How many seeds do you plant per square?

[Acolyte]

I've remember reading somewhere that as many as 25 plants could be planted per square but that not all would sprout. So my question to those farmers out there is how many?

Thanks!
   - Shane

[PALU]

You plant one fistfull of seeds per tile. Planting another fistfull will replace the previous one. Thus, each planting already plants a larger number of seeds than the number that will sprout.

It is possible to abuse the system by planting a new fistfull if the feedback indicates only a small number of plants will sprout to get a new roll of the (skill based) RNG, but there is nothing like that in real life...

It's also possible to plant multiple fistfulls in order to get skill increase rolls, but agriculture is a skill that tends to increase fast through planting anyway.

The number of plants that can sprout per tile is different for different crops. The wiki has the details, but I think yarrow has 5 as the maximum, while rye/barley has 25.

[Tom H]

I don't consider it abuse. I think of it as sorting out the bad seeds, which one would do when planting by hand.

[Plotinus]

It's easy enough to just prepare more soil for planting. Suppose your first seed will sprout 1 plant and your next will sprout 5, if you plant them in the same place, you get 5 for 2 seeds. if oyu plant them in 2 tiles then you get 6 for 2 seeds. 5 < 6.

[Acolyte]

Thank you, 1 per tile it is.

   - Shane

[Acolyte]

So, next question is how big a field do people normally grow?

   - Shane

[Tom H]

9x3. I just plant a few turnips, for baiting traps.

[Plotinus]

I have reached the tile limit before with planting. To avoid that, I try to plant no more than a third of the area. Lately I settle by a ford and plant rows with 2 tiles in between them along the ford, and then put a trap fence around the edge of the ford.

I don't usually need the returns on my agriculture by the time the harvest is in, because meat from my traps is plentiful, but I do it anyway. When I'm first starting out and living by fishing I just prepare the soil after every little cooking fire.

[PALU]

My last character had 12 9*9 fields inside a trap fence, but didn't plant anything the last year due to over production.
There are a few reasons for the agricultural excess:
- The Nerpezit Cooking Mod: The two recipes I use (Goulash and Borsch) require agricultural products as input.
- I've decided to use Yarrow for spices, and it's a low yield crop.
- The initial agriculture skill is low -> low yield, which increases fairly quickly.

I've placed my fields 3+ tiles away from my settlements in order to avoid running into problems with the item limit at the homestead. Otherwise, Plotinus' gradual expansion one cooking fire at a time is a smart approach (I, in contrast, cut trees and prepare for soil preparation during my characters' first winter [characters starting in "spring"]), spending a month or two more or less constantly in burning/soil preparation once the ground thaws [planting of early crops happen in there as well, but that doesn't take much time]).