Farming
Establishing a farm helps survivors or tribes become self-sufficient. Crops can be used to feed survivors and majority of tamed herbivore creatures that in return produce: eggs or feces. There are plenty of 'farm animals' or creatures like dinos. Farming is a bit labor intensive but it has long term payouts. At current max capacity berry bushes can hold up to 300 berries at once.
Farm Animals
During their time spent on the Arks, most 
Survivor learned that coexistence has benefits. Domesticating or Taming dinos helps in many ways: carrying heavy loads of resources like wood or metal, gathering food, protection from other dangerous creatures. Each creature can be effectively utilized and not every one of them needs to be a fighter or heavy lifter.
After taming these creatures, you can place them in a confined area either in fenced off land, or a structure that acts like a barn or stable to protect them from wandering away or being attacked.
Equus
The 
Equus is the horse in Ark and has a weight reduction bonus carrying certain materials such as Stone, Sand and Cactus. With an 
Equus Saddle and a 
Lasso, a player riding the Equus can use the Lasso to catch and pull a small or medium size creature quickly away to be fed and tamed; additionally Equus can be good for rescuing another player who may have fallen into a deep pit. They are easy to tame by riding on their backs then passively feeding Rockarrots. The saddle offers as a toolkit that works like a mobile Mortar and Pestle.
Parasaur
Parasaur are among other creatures the player will most likely encounter early in the game. They are known for their skittish nature of running from anything that they consider dangerous. Their cowardly nature has good reasons to explain this spontaneous behavior, due to their ability to sense dangerous creatures from a distance. The Survivor can implement this instinct by setting the tame Parasaur into a Turret-mode to see where the nearby danger or intruder is. The Parasaur will signal its owner who may then prepare their defenses.
They can also act as a Makeshift Baby Alarm, take note that false alarms will occur such as a wandering Oviraptor or
Diplodocus pushing around any tames.
Eggs, Meat and Fertilizer
Dodo and the Terror Bird
Dodo and 
Terror Bird are the chickens of Ark. Both lay eggs, are easy to breed and has good resources including: Meat or in Primitive Plus 
Fresh Poultry 
, and 
Feathers . The only true problem lies in taming the Terror Bird. The Dodo can easily be 
persuaded with 
Berries however the Terror Bird can kill you which makes them dangerous to tame.
- Oviraptor
- If there were ever foxes in Ark, the
Oviraptor would come as close to the personality of one. Not only can it assist the Survivor with stealing eggs from other dinos, it can help encourage local tame dinos to lay eggs more often. Let it roam near a Dodo pen and the dodos will be encouraged by their new neighbor to lay eggs more often.
- Phiomia
Phiomia are beneficial for their resources such as: Hide, Meat or in Primitive+ 
Fresh Bacon and since it poops often (especially when forcefed 
Stimberries) and larger amounts than the dodo it will be very helpful for fertilizer production. However, any creature can be used for Mass Meat Production.
Sheep
The sheep, 
Ovis are picky eaters and prefer 
Sweet Vegetable Cake or 
Lettuce over anything else, when it comes to taming. The taming expense is worth its weight in 
Wool and 
Raw Mutton. By using 
Scissors, the farmer can cut wool from the Ovis and use it as a resource to make 
Fur Armor in the 
Smithy, as well gain mutton when harvesting the corpse with a Chainsaw.
Apiary
Raising 
Bees is profitable. If the Survivor is confident enough, they can attempt to tame a Giant Queen Bee and transport her 
Bee Hive back to their farm. As long as the player stores 
Rare Flowers in the Bee Hive, the honey bees will continue to produce:
and in Primitive Plus mode
Honey has several uses. It can be used to tame:
By throwing honey off the Wooden Raft during the attack, it can calm the great 
Leedsichthys of the sea. It can also be used for Fish Bait or an ingredient in recipes like the Sweet Vegetable Cake and custom recipes. It is used to make extraordinary kibble, the highest tier of kibble. In anycase the Giant Bee Honey is a sweet snack for survivors.
Organic Polymer
Organic Polymer is an essential alternative resource for avoiding unwanted trips to gather 
Obsidian. It can craft and maintain 
Ghillie Armor among other items crafted with 
Polymer
The Following Creatures drop/produce Organic Polymer
Note that Karkinos cannot be bred however it can be worth it to kill them in the wild as they drop the most of the five. as with Achatina they do not directly drop it but rather produce and preserve it overtime along with 
Achatina Paste
As for breeding and slaughtering Mantis produce more than the Kairuku however they also take longer to mature and hatch compared to the Kairuku's shorter reproduction rate
Use Creatures such as a 
Direbear or 
Moschops with points invested into Polymer.
