Corn plant
Corn plant
A tall grain plant which produces ears of soft, edible seeds. While corn takes a long time to grow, it yields lots of food compared to other crops. Harvested corn takes a long time to spoil.
Base Stats
- Type
- Plant – Domesticated
- Beauty
- 0 (1)
- HP
- 150
- Flammability
- 100%
- Path Cost
- 14 (48%)
Ingestion
- Nutrition
- 0.4
Plant Stats
- Time to grow
- 11.3 days (20.86 days)
- Work to Sow
- 170 ticks (2.83 secs)
- Work to Harvest
- 200 ticks (3.33 secs)
- Base Harvest Yield
- 22
- Min Fertility
- 70%
- Fertility Sensitivity
- 100%
- Min light to grow
- 50%
- sowTags
- Ground
The corn plant has a long growing cycle and a very high yield of 22 pieces of corn. It cannot be sown in hydroponics. Corn plants have a base growing time of 11.3 days, need a minimum soil fertility of 70%, and have a fertility sensitivity rating of 100%. Corn has the second-highest base yield per day (approx. 2.7% less than rice), but requires the least farming labor to maintain due to its long growing cycle.
Like most domesticated plants, they are subject to blight.
Growing
The following table details how long it takes for corn plants to grow in each growable ground type, factoring in the plant resting time and being in ideal growing conditions:
| Ground Type | Gravel | Soil | Rich Soil | Hydroponics |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fertility (%) | 70 | 100 | 140 | 280 |
| Real Grow Time (days)[1] | 29.8 | 20.86 | 14.9 | N/A |
| Base Yield/day[2] | 0.74 | 1.05 | 1.48 | N/A |
- ↑ Actual days to grow, taking into account rest time.
- ↑ Per plant, assuming Crop Yield Multiplier of 1.0.
Note that Difficulty settings change the Crop Yield Multiplier.
Analysis
In regular soil, corn plants provide slightly less nutrition per day (per tile) than rice plants (97%) and slightly more than potato plants (102%). Their primary advantage is their incredible labor efficiency: corn provides 200% the nutrition per work of potatoes, and 367% that of rice. This is because corn has the highest harvest yield, meaning fewer sowings and harvests for a given amount of food, but it is balanced by a long grow time.
These long harvest cycles mean that losing a single harvest to blight, fire, cold snaps, or other misfortune is far more consequential than losing a crop of faster-growing plants. And depending on the climate, corn might not reach maturity before winter hits. If your harvest comes in mid-fall, you may want to either forbid sowing to save labour or temporarily switch to rice in order to get a little more food. It's also recommended to either keep an emergency food stockpile or other alternative food source on hand in case of crop loss. When possible, planting in rich soil will help mitigate the weaknesses associated with its long grow time, while planting in low-fertility soil will exacerbate them.
Corn's exceptional shelf life means that the colony does not need to invest in freezer space for corn, as even the slightest winter will keep corn fresh until next year's harvest. Thus a corn harvest only needs to be placed in a simple shed.
Trade
Corn is arguably the most work efficient means of generating wealth. For 370 ticks (6.17 secs) of work, you get 
24.2 Market Value ( 163.5 / game hour), and it does not need to be processed any further. This is amazing value; it even beats flake in terms of pure work efficiency.
Corn has a few disadvantages when compared to drugs. Corn is heavier. Due to the large quantities of corn, it takes more hauling work. Less traders accept corn, which is especially relevant when calling traders in with a comms console. For example, if you want to buy goods from an exotic goods trader, you could sell flake directly to them. With corn, you would have to call in a bulk goods trader and then the exotic goods trader, which takes time and consumes goodwill (which, in this case, means consuming money).
Gallery
Immature corn plant
Mature variant A
Mature variant B
Version history
- 0.9.722 - added.
- Beta 19/1.0 - Min fertility 50% -> 100%.
- 1.3.3066 - Nutrition increased from 0.3 -> 0.4
- Domesticated plants
- Cocoa tree • Corn plant • Cotton plant • Devilstrand mushroom • Haygrass • Healroot • Hop plant • Potato plant • Psychoid plant • Rice plant • Smokeleaf plant • Strawberry plant • Tinctoria • Fibercorn
• Gauranlen pod • Nutrifungus • Toxipotato plant 
- Decorative plants
- Dandelions • Daylily • Rose • Bonsai tree
- Wild plants
- Agarilux • Agave • Alocasia • Ambrosia bush • Astragalus • Berry bush • Brambles • Bryolux • Bush • Chokevine • Clivia • Giant rafflesia • Glowstool • Grass • Low shrubs • Moss • Pincushion cactus • Tall grass • Wild healroot • Anima grass
• Gauranlen moss - Trees
- Bamboo tree • Birch tree • Cecropia tree • Cypress tree • Drago tree • Maple tree • Oak tree • Palm tree • Pine tree • Poplar tree • Saguaro cactus • Teak tree • Willow tree • Timbershroom • Gray pine tree • Pebble cactus • Rat palm tree • Witchwood tree
- Special
- Anima tree • Gauranlen tree • Polux tree • Harbinger tree
- Tree stumps
- Burned stump • Chopped stump (Gauranlen , Anima , Polux , Harbinger ) • Smashed stump (Gauranlen , Anima , Polux , Harbinger )