So, I’ve been messing around with Stardew Valley again lately, trying to min-max my farm’s profits like a madman. Spring rolled around, and I started thinking about what to plant. I usually do strawberries, but then I remembered rhubarb.
I was like, “Wait a minute, isn’t rhubarb supposed to be pretty good too?” I vaguely recalled someone online saying it was more profitable than strawberries, but I couldn’t remember the details. I knew strawberries could be harvested multiple times, and I usually take that perk that increases the chance of getting double items when I forage, thinking that applied to crops too. Not sure about that now. I mean, in theory, more harvests mean more money, right?
Anyway, I started digging around. Found a bunch of forum posts and articles talking about crop profits in Stardew Valley. It’s a whole thing, apparently! People get pretty serious about this stuff. So, it turns out rhubarb seeds are mainly sold at the Oasis. You can also sometimes snag them from the Traveling Cart, but that’s always a gamble. A bunch of information is out there that rhubarb seeds cost 50 gold pieces.
Here’s the kicker: Rhubarb takes a whopping 13 days to mature! That’s almost half the season gone before you even see a single stalk. Strawberries, on the other hand, take 8 days for the first harvest and then keep producing every 4 days after that. So, even though rhubarb might sell for more individually, you can get way more strawberry harvests in a season.
I also learned about the quality levels of crops. There’s normal, silver, and gold. Apparently, silver quality gives you 40% more energy and health than the base, and gold gives you 80% more. That doesn’t really affect the selling price, though, which is what I’m focused on here. Someone online said that even with less than a full season left, strawberries can still make more money than rhubarb. That is if you don’t use the seed maker. I use that thing all the time. Maybe I need to think about that…
- Planted a bunch of rhubarb.
- Planted an equal amount of strawberries for comparison.
- Meticulously watered them every day.
- Kept track of every harvest and how much I sold them for.
My Experiment
After all that, I think it’s safe to say strawberries are still the king of spring, at least for my playstyle. I’m all about maximizing those harvests, and strawberries just give you way more chances to rake in the gold. I like my double harvest perk, and I think that helps with strawberries. So I’ll use that.
I guess rhubarb has its place. Maybe if you’re just starting out and can’t afford a ton of strawberry seeds, or if you just want some variety. Or, maybe if you are into making rhubarb pie. But for pure profit? Strawberries all the way, baby! This is just what I found, anyway. I’m sure there are other ways to look at it, but that’s my two cents on the great rhubarb vs. strawberry debate in Stardew Valley.
Next spring, I’m just going to fill my whole farm with strawberries. Gonna be swimming in gold! Or at least, that’s the plan. We’ll see how it goes!
