What is Cultivation?
Cultivation is the act of growing plants, bugs, and other essential materials used to craft consumables. Most of these materials can be gathered during expeditions, though it can be tedious and time-consuming. Being able to grow them at the research base is much more convenient.
Cultivating materials costs research points and is one of the best investments for the currency. It allows you to stockpile a hefty amount of items to make healing items, traps, slinger ammo, and other useful consumables you should bring on quests.
Cultivation is unlocked by visiting the botanical research center in Astera. At first, you will only be able to cultivate one type of material. You can upgrade the research center’s features by completing various deliveries and optional quests.
Botanical Research Center Upgrades
| Upgrade | Description | How to Unlock |
|---|---|---|
| Harvest Box Upgrade 1 | Adds 10 slots to your harvest box. | Complete the To Hold a Harvest delivery request. |
| Harvest Box Upgrade 2 | Adds 10 more slots to your harvest box. | Complete the Your Storage Solution delivery request. |
| Culture Materials Upgrade 1 | Unlocks cultivation of nullberry, might seed, adamant seed, antidote herb, fire herb, flowfern, snow herb, sleep herb, smokenut, dragonfell berry, blastnut, dragonstrike nut, slashberry, bomberry, flamenut, blazenut, and ivy | Complete the 3★ Prickly Predicament optional quest. Unlocked by talking to the laid-back botanist after reaching HR 3. |
| Culture Materials Upgrade 2 | Unlocks cultivation of nitroshroom, devil’s blight, parashroom, toadstool, exciteshroom, chillshroom, flashbug, godbug, thunderbug, baitbug, and spider web. | Complete the 4★ Royal Relocation optional quest. Unlocked by talking to the laid-back botanist after reaching HR 5. |
| Catalyst (fertilizer) | Grants growth up S on all culture slots. | Complete the Sprouting an Ancient Tree delivery request. |
| Culture Slot Upgrade 1 | Adds one culture slot to cultivate two kinds of materials (or duplicates) at a time. | Complete the 4★ Persistent Pests optional quest. |
| Mega Fertilizer (fertilizer) | Grants plant harvest up L on all culture slots. | Complete the 6★ Hard to Swallow optional quest. |
| Choice Mushroom Substrate (fertilizer) | Grants fungi harvest up L on all culture slots. | Complete the 6★ A Crown of Mud and Anger optional quest. |
| Thick Summon Jelly (fertilizer) | Grants bug/honey harvest up L on all culture slots. | Complete the 6★ Say Cheese! optional quest. |
| Ancient Catalyst (fertilizer) | Grants growth up L on all culture slots. | Complete the 6★ The Sleeping Sylvan Queen optional quest and Shattering the Grass Ceiling delivery request. |
| Culture Slot Upgrade 2 | Adds one culture slot to cultivate three kinds of materials (or duplicates) at time. | Complete the 7★ Talons of Ire and Ice optional quest. |
| Soft Soil (fertilizer) | Extends the duration of all active fertilizers by five. | Complete all fertilizer delivery requests, including A Gentle Earthen Bed. |
Recommended Materials to Cultivate
Honey
Honey is used in making potent healing items like mega potions, first-aid meds+, and max potions. Because of this, you are likely to burn through your supply very quickly. This is especially true if you always carry some honey with you to craft more restorative items in the heat of battle. Try to maintain a good stockpile of honey at all times.
Mandragora
Mandragora is the key ingredient used in crafting max potions. There are very few places to gather it during expeditions, so being able to grow them by yourself is extremely advantageous.
Flashbugs
Flashbugs are used to make flashpods, a type of slinger ammo that momentarily stuns monsters when fired. It also forces airborne foes to crash down, briefly giving you time to attack them without restraint. Flashpods are very effective against Rathalos, Rathian, Legiana, and even the elder dragons. It is easy to burn through a stash of flashpods, especially when running optional quests and investigations multiple times. Be sure to keep a hefty supply of them through cultivation.
Might Seeds
If you think you have stockpiled enough materials to make consumables, you can try to earn some money by growing might seeds. These sell for 140 z each for a good profit. You can also use them during quests to temporarily increase your attack power.
Other Materials
Bitterbugs, blue mushrooms, herbs, and sleep herbs are some of the materials that you will also likely deplete very quickly if you do not take time to gather them during expeditions. Cultivate as much as you need, since you will accumulate a good amount of research points just by going through the main story.
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