[speedmonkey]

Originally Posted by Corn Cob Pete

Just harvested my first farm that was fertilized. It worked great. I had about 900 squares of sugarcane planted and I got about 1800 from the harvest. The worker I hired didn't indicate one way or the other if he got double pay, so I don't know how things worked from that end.

Also, when I plowed and replanted, the farm is still fertilized just like it is supposed to be. So, especially with fast growing crops, you can get multiple plantings/harvests from one fertilization. Each fertilization is supposed to last 3 days. 50 pigs in a sty will get you 300 manure over a three day period. That will let you fertilize 6 farms (with each farm staying fertilized for 3 days). So, though the manure spreader is expensive, it is very efficient and worth every penny of the cost.

Oh yeah, if I understand correctly, as long as you fertilize before you harvest, your crop output will double. So, I think the best strategy would be to fertilize right before you harvest. That way the fertilization will last longer than if you fertilized as soon as you planted.

Crops have to be fertilized PRIOR to being ready to harvest. So if you want to maximize your fertilization you will have to do it about an hour or so before they should be ready. They do not have to show as fertilized when you harvest them as long as they were fertilized at some point during their growing cycle. I missed that tidbit of info initially so I thought I would throw that out there for anyone not up to speed on exactly how the spreader/fertilization process works.