Fertilizer

Based on game build 722832 | Last updated: 2026-04-17

Overview

Fertilizer is a component attached to items used to enrich farm soil. It tracks nutrient values, soil cycles, and withered cycles to determine the effectiveness of the fertilizer when applied. The component handles usage counting via finiteuses and manages item removal or stack splitting upon application through stackable. It automatically adds the fertilizer tag upon initialization.

Usage example

local inst = CreateEntity()
inst:AddComponent("fertilizer")

-- Set specific nutrient values (growth, water, season)
inst.components.fertilizer:SetNutrients(5, 2, 0)

-- Assign a callback for when fertilizer is applied
inst.components.fertilizer.onappliedfn = function(inst, final_use, doer, target)
    print("Fertilizer applied to target")
end

-- Simulate application logic
inst.components.fertilizer:OnApplied(ThePlayer, target_crop)

Dependencies & tags

Components used:

• finiteuses -- checks remaining uses and decrements count during OnApplied
• stackable -- handles item removal or stack splitting when uses are exhausted

Tags:

• fertilizer -- added on initialization, removed in OnRemoveFromEntity

Properties

Property	Type	Default Value	Description
fertilizervalue	number	1	General value multiplier for the fertilizer.
soil_cycles	number	1	Number of soil cycles this fertilizer supports.
withered_cycles	number	1	Number of withered cycles this fertilizer supports.
fertilize_sound	string	"dontstarve/common/fertilize"	Sound path played when fertilizer is applied.
nutrients	table	{ 0, 0, 0 }	Table containing nutrient values (growth, water, season).
onappliedfn	function	nil	Callback function triggered when fertilizer is applied.

Main functions

OnRemoveFromEntity()

• Description: Cleans up the component when removed from an entity by removing the fertilizer tag.
• Parameters: None
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

SetHealingAmount(health)

• Description: Deprecated function. Previously used to set healing amount, now empty.
• Parameters: health -- number value (ignored)
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

SetNutrients(nutrient1, nutrient2, nutrient3)

• Description: Sets the nutrient values for the fertilizer. Accepts either three individual numbers or a single table containing the values.
• Parameters:
  • nutrient1 -- number or table of nutrients
  • nutrient2 -- number (ignored if nutrient1 is table)
  • nutrient3 -- number (ignored if nutrient1 is table)
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

OnApplied(doer, target)

• Description: Executes the logic when fertilizer is applied to a target. Decrements uses via finiteuses, triggers onappliedfn, and removes the item if no uses remain.
• Parameters:
  • doer -- entity applying the fertilizer
  • target -- entity receiving the fertilizer
• Returns: None
• Error states: None

Heal(target)

• Description: Deprecated function. Previously used to heal a target, now returns false.
• Parameters: target -- entity to heal (ignored)
• Returns: false
• Error states: None

Events & listeners

None.