Six windows, one of them expensive, all of them missable.
The long middle of the season. Nitrogen splits, a herbicide in autumn, slugs after a wet October, and the flag leaf spray that costs the most and does the most. Miss any of them and you lose yield. You never lose the field and you are never asked for money.
The six windows, and when each one opens.
Nine recurring windows across the in-game calendar, of which six are agronomy, one is paperwork and two are boundaries. The shaded months are when a window is open; the darker ones are when it should actually be taken.
| What | J | F | M | A | M | J | J | A | S | O | N | D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn herbicideWeeds | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | Not in April | Not in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Available in October | At its best in | Not in December |
| Slug assessmentPests | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | Not in April | Not in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Available in October | At its best in | Available in December |
| First nitrogenNutrition | Not in January | Available in February | At its best in | Not in April | Not in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| T1 fungicideDisease | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | At its best in | Not in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| Flag leaf — T2Disease | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | Not in April | At its best in | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| Second nitrogenNutrition | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | At its best in | Available in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| Ear wash — T3Disease | Not in January | Not in February | Not in March | Not in April | Not in May | At its best in | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| Scheme paperworkCharlie | Available in January | At its best in | Not in March | Not in April | Available in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | At its best in | Not in October | Not in November | Not in December |
| Hedge and wall workGerald | At its best in | At its best in | Not in March | Not in April | Not in May | Not in June | Not in July | Not in August | Not in September | Not in October | Available in November | Available in December |
At its best Available This month, August
What each window costs and what it buys.
The cheap ones
- Autumn herbicide
- 90 Coins a hectareWorth up to 0.9 t/ha on infested ground and almost nothing on clean ground.
- Slug assessment
- 20 Coins, or free if you look yourselfThe only window where doing it yourself is genuinely as good as paying somebody.
- First nitrogen
- 120 Coins a hectareSets tiller survival. Cheap, dull, and the most commonly skipped by new players.
The expensive one
- Flag leaf — T2
- 410 Coins a hectareProtects the leaf that does about 45 per cent of the work of filling the grain.
- Timing tolerance
- ±4 in-game daysOutside that it still works, at roughly 60 per cent of the benefit.
- Worth, in a high-pressure year
- 1.4–2.1 t/haWhich is the difference between a good season and an ordinary one.
- Worth, in a dry year
- 0.2–0.5 t/haAnd this is the year everybody remembers spending the money for nothing.
The rules
- Missing a window
- Costs yield onlyNo decay, no death, no compounding penalty and nothing on sale to fix it.
- Relief cover
- Takes the must-do windowsSet through Harriet before you go. Free, and it covers up to 21 days.
- Buying your way out
- Not possibleThere is no premium input, no paid rescue and no way to purchase a missed application.
The flag leaf is the only real gamble in the middle of the season.
It is the dearest input of the year, it goes on in early May, and whether it was worth spending is not knowable until August. In a wet, high-pressure season it is worth well over a tonne a hectare. In a dry one it is worth almost nothing and you have spent the money anyway.
That is a genuinely uncomfortable decision made by every arable farmer in Britain every single spring, and it is the best thing in the middle of this loop precisely because there is no correct answer available at the time. The game shows the septoria pressure, shows the forecast, and then makes you decide with incomplete information, which is the actual job.
What the game will not do is sell you certainty. There is no premium forecast, no paid agronomy advice and no subscription that reveals the pressure earlier. Charlie will give you his opinion for nothing, and his opinion is wrong about a third of the time, which is roughly correct.
What missing each window actually costs.
| Window | If you miss it | Recoverable? | Anything on sale to fix it? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Autumn herbicide | 0.3–0.9 t/ha, on infested ground only | Partly, with a spring option | No |
| Slug assessment | Up to 14% of establishment in a wet autumn | No | No |
| First nitrogen | 0.4–0.8 t/ha | Partly, by loading the second split | No |
| T1 fungicide | 0.2–0.6 t/ha | Partly, at T2 | No |
| Flag leaf — T2 | 0.2–2.1 t/ha, depending entirely on the year | No | No |
| Second nitrogen | 0.3–0.7 t/ha, and the protein spec | No | No |
| Scheme paperwork | A year of that option’s income | Next year | No |
What Tending tells you, and what it refuses to.
Eight kinds of message. Two are off by default and the last one does not exist at all.
Capped at nine a season, nothing between 9pm and 8am, and the cap is per farm rather than per field. A game that tells a lapsed player they are being missed is a game that has decided guilt is a growth channel. This one has not.
Tending, questioned.
No. Four visits a season plays it competently and nine plays it well. A player who logs in once a season still harvests something, and nothing is destroyed by absence.
Relief cover through Harriet takes the windows that must be taken, for up to twenty-one days, free. It does the necessary rather than the optimal, which is the honest version of automation.
No, and that is the design. In a dry season it returns almost nothing and you have spent the most expensive input of the year. Every arable farmer in Britain has had that season.
And then it goes wrong.
One cycle in six, with a stated rate, a legible cause and nothing on sale to prevent it.
