At the start of a new game, the Seasons mod will reset all fields containing crops to the “Harvested” stage. This simulates the fact that you just bought the farm and the fields have not been tilled since the last harvest.
Note: If you have enabled Seasons mod on an existing save, you will be asked if you want to reset all fields. We strongly recommend that you start a new game to make sure all systems, such as weather and growth, are working properly.
The Farming Simulator 19 growth system has been completely replaced. The Seasons mod controls all crop growth, including pines, which take five years to mature and be harvestable at least two years after planting.
A year is divided into 12 periods. Each season has 3 periods. The new growing system follows real life as much as possible, so crops can only be planted and harvested at certain times of the year. Germination takes place every night at midnight and growth in other crops occurs in the transitions between periods.
A planting and harvesting calendar is included in the Seasons menu (alt + S) for reference.
Winter causes some mature crops to die back and the grass will be brought back to stage 2 in winter. Another factor that determines whether your crops will germinate is the crop germination temperature and the current soil temperature. The germination temperature of all crops is visible in the Seasons menu and the current soil temperature is displayed in the HUD at the top. Soil moisture can be obtained using the measuring tool. If the soil temperature is lower than the germination temperature, the sown crops will not germinate. Beware of droughts and frost!
Poor harvests are a big novelty in Seasons 19. Each crop has been divided into 3 states: seeded, young and mature, and each of these states has different resistance to frost and drought. Every day, the temperature and humidity levels are checked and if they exceed the tolerance parameters, your crops will be damaged in a random way.
The default weather conditions are generally very mild and can be considered an “easy mode” when it comes to the potential for crop damage. For example, you probably won't see much frost in your first spring. This creates the possibility of planting over a wider window of time, especially for sensitive plants that would die if planted in early spring.
Crops may try to grow, but if you plant outside the planting window, they are unlikely to mature before winter. Winter is deadly. The default growth algorithm now kills all mature crops between early and mid-winter. This will make happy any player who loves to harvest potatoes and sugar beet in winter, but if late fall or early winter is severe, some parts of the crop may be damaged. .
Crops, except grasses and oilseed radishes, may only be harvested at the final stage. The last stage of growth is represented by the first exploitable stage in the growth synthesis screen in the Esc menu (orange color). As soon as you see a crop reaching the first stage of harvesting, it means that the crop is ready to be harvested - this is the final stage. Harvesting can only be done when the moisture content of the crop is low enough. After the rain, the crop needs time and especially sun to dry out. Wet summer nights can also occur, making harvesting impossible. This function can be deactivated by going to the Seasons menu (Alt + S).
Spraying or spreading fertilizer can now only be done during the early stages of growth.
Custom fruits in some maps (like carrots or onions) are processed using barley growth patterns. They should edit a few xml files to customize it all.
Weeds will grow in untreated fields as soon as the soil temperature is high enough. The default soil temperature for weed germination is 4 degrees Celsius. This means that weeds can appear on your fields during cultivation and seeding operations, even before your crop has started to grow.
Weeds grow in random clumps and yield is only affected where they are visible. The rest of the field is not impacted.
At first, the weeds are small and can be removed using mechanical weeding or spraying, but they will grow larger when the soil temperature reaches around 12 degrees. Mature weeds can only be destroyed by spraying. Spraying not only kills all weeds, but also has a preventive effect. Once a field is sprayed, it will no longer produce weeds until harvested, as the game's default mechanics plant weeds every time the player harvests a field. Weeds wither and die when the soil temperature is below 0 degrees Celsius. Preventive effect means players can spray their field even before seeding and before weeds are visible, in order to protect against yield losses due to weeds.