Ancient Seed Stardew Valley Guide: From Humble Beginnings

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Callum Marshall

Callum is the gaming managing editor and a certified Stardew Valley aficionado, pouring hundreds if not thousands of hours into this relaxing indie title. While overseeing the day-to-day running of the site, you'll commonly see Callum carve out some time to produce some content on one of his favorite games of all time, and lead from the front. Callum has been around the block within the gaming industry, working as an Editor-in-chief for a number of well-respected gaming outlets, he has worked as a games tester, he has gaming podcast experience, has worked in gaming PR. Basically, you name it, and Callum was probably there or somewhere on the periphery.

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Stardew Valley is a game that has the player start from humble beginnings and work hard to learn the tricks of the trade and become a farming master. The player will naturally need to build their skills when it comes to fishing, farming, mining, and foraging, for example.

However, what many players often overlook is the progression that players will make as they move from basic crops to luxury and very profitable crops.

The player, upon starting the game, will be given a little gift with a handful of Parsnip seeds inside, but as time goes on, the player will be able to access new seeds as the seasons’ progress, and as the player enters their second year, even more seeds will become available. Then add the seeds acquired in the Calico Desert and on Ginger Island, and the options can almost be overwhelming.

However, no matter how far and wide you search for luxury seeds in Stardew Valley, we would argue that there are no seeds that offer more than Ancient Seeds.

An Ancient seed produces an Ancient Fruit, which is hands down one of the most incredible and valuable items in the entire game, meaning that if you can work out how to get your hands on these seeds and have the ability to grow these crops, you will soon find your in-game wallet bursting at the seams.

However, you may just be starting out on your Stardew Valley adventure, tending to your first batch of Parsnip Seeds, and be wondering, what are Ancient Seeds? How can you get your hands on them? How do you care for them, and why are they so desirable?

Well, these are all great questions and questions that we are more than happy to answer. So without further delay, here is our comprehensive Stardew Valley Ancient Seed Guide.

What Is an Ancient Seed in Stardew Valley?

Cost: 100-1000G (From Travelling Merchant)

Growth Time: 28 Days to mature, then every seven days

Grows in: Spring, Summer, and Fall

An Ancient Seed in Stardew Valley is an item that works in two capacities. Most players will encounter this item relatively early in the game as an artifact that can be found underground.

When the player uses a hoe to dig this up, they can then donate this to Gunther in the Stardew Valley Museum, and this will give the player rewards that allow them to craft their own Ancient Seeds. This type of Ancient Seed cannot be planted, only donated, and will show in your inventory as a little pellet.

Then the second type on Ancient Seed is the type of seed that can be planted and will grow into one of the most luxurious and profitable crops in the game. When this crop is planted, in the Spring, Summer, or Fall, the player will be able to care for this plant for 28 days, and then when this is fully mature, it will bare Ancient Fruit, a very expensive item. The crop will then continue to produce these crops and will offer one Ancient Fruit every seven days.

How Do You Get Ancient Seeds in Stardew Valley?

There are a number of ways that players can get their hands on Ancient Seeds and begin creating their Ancient Fruit crop plantation. Here is a rundown of the various methods available:

The Travelling Merchant

The Travelling Merchant is probably your best bet if you want to get these seeds as early as possible, as technically if you are super lucky, you can get your hands on these by the fifth day of Spring.

However, we wouldn’t bank on this as there is only a 1.26% chance that these seeds will pop up when you visit the Travelling Merchant. If you do happen to find these in the Travelling Merchant’s inventory, you will play somewhere between 100-1000G, and this will give the player one seed. These seeds are never sold by any other merchant in the game.

The Stardew Valley Museum

The next method, and the one that will allow players to consistently make lots of seeds without relying on luck, is by donating the Ancient Seed artifact to the Stardew Valley Museum. This is the item that we mentioned above that, when donated, will grant players a reward from Gunther.

The player will be given one Ancient Seed as a reward for their efforts and will also be granted access to the crafting recipe for these seeds. So when the player digs up this artifact again, they can immediately convert this to an Ancient Seed that they can plant to produce succulent Ancient Fruit.

Seed Makers 

Then lastly, the player can also get their hands on Ancient Seeds by using Seed Makers. These machines are vital when it comes to expanding your production of Ancient Fruit and allow players to multiply that one solitary Ancient Fruit plant you care for into tonnes of plants.

However, what a lot of players aren’t aware of is that if you use the Seed Maker and convert any other crop into seeds, there is a 0.5% chance that the player will receive an Ancient Seed instead, which, no matter what you were converting, is an upgrade. This is a rare occurrence as it only happens every one in two hundred conversions, but if it happens, it’s a welcome bonus.

Why Should I Grow Ancient Seeds?

Okay, so now that you know how to get your first Ancient Seed, and you know that Seed Makers will be vital if you want to produce lots of these crops, it’s now time to run through the best practices for growing Ancient Seeds. Check out the tips below:

Don’t Sell Until You’re Ready

We touched on this, but we need to really drive the point home here. Ancient Seeds are not in good supply throughout the run of this game. The player may occasionally come across one or two seeds, but ultimately, unless the player uses Seed Makers to multiply the seeds in their possession, you will never be able to produce these crops in large quantities.

