Sandustry Planter Box Guide: Wet Seeds and Flowers

Understand the machine's job before placing it

The Planter Box is the controlled step in the Flower production chain. It accepts prepared Wet Seeds and creates Flowers, supporting the later Amethelis route. Its geometry also lets two valuable solids pass, so the output area should distinguish grown material from Gold or Amethelis moving through.

A reliable design begins upstream. Produce and store Wet Seeds deliberately, then feed a counted batch into an empty box. Keep the growth chamber separate from general seed storage. Update #3 clarifies that nearby Wet Seeds can be consumed by spreading Flowers, which can look like infinite growth while silently emptying a reserve.

Follow the documented input and output rules

The current official Planter Box page documents Wet Seed as the growth input and Flower as the result. It also states that Gold and Amethelis are the only solids that pass through. Other solids can occupy the structure or approach path, so keep a mixed waste stream away from the planter.

Update #3 changes the calamity and recovery behavior: one Wet Seed becomes exactly one Flower, shooting or digging seedlings can return Wet Seeds, and stuck seedlings eventually give up and produce Wet Seeds. These rules make recovery clearer but do not remove the need for controlled spacing and output clearance.

Build a serviceable layout

Use three boundaries: a Wet Seed buffer, the Planter Box growth area, and a Flower collection pocket. Add a separate pass-through lane for Gold or Amethelis if those materials share the module. Keep the Flower output far enough from reserve Wet Seeds that growth cannot consume inventory intended for another batch.

Provide player and tool access above or beside the growth area. A Flower or seedling stuck in an awkward cell should be recoverable without removing the whole box. Stop the Wet Seed feed before clearing so recovered seeds do not immediately re-enter the same blocked position.

Measure sustainable throughput

Treat Planter Box as one boundary in a longer chain. Start with empty or recorded buffers, count how much Wet Seeds reaches the input during a fixed interval, and compare that with Flowers, with Gold and Amethelis pass-through leaving the output. Record material still inside the chamber. A growing reserve before the machine identifies an intake or processing limit; a growing reserve after it identifies a collection or destination limit.

Do not infer an exact rate from a short animation. Let startup material clear, repeat the interval, and test again after saving and loading. If supply arrives in bursts, record both average flow and the largest burst. Add parallel capacity only after the same boundary limits two clean observations. Otherwise extra machines can hide a routing fault while consuming space, power, heat, cold, or scarce construction resources.

Diagnose the first failed boundary

If no Flower appears, confirm that the input is Wet Seed, not Seed or another solid, and that the growth cell has space. Check whether pass-through Gold or Amethelis has filled the destination. Clear unrelated solids from the box before changing the feed.

If Wet Seeds vanish faster than expected, look for Flowers reaching nearby stored seeds. If a seedling is stuck, use the v0.5.6 recovery behavior and collect the returned Wet Seed. Test one seed after clearing to confirm the one-to-one result before reopening the batch.

Apply the v0.5.6 version notes

Version 0.5.6 establishes the exact one Wet Seed to one Flower result and provides recovery paths for seedlings. Any older guide that assumes one seed can directly create several Flowers should be read as an observation of nearby-seed consumption, not a free multiplication ratio.

The patch makes the Flower calamity easier, but it can still spread through accessible Wet Seeds. Separate reserves with geometry the Flower cannot reach, label the batch size, and compare input and output counts. This turns a visually chaotic process into an auditable production step.

Validate the design in a small test cell

Build one isolated Planter Box with a limited input sample, visible output pocket, and a way to stop supply. Label the game version and active mods. Observe the expected transformation, any byproduct, where each pixel settles, and what happens when the destination fills. Then clear the cell and reverse the loading order if two materials share space. A repeatable small test gives a stronger design basis than a screenshot of a large factory.

After the test passes, copy the geometry into production while keeping access to the input, output, and removal controls. Leave enough room to inspect or drain the machine without opening a neighboring line. Recheck the route after patches that mention the machine, its materials, density, heat, fluids, energy, or building events. Keep the prior measurement with its version so a future change is visible instead of becoming an unexplained slowdown.

Use the pre-launch checklist

Before opening full supply, confirm that the input really is Wet Seeds, the planned result is Flowers, with Gold and Amethelis pass-through, every required power or temperature connection is active, and no incompatible material can enter. Verify output clearance, overflow capacity, a shutoff point, and a safe path for the player. Take one recovery save before connecting a rare or destructive input.

During the first long run, compare starting and ending inventory at every boundary. Watch for material trapped inside building cells, a mixed network, a full destination, and a reserve that only delays failure. If the line remains balanced through its normal burst and restart conditions, record the observed rate and promote the module as the factory's current versioned standard.

Field facts

Troubleshooting

• A Flower consumes stored Wet Seeds.

  Move the reserve outside the reachable growth area and feed only a counted batch.

• A seedling is stuck.

  In v0.5.6, dig or shoot it, or allow it to give up, then collect the returned Wet Seed.

• The Planter Box is blocked.

  Clear solids other than the documented Wet Seed input and Gold or Amethelis pass-through, then verify output space.