Rotten Meat, Vultures and Bugs
- Vultures
It doesn't take long to have 
Feeding Troughs full of 
Spoiled Meat. If the Survivor doesn't need the extra resource to craft Narcotics, then domesticating 
Vultures can help keep the Feeding Troughs clean from wasted meat. When it comes to farming, the Vulture doesn't have many uses other than its 
Eggs and the ability that causes 
Raw Meat to spoil quickly within its inventory.
Bugs
Bugs are also useful to keep Feeding Troughs clean from spoiled meat, however a couple of them have great fundamental abilities when it comes to a survivor's farm life.
- Dung Beetle
The 
Dung Beetle is more resourceful than any of them. As long as the player leaves them to wander in a safe place they can convert Feces (in their inventory) into 
Fertilizer and 
Oil. They produce fertilizer much more efficiently than standard Compost Bins, making the latter effectively obsolete. A few tamed Dung Beetles can support a decent sized greenhouse.
- Mantis the Farm Hand
If brave enough the survivor can attempt to tame this large, extremely aggressive creature; the 
Mantis. The Mantis has the capability to hold tools and weapons. Give it a good 
Metal Pick, that is then influenced by the Mantis' Melee Damage and it can mine large amounts of resources from rocks, including metal. Both resourceful and deadly, this is an insect that any farmer would want protecting their gardens.
Gardening
Gardens have an important role helping players survive during their struggle in the Ark. Not only do players gain nourishments to support themselves or their dinos, but they can also grow territorial plants that will assist in defending the survivor's 
Shelter. Truly a successful garden is very beneficial therefore this article will cover all aspects of gardening in ARK: Survival Evolved, including both standard gameplay and Primitive Plus gameplay.
Preparation
Four things are needed to grow crops:
- A
Crop Plot, 
Seeds,
Water and- Fertilizer, includes but not limited to only
Feces as well of Bonemeal Fertilizer from Primitive+.
Starting a garden even a small one, the player will have to gather resources not only to craft a Crop Plot to grow a plant in, just as well the needed resources to grow the plants. In ARK: Survival Evolved pick seeds from the wild vegetation, plant them in plots that you placed, water them and nurture them with fertilizer. Tend to your crops and they will grow to produce delicious and rare Crops, which can also be used to cook a plethora of recipes including useful dino food called 
Kibble that helps shorten the taming process! Explore to find the rare plant Seeds that also have powerful properties!
Gathering Resources
Just as it was in beginning a new game in Ark and gathering berries to survive, you probably found 'berry seeds' mixed in your or your 
dino's inventory. The chances of finding every plant seed just from local berry bushes and foliage near forests and beaches differs. There are some crops (in standard mode) alone that grows and produces the seed and fruit in specific places in Ark:
Citronal, Longrass, Rockarrots and Savoroot
You can find 
Citronal, 
Longrass, 
Rockarrots and 
Savoroot as well as the seeds from the plants in the warm climate mountains on The Island 
and The Center 
. You will be able to easily distinguish the difference from the common bushes.
-note: need info on Scorched Earth 
-
This doesn't apply to Ragnarok 
, the Rockarrots and Savoroots grow separately in the HighLands. To make your search easier there are a couple of old ruins in the highlands not far from the shore, that has both crops growing which may suggest that the former survivors that lived there originally had grown the crops in their own garden.
Plant Species X, Y and Z
Plant Species are the "territorial plants", mentioned before. However, the seeds are found separately depending on the Ark maps:
Also referred to as 'Spitter Plant', it is known for its aggressive reaction to spit poisonous projectiles at any creature that comes near its territory. However does not harm its owner or anything associated with their tribe nor ownership.
- The Plant Species X is found growing passively on the land by The Island's swamps, yet can be found from almost any bush in Ragnarok and The Center .
- The Plant Species X is found growing passively on the land by The Island's swamps, yet can be found from almost any bush in Ragnarok
Plant Species Y
While it doesn't grow in the wilderness, once the seed is planted and grown by the Survivor it will appear with a pinkish conical shape with small tentacle stems. It produces a fruit that has tentacles attached. If the player buries the fruit it will react as a trap toward enemies. Once the enemy steps on it, the tentacles will whip out of the ground to grab and constrict the trespasser tightly for a certain amount of time before dying.
- The seeds are only found in the purple flower foliage that grows on the ground in Scorched Earth and Ragnarok . You can confirm that is the plant, if you gain
Silk with the other resources. However the seed is rare and has a low chance of being harvested.
