Agrarian Skys help, venting, and discussion thread

[Kik]

Hey, i'm trying to breed some teak trees to eventually get Blue Mahoe trees and i'm just wondering if i'm doing it right?

I am breeding Jungle Tree's and Silver Lime (Although I don't think they are pure breed). I use to have a mix of different trees, I chopped them down and only planted a mix of Jungle and Silver Lime but I still seem to be getting a mix of the other saplings when I 'use a grafter' (for lack of better words) on these trees! Are my saplings contaminated?

Just wondering what I am doing wrong as I am not getting any teak! Ive searched all over and can't find any clear guide to this tree breeding. Can anyone please help? I'll post pictures if needed. I have bee's in the area and hoping to get some butterflies (I have no idea how they spawn)

Help and explanations will be much appreciated!

Cheers!

EDIT: Here's an image, may help? You can maybe see there are two varients of Silver Lime, is this a problem?

View attachment 11704

View attachment 11705

Hey Mechman , the answer to the dirt Q is very quick and easy so it's no surprise he's gotten many replies to your zero in the amount of time since you both posted.

Though I'm no expert on tree breeding/bees (also, it's been a good while since I've done them) I'll try to give you some info and hope more knowledgeable people will pipe in with clarifications/specifics.

Firstly, bees have a tree pollination area three times as big as their flowering area which you can find when you use the beealyzer on them. As I understand it, leaf mutation checks happen on a timed interval (no idea specific length) and can happen on any valid combination the leaf blocks within that very big area. So trying for leaf mutations the old school forestry way is very time consuming and, depending on the variety of trees you have inside that big area, can seem very random.

You can minimise the randomness of the process by acquiring specific pollens and applying them directly to a particular leaf block with a right click of the pollen in your item bar onto the appropriate variety leaf block for the mutation you are after.

I know of two ways to acquire pollen in Ag Sk: with the alveary sieve? not sure of the correct name, and through gendustry machines.

Butterflies should spawn under leaf blocks inside that (again) big leaf mutation area, when the mod checks for ... bees working, leaf blocks above the spawn site... and one other condition I can't recall.. To capture the butterflies, you use a scoop to knock them senseless and they'll fall to the ground, once you walk over them they'll get picked up into your inventory. To release the butterflies, you just right click them on a block and they will get placed there, and then shortly regain their senses and start flying. Butterflies can be used to pollinate instead of bees and can be more reliable if you place your target trees and the butterflies in an enclosed area (a building or greenhouse type) they'll only pollinate with the pollens of the actual trees inside that building.

Very sorry, that's as much information as I can recall off the top of my head without doing a big google search.

Good luck with your search.

 

[YX33A]

Wow no response for me and so many responses for the other guy

Maybe there's a reason why? Dunno, maybe... we don't all into tree breeding? That said, taking a look now.
Okay, quick question, since you have no images of the leaves you are actually shearing... Do you even have Glasses from Forestry? Anyway, @Bagman817 is spot on with the "best" way to get your trees. Best, as in, quick and easy, but not cheap at all.

 

[Kik]

The glasses from forestry that show which actual leaf blocks have mutated are spectacles I believe.

 

[Mechman007]

Hey Mechman , the answer to the dirt Q is very quick and easy so it's no surprise he's gotten many replies to your zero in the amount of time since you both posted.

Though I'm no expert on tree breeding/bees (also, it's been a good while since I've done them) I'll try to give you some info and hope more knowledgeable people will pipe in with clarifications/specifics.

Firstly, bees have a tree pollination area three times as big as their flowering area which you can find when you use the beealyzer on them. As I understand it, leaf mutation checks happen on a timed interval (no idea specific length) and can happen on any valid combination the leaf blocks within that very big area. So trying for leaf mutations the old school forestry way is very time consuming and, depending on the variety of trees you have inside that big area, can seem very random.

