Hydroponics

Hydroponics is the process of growing plants with added nutrients, but without soil. A Botanist performs this role.

Starting your shift
First you will want to identify the machines around you that you will be using. Coordinate with the chef if they want anything specific to be grown, otherwise, grow 2 trays of wheat, 1 banana tree, and whatever else you feel like growing. Once you give your chef a bit to work with, you can start growing plants for Chemistry (located in Medbay), the Bartender or simply to sell by Cargo.

Medicinal Plants
Making plants for the Chem lab is pretty easy once you get the hang of making produce for the kitchen.

Tools
To fill a syringe to full, you will need to put 4-5 plants into the grinder. Once full, pass it to the Chem lab and tell them what it is so they can label it and hand it to the medical team.

Layouts
You start out with the default layout of where trays and vending machines are, however, if you so desire, you can change that. All you need is a Wrench which you can get from an Tool Vending Machine which can be found in the Engineering hallway. Holding the wrench, you just click on each plant tray, and then carry it into its desired position. Make sure to wrench it back down or it might fly away later. You do the same for vending machines and water tanks, etc.

Example Layout.

Plant Genetics
Plants treated with unstable mutagen will undergo random genetic mutations. The more unstable mutagen, the more mutations. Since many genes are essential to a plant's survival, randomly mutating them has a high probability of killing the plant. However, mutation is the only way to get some genes.

Plants can also be cross-pollinated with one another for a chance to transfer traits and other desirable properties. To transfer pollen from one plant to another, use a sterile swab. Avoid pollen cross-contamination! Different species can be crossed to produce hybrids. Since cross-pollination is also probabilistic, it may take several tries for you to transfer the traits that you desire.

Cargo Crates
A Botanist can request crates from a Cargo_Technician that contain seeds. Most seeds will be available either in Hydroponics lockers or the SeedMaker. Some exotic seeds will need to either be purchases from Cargo or mutated.
 * Seed Crate - An assortment of seeds available from a SeedMaker. e.g. carrot, chilli, corn, eggplant, lemon, oat, onion, potato, sugarcane, tomato, wheat
 * Exotic Seed Crate - An assortment of rare seeds. e.g. banana, cannabis, eff-plant, fly amanita, nettle, pineapple, tobacco, tower cap