What to grow in your “spare” time??

I often find myself wondering what to grow when I have 2-4 hours to spare (of a CAC or before going to work or bed). There was a time when Lavender and Sage were the ultimate cash-cows in this timeslot (90-70-ish CCs/item) but prices have dropped (50-53 CCs), and so has the opportunity to make decent CCs. (??)

I find my barn is bursting with all crops from tomatoes and below, but why? I need a strategy for the crops in the 2-4 hour slot.

Any suggestions?

 

Good question Hatzie. This is something I wonder about almost everyday. I look forward to reading suggestions.

 

Tulips are the current best bet: in my mkt they range from 60/80 CCs each. They take 03:35, watered.

But anything starting with cornflowers (03:00, watered) is easily sold at 50+CCs, except for beans (typical, 43/44), at least in my mkt. That is: cornflowers, violets, gerberas, gooseberries, peas, lilacs, rosemaries, cabbages, lilies of the valley, peppermints.

Good bets are dentallaria and Oranje tulips (both, 02:24, watered). They easily get sold at 70+CCs.

Orchids (02:16, watered) easily sell at 40+CCs.

With less demand, all the highest levels shorter growth time ones: lotus, chamomile, meadowsweet, laurel, persian buttercup. They all range from 02:36 to 2:51, watered; they all sell at 70/80/100/120 CCs each. But demand is slow.

And, let me add this, sage and lavender are still good bets. Being able to sell 03:12-watered crops is a nice return, better than most animals, products, whatever.

Don't forget dentallaria, lavender and sage are required in hugely large amounts in Garden Expo and No Rest on the Farm. Therefore, whatever happens (namely, too many nFHOs asking for them, or events) makes their prices skyrocket very easily. The same is applicable to snowdrops, but these take as long as pumpkins, out of the range you both are wondering about (and there are others beyond it, but I grow them only as night bridges, when I do). So, any of these are good bets to hoard for sale when prices peak, like when too many nFHOs ask for them and there is a chained series of events -therefore, preventing players like me from growing them often enough.

Amusingly, though I'm fully aware of how profitable they are, I cannot ever sell any of these, though I grow many of all of the above on a daily basis. It's because I need lots of them, every day, for the nFHOs. I grow them a lot precisely because it's unprofitable to buy them.... And I try to keep a stock of at least 7K of each of them so that I can cope with nFHOs demand during chained events periods. In fact, this is exactly what I've been mostly busy with while I work since BB finished and before the next row of events starts.

 

Thank you Aluntino! This is exactly what I was looking for!!
Will have a closer look at it (my market vs. yours etc.) in the morning.

Ps. have 4955 Oranje tulips in my barn - left over from the Dutch event; talk about miscalculating an event crop - but happy to
see they actually sell, at some stage

 

Aluntino got me started on the old forums on the sustained road to increased profits by recommending Corn and Oats.
Until about a week ago this was true and the bottom fell out of the Oats market and after trying to buy some cheap product to sustain the price I thought I'd let the market crazies have their way. I have found Canola to be a steady market for my overnight crops although there has been some weakness and market fools that try to sell 10-12 CCs cheaper per unit. I usually buy some of the cheaper stuff if it is under my break even selling point.

 

In my spare time I try to grow plants that are needed in a lot of feeds. Like corn, potatoes, carrots, hay(but there are not between 2-4 hour-crops).
A lot of times I try to buy them but sometimes they are very expensive...

 

Usually in my 2-4 hour slots I try to grow low level crops that take short amounts of time to grow - generally anything from corn down. This is because I have got 2-4 hours to devote to the routine of plant, harvest, plant, harvest. If I've got spare time when I can attend to my farm regularly there is no point in sitting around waiting for longer crops to grow. Instead I use the time to stock up on low level crops.
Similarly, I plant my long crops overnight, since there's no point in having matured crops sitting there waiting for me to wake up.
Usually 4-5 hour crops will be planted on my busy days/when I want to get some decent work done, because then I can block farmerama until my crops are ready for harvest and won't be tempted to go on.