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RS3 · Guide

Farming Training Guide for RS3: 1 to 120, Runs and Unlocks

Farming is a members' gathering skill: you plant seeds in patches around the world, they grow in real time while you do other things, and you come back to check their health for XP and harvest the produce. The Wiki calls it "a reliable source of passive income", herbs and animal produce feed Herblore, and the player-owned farm adds perks you can use elsewhere. It goes to 120 (104,273,167 XP).

The short versionDig the manure mound to 15, then do tree and fruit tree runs every time your trees are grown: the Wiki says a considerable amount of Farming XP comes from checking the health of fully grown trees. Start a player-owned farm at 17 for steady passive XP, and add herb runs for profit.
A fully grown magic tree in a Farming patch
A fully grown magic tree (level 75)
The manure mound at Manor Farm
The manure mound, the Wiki's pick for 1 to 15

Getting started

  • Members only. The Wiki lists the skill as members, with free-to-play players able to reach level 5 (potatoes, onions, marigolds, barley and hammerstone hops).
  • The basic loop, per the Wiki: rake weeds, add supercompost, plant, and for some crops pay the gardener to protect it. Tool leprechauns at nearly every patch store your compost and note produce for free.
  • Trees need a plant pot. Put the seed in a plant pot to make a seedling, water it, and after about five minutes it becomes a sapling you can plant.
  • Farm runs are how the Wiki says the skill is "most commonly" levelled: visit as many patches of one type as you can, check the health of the grown crops, clear them and replant.

Training by level

1 to 15: the manure mound

Dig the manure mound at the north-east corner of Granny Potterington's house at Manor Farm (or the one at the Anachronia Dinosaur Farm). It gives 2.5 XP every 2.4 seconds, which the Wiki puts at about 3,750 XP an hour, and calls it the fastest way to 15, about 40 minutes from level 1.

15 onwards: tree and fruit tree runs

At 15 you can plant oak trees, and at 27 fruit trees. From here the heart of training is a run of both every time they finish growing. Most of a tree's XP comes from checking health. The figures below are the Wiki's XP for checking health; planting gives some XP as well. The Wiki compares trees by their cost per XP, not just by level, so check its tables before you buy seeds.

Level Tree (patch) Grows in Check-health XP
15 Oak (tree) 2 h 40 min 467.3
27 Apple (fruit tree) 16 h 1,199.5
30 Willow (tree) 4 h 1,456.5
33 Banana (fruit tree) 16 h 1,750.5
39 Orange (fruit tree) 16 h 2,470
42 Curry (fruit tree) 16 h 2,907
45 Maple (tree) 5 h 20 min 3,403.4
51 Pineapple (fruit tree) 16 h 4,605.7
57 Papaya (fruit tree) 16 h 6,146.4
60 Yew (tree) 6 h 40 min 7,069.9
68 Palm (fruit tree) 16 h 10,150.1
72 Calquat (own patch) 21 h 20 min 12,096.1
75 Magic (tree) 8 h 13,768.3
83 Spirit tree (own patch) 2 days 10 h 40 min 19,301.8
90 Elder (own patch) 2 days 22 h 23,142
101 Ciku (fruit tree) 13 h 20 min 22,047
107 Guarana (fruit tree) 13 h 20 min 28,157
113 Carambola (fruit tree) 13 h 20 min 35,057.7
119 Money tree (own patch) 1 day 18 h 40 min 60,000

Tree patches (eight), in the order the Wiki lists them: Lumbridge, Varrock Palace courtyard, Falador Park, Taverley, Tree Gnome Stronghold, the Trahaearn district of Prifddinas (Plague's End), Fort Forinthry's Woodcutters' Grove (tier 2 built) and Dalia's Tree Nursery (Visions of Havenhythe).

Fruit tree patches (eight, three quest-locked): Tree Gnome Stronghold, west of the Tree Gnome Village maze, Catherby, north of Brimhaven, Lletya, Herblore Habitat, the Meilyr district of Prifddinas (Plague's End) and Dalia's Tree Nursery. The Wiki gives teleports for each patch but no fixed route.