- The seeds are only found in the purple flower foliage that grows on the ground in Scorched Earth
Plant Species Z
- Is only found in the wilderness of the Aberration
Ark and can only be grown there.
- Is only found in the wilderness of the Aberration
Primitive+ Plants
The majority of the seeds can be found in any berry bush and foliage. There are places in Ragnarok that produces both the fruit and seeds:
Grapes
- Can be found from Grapevines growing in the vineyard ruins on an island near Green Obelisk.
The Best Seed Gatherers
Seeds can be obtained in two different ways, either by hand or using a dino. While any herbivore that the player can ride can harvest a good amount, the:
are very proficient creatures for berry and seed collecting. The Iguanodon even has the ability to convert stacks of berries into seeds.
Crop Plot
There are several different crop plots, keep in mind that not every plant can grow in the same plot. Primitive Plus crops only grows in the 
Large Crop Plot while standard Berries and other Crops can grow from small to large. Note that Plants do not grow faster nor yield more fruits in different crop plots.
Small crop plots are best suited for berries. Medium crop plots are best suited for vegetables. Large crop plots are best suited for Plant Species X/Y/Z.
To plant a seed to an empty plot, open the plot's Inventory screen, and place the desired item from your inventory into the plot's storage. The seed will be consumed within seconds -provided water and fertilizer or feces are available- and will put your plot into the "Seeded" growth stage.
Different Crop Plots
Planting
After the crop plot is placed and the seed is planted, it will need both water and fertilizer to get the Seeds to grow. The survivor can bring both water to the crop plot manually by means of using 
water containers, wait for a natural rainfall or then fertilize the garden using their own 
human feces. Both jobs themselves are tedious. There are better methods and resources of growing crops effectively.
Fertilizer
Using feces at first as a fertilizer might be good to get the garden started, but taking the time to either wait or deliver the product to the garden bed is not a lifestyle for the typical survivor. You can shorten the time and increase the fertilizer effects by four methods:
Bonemeal
- If the game-mode is Primitive Plus , the player could learn and craft Bonemeal Fertilizer: 1 ×
Keratin + 3 × Spoiled Meat + 5 × 
Hide + 3 × 
Charcoal.
Compost Bin
- One way of acquiring good quality fertilizer is by placing: 50 ×
Thatch + 3 × Feces = 1 × Fertilizer.
Dung Beetle
- Dung Beetles are also a good source of fertilizer once tamed. Put some feces in their inventory and wait about 15 minutes: Two Small Animal Feces will produce (1) Fertilizer, (1) Medium Animal Feces will produce (2) Fertilizer, (1) Large Animal Feces will produce (3) Fertilizer, and (1)
Massive Animal Feces will produce (16) Fertilizer and (14) Oil.
Toilet
- The
Toilet in Ark functions as an easy way to get Fertilizer. It is unlocked at Level 32, and requires a connection to irrigation pipes for it to work. Players can manually poop while sitting on the toilet, and upon pooping will give the player one Fertilizer and a temporary 33% experience buff that lasts 120 seconds.
See the list below to compare the Units of 'Effective Fertilizer'
- Types of Fertilizer
| Fertilizer type | Fertilizer units | Fertilizes for | Fertilizes full* plant for |
|---|---|---|---|
 Human Feces |
1,000 | 10m | 3h 5m |
 Small Animal Feces |
3,500 | 35m | 10h 48m |
| Medium Animal Feces |
7,500 | 1h 15m | 23h 8m |
| Large Animal Feces |
15,000 | 2h 30m | 1d 22h 15m |
 Massive Animal Feces |
35,000 | 5h 50m | 4d 11h 55m |
 Snow Owl Pellet |
50,000 | 8h 20m | 6d 10h 10m |
 Fertilizer |
54,000 | 9h | 6d 22h 30m |
| Bonemeal Fertilizer |
90,000 | 15h | 11d 13h 30m |
* When a plant has its maximum of fruits, it needs less fertilizer. As the fruits spoil after some time, leaving the plant in a non-full state for some time, these numbers are rather theoretical maximums.
To add feces or fertilizer to your plot, open the plot's Inventory screen, and place the desired item in the plot's storage. Once growing, your crop will slowly consume the first provided piece of compost, draining its value by one point per second (shown by a brown bar under the item). You can view your crop's total 'Fertilizer' value at anytime by viewing the plot's HUD. When the fertilizer reaches 0, the crop will degrade slowly and finally vanish (the crops will stay harvest-able, as long as they do not spoil).
