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    Composter

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    IrriliaIrrilia Posts: 29 Member
    in The Sims 3 General Discussion
    Ok, have thrown stuff in the composter, maybe I am not waiting long enough for results? Nothing seems to happen. Clueless. What do I need to do to use the composter. Thank you! :)

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      AMariseSAMariseS Posts: 2,458 Member
      Found using search term "the sims 3 composter":
      http://answers.ea.com/t5/The-Sims-3/How-to-use-compost/td-p/269724
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      TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
      You mean the swift-gro gardening station? You click to open, add 3 harvestables for fertilizer, then click to use composter. The sim should go and turn the crank on the side, the station should sprinkle down a bunch of particles, and all the plants under the station should be fertilized and weeded.

      If you cannot open the composter inventory you'll need to buy a new one, or, what I do, put it in family inventory, save the game, exit to the desktop, relaunch, and replace the station.
      TreyNutz's Blog
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      KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,930 Member
      edited December 2015
      I just drag and drop items onto the Swift Gro Gardening Station without opening the composter. The SGGS lights up as you do this to indicate the item has gone into the composter. When there are 3 items already in it it doesn't light up when you try to add something to it this way.
      S.jpg

      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
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      SuzyCue72SuzyCue72 Posts: 526 Member
      I always put those little yellow sunshine things that the Sunflowers produce in the composter. That's because it would feel like such a waste to use nice fresh vegetables as fertilizer.
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      edited December 2015
      @SuzyCue72 does doing that make more fertilizer, or maybe make it go farther would be the correct term? I haven't played with the gardening station yet but definitely like using that sunshine for fertilizer. Of course I'm also way too fond of the green dragon for a gardening assistant. :smiley:
      Thanks to AdBlock: currently blocking 184 annoying animated siggy .gifs ;)
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      TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
      edited December 2015
      I don't like using the sunlight blossoms because they advance the plants to the next growth state which is often another harvest. The swift-gro already adds a 1:30 pm plant update. Using the sunlight blossoms is just too much work for my sims. I typically grow fertilizer (usually garlic or life fruit) or just purchase some lobster at the grocery store.

      Lately I have a plumbot in the household and they can use Optimum Fertilizer which is free.
      Post edited by TreyNutz on
      TreyNutz's Blog
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      @TreyNutz thanks for that info! I didn't notice the plants automatically being promoted to the next level with the sunshine. Now the dragon on the other hand, well, just lolz. That little guy's a gardening maniac. Mostly I like to use him before my Sim has done anything in the garden, though, so it's helpful without being over-powered.

      I've been mostly using this in my NIF Challenge game where there is no grocery store and if I want fertilizer my Sims either have to grow it or catch it which is something I would have them do anyway since I have a huge aversion to actually buying fertilizer. And yeah, I'm that way in real life, too. Our garden is all organic and buying fertilizer is way expensive so we usually end up composting stuff for it which is much easier to come by.
      Thanks to AdBlock: currently blocking 184 annoying animated siggy .gifs ;)
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      TreyNutzTreyNutz Posts: 5,780 Member
      @BSIRegina I'll have to get Dragon Valley some day. The dragons sound interesting.
      TreyNutz's Blog
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      @TreyNutz I have only used the green dragon so far. I decided to take the plunge back in October and buy the Gold edition of DV to celebrate my actual real and mostly successful attempt at giving up a very old habit. I figured that since I had to pay real money for DV I may as well get the best bang for my buck.
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      SurrealSurreal Posts: 3,241 Member
      The dragons annoy me after a while. Any time a sim goes idle, they're popping out the dragon. It's fine I guess - but I don't always like having motives instantly filled - it can throw off the balance a bit if you know what I mean. How many nights are you going to stay up all night? How much skilling does a sim need to do in a day? They are fun here and there, but... ultimately more annoying than fun.
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      Ah, sure the whole idle thing can get annoying but I find as soon as I direct them to do anything they can't do with the dragon in tow they put it away. I haven't played with anything but the green dragon but I have played Sims around the clock and find it kind of fun, actually. Maybe it's because if I didn't have to I would never sleep.
      Thanks to AdBlock: currently blocking 184 annoying animated siggy .gifs ;)
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      Okblondee7Okblondee7 Posts: 2,607 Member
      @BSIRegina, sorry to be off topic, but I just recently aquired Dragon Valley and am curious about the dragons. I noticed an egg in my catalog somewhere; is that how you get the dragon? It hatches? Does it need to be fed or groomed? It sounds like it is similar to the 'friends' the babies get in the mail; no upkeep, but they apparently have skills?

      Thank you in advance.

      Oh, back on topic, I am planning to get the Swift-Gro Gardening System and appreciate everyone's insight and tips. :)
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      @Okblondee7 In Dragon Valley there are at least a couple of eggs about the town you can just pick up and hatch out but otherwise yes, buy the egg from Buy Mode and I think it takes seven hours to hatch. I had my Sim talk to the egg about the weather three times for the green dragon to hatch. I don't know if there's a set number but it's pretty easy to talk to it three times during seven hours. From what I've read once it hatches you'll want to name it right away as apparently another Sim can take it if you don't. There's an option for feeding the dragon but I don't know how important that is. Also your Sim can talk to the dragon. In the case of the green dragon there's an option for talking about gardening.
      Thanks to AdBlock: currently blocking 184 annoying animated siggy .gifs ;)
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      Okblondee7Okblondee7 Posts: 2,607 Member
      @BSIRegina, thank you for elaborating! I look forward to hatching a few dragons! :)
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      KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,930 Member
      @Okblondee7, I don't know if you noticed, but there are 3 dragons that come with Dragon Valley, and there is an additional black dragon that comes if you have both DV and The Duke of Bows Renaissance Faire Venue installed. The black dragon lets your sim summon death flowers.

