FIELD NOTE 04 / Advanced
Crossbreeding: from specimen to hybrid
Set up plant experiments, graft the right branch and turn a useful result into repeatable seed stock.
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THE SHORT ANSWER
Use a supplied growing area for plant experiments, and inspect the resulting species rather than judging by colour alone. For tree grafting, remove a small host twig, insert a donor branch from the same family, and collect fruit from that grafted branch. Other branches can still produce the original fruit.
Before you begin
- Growing equipment with light, water and power
- Identified parent plants or a host and donor tree
- Fresh samples and room for the next crop
1. Choose the experiment before collecting
Start with the plant category. Flowers and herbs use allogamy: cross-pollination between plants. Trees use grafting: a branch from one tree is attached to another tree in the same family. Putting a tree seed beside a flower will not substitute for the grafting interaction.
| Experiment | What to bring back | What you inspect |
|---|---|---|
| Growing-bed experiment | Identified seeds for the plants you want to combine | New growth and the resulting species information |
| Tree graft | A host-tree seed and a donor branch in its family | Fruit on the grafted branch, not ordinary host fruit |
| Repeat a useful result | Seeds from the successful output | Whether the next crop gives the supplies you want |
Keep plant combinations and tree grafting separate in your notes. The same-family instruction for trees is not a complete compatibility chart for every growing-bed experiment. Read the plant information and record a combination that actually produces a result before scaling it up.
2. Collect and prepare the parents
Finish the laboratory before gathering short-lived material. Activate the relevant collection tools in your inventory and check their condition. Collected plant material deteriorates, so a long sightseeing trip is a poor match for an experiment waiting at home.
- Identify the parent plants and note where to collect them again.
- Collect the correct sample rather than assuming a scan also gives you seeds.
- Use the sample's processing option to obtain seeds where required. Keep seeds separate from produce you intend to consume.
- Return to the supplied growing area and plant your selected pair.
- Reserve room for new growth instead of filling the entire bed with extra parents.
The first hotfix slowed degradation of carried items to roughly half its earlier rate. It did not remove degradation. Treat a fresh sample as something to process and use, rather than a permanent collectible.
3. Observe growth and identify the result
Check the growing plants through their cycle, including flowering. Do not assume that two different species reach each stage together, and do not leave a promising experiment unattended simply because both parents look healthy.
When new growth appears, inspect its species and properties. Record the parent combination and the output. A different appearance can help you notice a candidate, but the useful question is what that plant produces and how it supports your supplies or research.
If a field specimen has not reached the stage you need, the Field Sedation and plant-dart route can help you obtain seed stock. Build the growing area first so the resulting seed has somewhere useful to go.
4. Graft trees, then turn the result into seeds
Grow the host tree in your laboratory. Take a branch from a different tree in the same family and use it for the graft. Inspect the resulting fruit rather than treating the grafting action itself as proof that a new species was created.
- Grow a host tree from its seed.
- Cut a small twig from the host to make the graft point.
- Insert the selected donor twig at that point.
- Collect and inspect fruit from the grafted branch. Fruit on other branches can still be the original host's fruit.
- Use the changed fruit's processing option to obtain seeds, then grow the resulting tree.
Check which branch you harvested before concluding that a graft failed. The experiment does not guarantee an outcome, and ordinary fruit from an untouched branch is not evidence about the grafted branch. Keep the host and donor identities in your notes and preserve seed stock from useful results.
When the experiment produces nothing
| What you see | Check next | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Growing area will not operate | Water, power, light and B-pipe placement | A supply problem comes before a biological problem |
| Parents grow; no useful result | Parent identities, growth stages and available space | Keep a record; placement alone does not prove a working combination |
| Plants dry out after rebuilding | Water access and the supply layout you just changed | Removing infrastructure can interrupt growing plants |
| Grafted fruit looks unchanged | Which branch you harvested and the host/donor pair | Untouched branches may retain ordinary fruit |
| Sample disappears before use | Time spent carrying it and your game version | Degradation still exists after Hotfix #1 |
Change one part of the setup at a time. First establish that the growing equipment works, then test the parent pair, then compare outputs. Changing the parents and supply layout together makes the failed step much harder to identify.
Make a useful result repeatable
Record the parents, method and resulting plant. Keep seeds for another cycle before turning the rest into supplies. Once the pairing works, move to harvest and production planning. If the plants never reached the experiment stage, return to the laboratory setup checklist first.