A growing or fruit-producing plant needs approximately 100 units of fertilizer per minute (~1.67/s). Once the plant is full of fruits (for berries the limit per bush is 300, other plants can hold up to 150 fruits), the consumption is lowered to approximately 4.8/min (~0.081/s). As a rule of thumb, you should leave each of your plants with 144,000 fertilizer (a bit less than 3 Fertilizer), to keep it fertilized for 24 hours.
Irrigation
Irrigation will save time of having to continuously fill 
water containers and waiting for the next rain storm to happen. Depending if the gameplay mode the player is PvE or PvP, establishing a good network especially hidden is very important in PvP; so that your base may avoid being discovered by enemies. This section will cover the basics and advancements of building a good water system.
Pipes
To fill by irrigation, the player will need to have a working 
Tap near the plot. The Tap will only be considered working if properly connected to an 
Intake Pipe, or a 
Water Reservoir with water already inside, if pipes are connected to a water source correctly they will change in color from the normal stone/metal color to blue. This will indicate that water is flowing through the pipe. You will know the Tap is working correctly when your plot's HUD says "Irrigated" in the Water stats.
To fill by rain or snow, the crop box must have unobstructed access to the sky or have a water tap connected to a Water Reservoir that is outside where rain water can be collected. Although someplaces, especially in The Center that rains often; relying solely on rain or snow to provide water is unreliable and not advised.
Small Plots can hold a maximum of 200 units of Water. Medium Plots can hold 400 units. Large Plots can hold 600 units.
Hidden Pipes
One easy way of hide pipes is to position a 
Stone Irrigation Pipe - Vertical by using any preferred structure, in this example a 
Stone Pillar. Position the pipe how low you want it. Then break the floor foundation and place as many 
Stone Irrigation Pipe - Intersections as needed for future connections (remember to replace the 
Stone Foundations as you go to the next section).
Advance Pipe Concealment
You can hide irrigation pipes by clipping them onto the ground/slope. It requires:
- (1) Stone Irrigation Pipe - Vertical
- (2)
Stone Irrigation Pipe - Inclined - (2+)
Stone Irrigation Pipe - Flexible
First place the Stone Irrigation Pipe - Vertical, then clip a Stone Irrigation Pipe - Inclined downward (it will most likely look halfway in the ground). Go into the crawling position with another Stone Irrigation Pipe - Inclined look straight down to the expected end of the Vertical Pipe, and switch to Oribit Camera. You should be able to look under the ground. There you try to adjust your character to position the pipe. Once you have the 2nd Inclined Pipe placed completely under the ground, then destroy the pipes sticking out of the ground. When you use the Stone Irrigation Pipe - Flexible, it will barely show in the ground. You may have to do this several times as needed to completely hide your pipe connections.
Growth/Harvesting
As your crop develops, it will enter different stages of growth. The approximate time your plant takes to grow is dependent on the availability of water and compost. Anytime one or the other is missing, the growth rate grinds to a halt.
Crops grow slowly taking quite a few day/night cycles before they are harvest-able
- Seeded (0-1 Minutes)
- Seedling (1 Minute - ~7 In-Game Days; sometimes even a real-life day)
- Midling (~5 In-Game Days)
- Growthling (~1 to 2 In-Game Day to get to Fruitling)
- Fruitling (Final Stage)
When permanently fertilized, it takes about 1 real-life day to grow from Seeded to Fruitling. If the crop plot is enclosed by Greenhouse structures, crops grow significantly faster than usual.
Once your crop enters the "Fruitling" stage, your crop will begin to yield food, and occasionally new seeds. To harvest, remove the crops from the plot's Inventory screen. As with all containers, overfull plots will need to have items removed down to less than the maximum inventory size before new items can be added.
Greenhouse
Main article: 
Greenhouses give special bonuses to farming that can be seen on a crop box's HUD in dark green. The Greenhouse Effect improves crop growth speed and reduces the amount of fertilizer used. The maximum of the Greenhouse Effect is 300%.
Notes
- You can place (1) Massive Animal Feces and (50) Thatch into the
Compost Bin to get a Fertilizer. However if the player has a tamed dung beetle it is far better to place it in its inventory as it will yield 16 Fertilizer. 
Snow Owl Pellet is also an easy way to fertilize your plants. They don't need any time to be changed into fertilizer, and they give almost the same amount of nitrogen to the plants as fertilizer itself does.
Video Guide
| Structures | |
|---|---|
| Stone Irrigation | |
 Metal Irrigation | |
 Seeds | Amarberry • Azulberry • Citronal • Longrass • Mejoberry • Narcoberry • Plant Species X • Plant Species Y • Plant Species Z • Plant Species R • Rockarrot • Savoroot • Stimberry • Tintoberry |
 Plant Species | |
| Fertilizer | |