Editing Guide to hydroponics (section)

== Basics of Botany ==

[[Hydroponics]] and the [[Botanist]]s who work there are important to the station, especially in longer rounds. Botanists grow plants that the [[Chef]] can use for food. Without botany, the station will have to live off of beef jerky and space twinkies, or starve to death.

=== Your Area ===

Hydroponics is divided into two rooms. The big section is where you'll spend most of your time growing goods. Trays are available where you grow plants and two vending machines, one with seeds and the other with miscellaneous items such as nutrients and tools for your job. The bio-generator can be used to grind plants and produce things for the station. In tandem is the seed dispenser used to reproduce your product. The northern area is where you can grab most of the equipment needed to work in botany.

Plants require nutrients (fertilizer) and water to grow. They are also bothered by pests and weeds.<br>
Trays come equipped with alerts that flash specific colors to tell you what's happening with your plant.

From left to right -
* '''Green''': Ready to harvest.
* '''Red''': Low health, caused by weeds/pests/toxins/end of lifespan.
* '''Yellow''': Low nutrients.
* '''Blue''': Low water.

Tools that are of use in botany -
* {{anchor|Plant_Analyzer}}'''Plant Analyzer''': Shows detailed detailed plant statistics. Very useful for growing fragile plants like Ambrosia Deus.
* {{anchor|Cultivator}}'''Cultivator''': Kills Weeds.
* '''Plant Bag''': Collects up to 50 items or 100 seeds from your harvest. Useful for moving those into the fridge or biogenerator.
* '''Wrench''': Used to move your trays around.
* '''Wirecutters''': Used to set up the irrigation system. If 30u or more of water is put into trays while the irrigation is set up, water will be shared across trays. This will also distribute things like mutagen and plant killer.
* {{anchor|Hatchet}}'''Hatchet''': Chops tower-caps into planks, chops other things. This is also a robust tool that fits in pockets.
* {{anchor|Shovel}}'''Shovel''': Digs up grass floors and cleaning the dirt.
* {{anchor|Spade}}'''Spade''': Removes and destroys plants in a tray.
* '''All-In-One Grinder''': This is how you extract reagents from plants - throw them in and hit the "grind" button.
* '''Portable Seed Extractor''': This can harvest and pick up plants and turn up to 100 plants into seeds. Less efficient than the machine.

=== [[File:Seed_Extractor.gif|Seed Extractor]] Plant growing 101 ===

Take some seeds from the vendor and put them into the trays. Now, take a look at the tray with a plant analyzer. For now, you only need to pay attention to the bottom five stats - '''Water/Nutrition''' and '''Weeds/Toxic/Pest''' levels.<br>
Now, fill a bucket from the water tank and grab fertilizer from the vending machine. You get rid of weeds with the cultivator and remove pests with pest spray. [[Chemistry]] can give you better chemicals for this, which will be explained later in the guide.<br>
Some plants have a varied growth times, such as wheat growing faster while watermelons or apple trees take a little longer before you can harvest from them.<br>
Once your tray flashes green, you're set to harvest. If you want to replicate the plant to continue growing more, just insert it into the seed extractor.

=== [[File:Biogenerator.gif|Bio-generator]] Biogenerator ===

The Biogenerator makes items out of the nutriment in plants. As a rule of thumb: More nutriment = more biomass. Watermelons and pumpkins are commonly used due to their 20% nutriment boost [[#Traits|trait]].<br>
To get biomass, grab a spare bucket and equip the machine with it, then use the plant bag to put fruits inside.<br>
If you somehow run out of fertilizer in the vendors, remember you can print the three standard fertilizers here. Keep in mind that you can craft a whole bunch of useful items from the leather/cloth sheets the biogenerator creates.

=== [[File:plant dna manip.gif]]DNA Extractor ===

The DNA extractor allows you to extract and modify seed stats and [[#Traits|traits]]. This machine is what lets you become a [[Chemist]] on speed.

This is a little complex, so look at: [[Guide_to_hydroponics#Advanced_Botany|Advanced Botany]]