So if you are growing these crops and have the choice of selling these fruits or converting them into more seeds, we would almost always suggest that you keep adding to your Ancient Seed plantation.

If you convert one Ancient Fruit, you have the chance of creating three seeds from this action, which will help you boost your profits in the long term. We would suggest you will your Greenhouse completely before you consider selling your full yield.

Use Your Greenhouse

Speaking of the Greenhouse, the player should make the most of this facility when growing Ancient Seeds. This is because when Winter rolls around, the Ancient Fruit plants outside the Greenhouse will wilt and die, but that inside will continue to produce crops year-round. This means an ancient fruit every seven days for as long as you care for these crops.

Utilize Ginger Island

Then to piggyback on the last point, Ginger Island offers the player a home away from home that allows players to make use of a tropical farm which offers tonnes of room to plant crops.

This is essential to allow players to grow crops of the region like Mangos, Bananas, and the like, but as this area mimics the conditions of Summer year-round, Ancient Seed will always grow in this region. So be sure to fill this area to the brim with Ancient Fruit plants, and you will see your profits soar.

How to Get the Most Out of Ancient Seeds

Growing Ancient Seeds is only half the battle when it comes to making the most of these items, as even if you grow an Ancient Seed, selling it as it is would be a waste. There are some uses for Ancient Seeds aside from selling the raw product, and you can also use Artisan Equipment to transform Ancient Fruit into super-profitable artisan goods. So with that in mind, here is our rundown of the best way to get the most out of each Ancient Seed:

Use Them to Make Wine

While selling an Ancient Fruit as it is will give you a decent cash injection, it’s nowhere near as impressive as the amount of cash that can be made if you start using these fruits to make Ancient Fruit Wine. Let me use figures to support my point here; let the numbers do the talking.

So, if you sell the highest possible quality of Ancient Fruit and have the Tiller Profession active for a 10% buff to all crop profits, you will receive a maximum of 1,210G. This is a respectable sum, but when you add some artisan equipment into the mix, you realize that there is potential for much more. 

You see, if you use a keg to create Ancient Fruit Wine, and then you take this wine and allow it to mature in the Cellar, which is acquired by fully upgrading your farmhouse, just so you are aware.

You can up the quality of this wine to iridium star quality, and then you can sell this bottle for a staggering 4,620G, providing you have the Artisan Profession active. That’s pretty much three times the value of a standard Ancient Fruit, so be sure to stretch your Ancient Fruit’s profits as far as they can go. 

Use Them for Bundles

If you played the vanilla game and only got as far as completing the Community center, then you will be surprised to hear that Ancient Fruit functions as a requirement for some bundles in Stardew Valley, but we assure you, it does. Not just for one, but for two different bundles.

The player will need five gold quality Ancient Fruit to complete the Missing Bundle, which is a bundle added after the addition of the 1.5 Update. This is a bundle the player accesses in the Abandoned Joja Mart after the player completes the Community Centre. The player will also need Dinosaur Mayonaise, Caviar, Gold Quality Void Salmon, a Prismatic Shard, and Silver Quality Wine. 

Then if the player opts to play the game with remixed bundles for that little bit of an added challenge, they will need Ancient Fruit to complete the Pantry Bundle in the Community Centre. The player will also need to provide a Sweet Gem Berry as well which grows from a Rare Seed and can be bought from the Travelling Merchant for 1,000G. 

Use Them for Clothing 

Then lastly, it isn’t exactly use of Ancient Fruit you grow that will set the world alight, but adding a new look to your wardrobe is always welcome. The player can do this by using an Ancient Fruit on the Sewing Machine. This will then produce Yellow Genie Pants. These are baggy pants that offer a fun new look for farmers who want to ooze a certain magical, ancient aura.

Do You Need To Grow Ancient Fruit?

This depends on what version of the game you opt to play and how intent you are on achieving 100% in Stardew Valley. Strictly speaking, outside of the remixed bundles that we mentioned above, the only time where it is required to produce Ancient Fruit is to complete the Missing Bundle.

So if this is important to you, then yes, Ancient Fruit is essential. However, outside of this, there are other options when it comes to producing luxury crops that make a lot of money.

Being extremely profitable is something that you will have to do if you want to reach 100% completion, but you could do this just as easily with crops like Sweet Gem Berries, Starfruit, Strawberries, and other seasonal crops. Sure it might not be the most optimal way, but we are saying that Stardew gives you the freedom to choose your path to success. 

FAQs

Ancient Seed Stardew Valley Guide Final Thoughts

As you can see from the information provided, Ancient Seeds, and their product, Ancient Fruit, are very important items within Stardew Valley and not only give players the ability to make oodles of cash.

They also have other uses which can add value to any player’s playthrough. Sure, you may want to grow some Sweet Gem Berries and some Starfruit too, as one crop on its own can be a little dull to farm, but we would suggest that you really try and produce a lot of Ancient Seed plants, as this will be the key to making millions on your farm. We hope that this guide helps you grow this ancient crop in great volume and as always, thank you for reading SdewHQ!