Points the Wiki makes about the runs:

  • Pineapples pay their own way: the Wiki notes they make six buckets of supercompost per plant, worth more than the pineapple itself.
  • Past 101, the Wiki "highly" recommends guarana over ciku, because ciku seeds are expensive; carambola seeds are cheaper but need 113.
  • Prifddinas bonus: when the Voice of Seren is in the Trahaearn (trees), Meilyr (fruit trees) or Crwys (elder) district, that patch gives 20% more base XP and may skip growth stages.
  • Special trees: one calquat patch north of Tai Bwo Wannai; spirit trees from 83 (one at a time, two at 86, three at 89, four at 114); one elder patch in Prifddinas; and at 94 a crystal acorn, which gives 50,000 XP when planted and 15,000 XP each day you check it. You get one acorn the first time you speak to Challenge Mistress Heriau in the Max Guild, and the Wiki warns never to remove the tree unless you have spares.

Herb runs (from 9)

Herb patches open at 9 with guam. Each allotment has one (south of Falador, north of Catherby, north-east of Ardougne, north-east of Canifis, and Marigold Farm south-east of Wendlewick), with more in Prifddinas's Crwys district, the Garden of Kharid, Trollheim (after My Arm's Big Adventure, never diseased) and the Wilderness (the only patch for bloodweed). Herbs grow in 80 minutes, down to 60 with the Speedy Growth upgrade and 40 with a sunburst bracelet. Plant Power (Sydekix's Shop of Balance, from 50) lets you plant up to 10 seeds per patch; the juju farming potion and magic secateurs raise the yield. The training page gives no herb XP rates and points to the Wiki's herb-farming money-making guides instead.

Cheaper or AFK alternatives

  • Seedicide (from 7): destroys seeds monsters drop for double their planting XP. The Wiki gives about 20,000 XP an hour from tortoises at 7, up to 130,000 to 250,000 from turoths at 74, and up to 160,000 from aquanites at 91.
  • Het's Oasis (30 to 86 alternative): rose, iris, hydrangea and hollyhock bushes, which the Wiki puts at 15,000 to 100,000 XP an hour, and up to 91,000 at level 90, with golden roses as profit.
  • The Arc: rumberry bushes at 86 (about 30,000 XP an hour) and mushroom clusters at 90 (30,000) or 94 on Uncharted Isles (50,000).
  • Beehives at Manor Farm (17): fill all seven with woad leaves for about 6,216 XP a day at minimal cost.
  • Supreme growth potions (bought with player-owned farm beans or Crux Eqal favour) grow a crop on an allotment until it is ready to harvest.

The player-owned farm

You start it at Manor Farm with 17 Farming and 20 Construction by talking to Granny Potterington. The Wiki calls it "a very easy way" to get Farming XP, slower than patches, and the animals give materials for Herblore and perks for some fights. You raise animals through child, adolescent, adult and elder, checking them for XP and produce, and sell them for beans.

  • Manor Farm at its best needs 92 Farming and 60 Construction. The Wiki's maximum-efficiency layout (dragons, zygomites and chinchompas) works out to 2,950,000 XP a week. That figure already counts the extra 25% from decorated farming urns and an urn enhancer, which the Wiki highly recommends.
  • The Anachronia Dinosaur Farm opens at 42 Farming and 45 Construction, and needs 119 Farming and 90 Construction to get the most from it. Its animals grow slower than Manor Farm's.

Boosts worth having

  • Farmer's outfit: 1% XP per piece, 6% for the set.
  • Master farmer outfit (80 Farming, 20 Invention): includes the farmer's outfit XP bonus if you own it, auto-cleans herbs, adds yield chances and remote teleports.
  • Farming urns: 20% bonus as they fill; the urn enhancer adds 25% to urns.
  • Rapid Growth (88 Magic, The Light Within): skips a growth stage on tree, fruit tree and herb patches.

Unlocks to plan around

  • 9: herb patches (guam). 15: oak trees. 17: player-owned farm.
  • 27: fruit trees. 32: ranarr. 50: Plant Power tier 1.
  • 72: calquat. 75: magic trees. 80: master farmer outfit.
  • 83: spirit trees. 85: torstol. 90: elder trees.
  • 92: dragons at the player-owned farm. 94: crystal acorn.
  • 99: Farming cape, and money tree seeds become obtainable.
  • 101: ciku trees. 107: guarana. 113: carambola.
  • 119: money tree. 120: Farming master cape, which automatically treats your patches with supercompost.

Track your Farming on The Codex

Sources

References courtesy of the RuneScape Wiki.