      I hope you enjoy your new gardening station. Are you getting the entire Greenhouse Venue or just picking a few items out of it?
      S.jpg

      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
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      SurrealSurreal Posts: 3,241 Member
      @Okblondee7 - all of the dragons have skills - the green one helps with gardening the red one can cast spells on other sims like fireball and... something else that sounds equally devastating, the purple one can summon someone to your lot on command and possibly make you friends with them - not sure, and the black one can turn sims into zombies and summon a ghost and summon a death flower. They each nearly instantly max out two motives - different ones depending on the dragon, and the motives stay maxed until the moodlet expires. Note you only get the black one if you got the Duke of Bows venue.
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      SuzyCue72SuzyCue72 Posts: 526 Member
      BSIRegina wrote: »
      @SuzyCue72 does doing that make more fertilizer, or maybe make it go farther would be the correct term?

      Hm... I'm not sure what you mean by "make it go farther"? I have never used anything else than the sunflower sunshine thing in the composter, so I don't have anything to compare with.

      I have never tried the green dragon as gardening helper, must do that next time I play, it sounds fun! :)


      TreyNutz wrote: »
      Using the sunlight blossoms is just too much work for my sims.

      If you want to spare your sims some gardening work you should try the Grandpa's Grove tractor! It's super effective, and does all the work in no time compared to when the sims do it manually. :)

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      Okblondee7Okblondee7 Posts: 2,607 Member
      edited December 2015
      @Karritz, I have the entire thing on my wishlist, to break down into affordable items later. I am going to gift myself the SGGS just to get started and to make the set less pricey when it comes back up on the DD.

      I also have the Duke of Bows Renaissance Faire Venue on my WL just to get that black dragon! :)

      @Karritz, thank you, I am sure I will love it. So many of the pre-made Sims that I play love to garden and I think getting the SGGS will make gardening a bit easier. For me at least!

      OK, I think I'll just go check that SGGS off my wishlist now... :)

      Edit: Wow, I type too slowly! @Surreal, thank you so much for that information! So good to know! :)
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      SurrealSurreal Posts: 3,241 Member
      No worries, @Okblondee7

      I need to get that tractor thingie - sounds like a great time saver.
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      lasummerblasummerb Posts: 2,761 Member
      you can drag 3 items to the composter and click on it to choose compost.
      zY3w4Ds.pnghttps://reignagameofpower.wordpress.com/
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      BSIReginaBSIRegina Posts: 5,110 Member
      SuzyCue72 wrote: »
      BSIRegina wrote: »
      @SuzyCue72 does doing that make more fertilizer, or maybe make it go farther would be the correct term?

      Hm... I'm not sure what you mean by "make it go farther"? I have never used anything else than the sunflower sunshine thing in the composter, so I don't have anything to compare with.

      I have never tried the green dragon as gardening helper, must do that next time I play, it sounds fun! :)


      TreyNutz wrote: »
      Using the sunlight blossoms is just too much work for my sims.

      If you want to spare your sims some gardening work you should try the Grandpa's Grove tractor! It's super effective, and does all the work in no time compared to when the sims do it manually. :)

      Sorry to be confusing. What I meant was if you put one Sunshine in the machine does it fertilize only one plant or more than one?
      Thanks to AdBlock: currently blocking 184 annoying animated siggy .gifs ;)
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      Okblondee7Okblondee7 Posts: 2,607 Member
      @BSIRegina, I have that tractor! I was gifted the entire set a few weeks ago, but haven't played it yet. Great to know, thank you! :)
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      KarritzKarritz Posts: 21,930 Member
      A word or warning about harvesting with the green dragon and the tractor.

      You get a lot (a BIG LOT) of harvestables in your Sim's inventory in a hurry when using either of these objects.

      If you don't keep removing those harvestables from the Sim's inventory you will notice 3 things happening.

      1. Green Dragon and Sim using it will start resetting to front of lot after harvesting
      2. Tractor will end up beside the track (or vanish altogether) after harvesting
      3. You will get lag so bad you can't get anything to move.

      So the moral of the story is - keep an eye on your inventories especially if using the green dragon or tractor to harvest with.

      I personally love using both of them but I do sometimes forget to watch my inventories - until bad things start to happen. If let go that long it can be a real pain dragging all that stuff out of their inventory. But they get really rich fast when you sell it all.
      S.jpg

      https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW44b3uCMtCSaq4gwC8EZg
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      SurrealSurreal Posts: 3,241 Member
      Good to know, @Karritz - thanks.
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      Okblondee7Okblondee7 Posts: 2,607 Member
      @Karritz, wow, thank you for that very important information! I am so glad you are online today! I probably would have killed my game.
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