 1u of Mutagen can lead to plant mutation with a lower probability of killing the plant than 5u. Note that 5u is the smallest amount that non-Dropper containers can transfer.

Mutation Traits

Trait	Description
Bioluminescence	Plants and products with this trait glow in the dark.
High Potency	Plants can exceed the unmutated maximum potency of 50 and grow to a potency of up to 100.
High Yield	Seeds produce more plants per harvest.
Less Water	Seeds require less water to grow
Ligneous	Plants require a sharp tool to harvest (e.g. a scythe or axe)
Long life	Grown plants live for more harvest cycles before growing Old and Wilting.
Low Light	Seeds require less light to grow
Pest Resistance	Seeds are more resistant to pests. Note that weeds aren't pests.
Screaming	Plants scream when being harvested, clipped, pulled out, chopped down.
Seedless	Plants do not produce viable seeds
Weed resistance	Seeds are more resistant to weeds.

Mutation Plant Species

Plant Species	Description
Ambrosia Dues	Mutated from Ambrosia Vulgaris. Contains Omnizine
Blue Tomato	Mutated from Tomato. Contains Space Lube
Death Nettle	Mutated from Nettle.
Koibean	Mutated from Soybean. Contains Carpotoxin
Mimana	Mutated from Banana.
Steelcap Tree	Mutated from Tower Cap. When chopped provides steel.

Plant Cross-Pollination

Plants can also be cross-pollinated with one another for a chance to transfer traits and other desirable properties. To transfer pollen from one plant to another, use a sterile swab. Avoid pollen cross-contamination! Different species can be crossed to produce hybrids. Since cross-pollination is also probabilistic, it may take several tries for you to transfer the traits that you desire.

The way swabs work is:

• Swab Plant A - swab now has some traits of Plant A
• Swab Plant B - Plant B now has some traits of Plant A. swab now has some traits of Plant B
• Swab Plant C - Plant C now has some traits of Plant B. swab now has some traits of Plant C

To reset the swab, get a new swab. Swabs can be labelled via a Hand labeller. Swabs don't transfer all traits to plants.

A common example of cross-pollination is to maximum nutrient growth. The reason for this is that using Mutagen rapidly drains Nutrients in a Hydroponics Tray and if a Chemist isn't on-hand to help you, you will need to grow your own nutrients to ensure your plants survive.

• Grow a cocoa plant and eggplant plant (not eggs, the purple one!)
• Get a clean swab
• Interact with the swab onto the cocoa plant
• Interact with the same swab on the eggplant plant
• Use Plant Clippers on the eggplant plant
• Examine the Eggplant seed and check if the Yield is 6. If not, rip out the eggplant and plant a new eggplant seed and redo the prior steps.
• Plant the 6 yield Eggplant seed
• Apply 15u of Robust to the seed
• Wait for the plant to grow a bit.
• Use Plant Clippers to clip the plant 2+ times to clone the seed
• Store one of the seeds in your backpack so that if the plant dies or yields no seeds (due to interference) that you have a backup.
• Grow lots of eggplants!
• Compost the eggplants by holding the eggplant and interacting on a Hydroponic Tray

Other examples of cross-pollination are:

• Swab Poppy and then a Food plant like Apple. The apple will now contain bicaridine to heal Brute damage
• Swab Wheat and then a non-replant plant like Tower Cap or Apple. The plant will now not need to be replanted but will produce flour.

Crates

A Botanist can request crates from a Logistics Officer that contain seeds. Most seeds will be available either in Hydroponics lockers or the SeedMaker. Some exotic seeds will need to either be purchases from Logistics or mutated.

• Seed Crate - An assortment of seeds available from a SeedMaker. e.g. carrot, chilli, corn, eggplant, lemon, oat, onion, potato, sugarcane, tomato, wheat
• Exotic Seed Crate - An assortment of rare seeds. e.g. banana, cannabis, egg-plant, fly amanita, nettle, pineapple, tobacco, tower cap