You can minimise the randomness of the process by acquiring specific pollens and applying them directly to a particular leaf block with a right click of the pollen in your item bar onto the appropriate variety leaf block for the mutation you are after.

I know of two ways to acquire pollen in Ag Sk: with the alveary sieve? not sure of the correct name, and through gendustry machines.

Butterflies should spawn under leaf blocks inside that (again) big leaf mutation area, when the mod checks for ... bees working, leaf blocks above the spawn site... and one other condition I can't recall.. To capture the butterflies, you use a scoop to knock them senseless and they'll fall to the ground, once you walk over them they'll get picked up into your inventory. To release the butterflies, you just right click them on a block and they will get placed there, and then shortly regain their senses and start flying. Butterflies can be used to pollinate instead of bees and can be more reliable if you place your target trees and the butterflies in an enclosed area (a building or greenhouse type) they'll only pollinate with the pollens of the actual trees inside that building.

Very sorry, that's as much information as I can recall off the top of my head without doing a big google search.

Good luck with your search.

Thanks so much! Helps alot, especially on how to aquire pollen which was another problem I couldn't find out on google! Thanks so much! =D[DOUBLEPOST=1403833759][/DOUBLEPOST]

Maybe there's a reason why? Dunno, maybe... we don't all into tree breeding? That said, taking a look now.
Okay, quick question, since you have no images of the leaves you are actually shearing... Do you even have Glasses from Forestry? Anyway, @Bagman817 is spot on with the "best" way to get your trees. Best, as in, quick and easy, but not cheap at all.

yeah I was kinda joking about the getting no reply, I wasn't actually sad, just kinda wanted to bump my post, sorry =P

No I did not have the glasses on nor my apiarist suit (helmet does same thing as the glasses) but I know all about that! I do have trees already pollinated, but like my original post said, i'm getting all the old trees that I cut down! (Such as hill cherry and pecan trees)

 

[Jaxx050]

Just another general troubleshooting:
Have you tried putting cobble into the hopper manually to see if the problem is at the itemduct level or the hopper level
Next, have you tried breaking and replacing your crucible (sometimes blocks just go weird and bug out, breaking and replacing it resets such behaviour)

Sorry for the long list of questions we're giving you, but I guess that means none of us have come across the problem and we're just asking things that we'd try to do if that situation came up for us

I tried that as well (didn't help) as just using autonomous activators, which do work but are absurdly expensive for larger generation means, so I'm just hoping someone else has come across this issue.

 

[Mechman007]

I'm trying to use the alveary sieve, have no idea what i'm doing? The wiki seems to say it has an interface where I put woven silk in, but right clicking the alveary sieve does nothing! Little help?

 

[Adonis0]

No I did not have the glasses on nor my apiarist suit (helmet does same thing as the glasses) but I know all about that! I do have trees already pollinated, but like my original post said, i'm getting all the old trees that I cut down! (Such as hill cherry and pecan trees)

Perhaps that's something to do with the Active/Non-active trait of the species

Are you breeding with pure-bred trees? Because if not, it may be for instance be a Silver lime that grows, but it's a silver lime/hill cherry hybrid in actuality

Analyse your saplings with the treealyzer to get that sort of information about your saplings before you plant, so that you know whether you should plant just the silver limes to purify the strain, or if you should start crossing them again

(EDIT: Offing advice with that based on how I know bee breeding to work, from what I've seen, tree breeding is similar, just the crossing mechanism is different)

 

[Adonis0]

I tried that as well (didn't help) as just using autonomous activators, which do work but are absurdly expensive for larger generation means, so I'm just hoping someone else has come across this issue.

Only thing I can recommend is try force updating your AgS (re-download it) and if it still doesn't work then, report it in the bug reporting thread for AgS

 

[Mechman007]

Perhaps that's something to do with the Active/Non-active trait of the species

Are you breeding with pure-bred trees? Because if not, it may be for instance be a Silver lime that grows, but it's a silver lime/hill cherry hybrid in actuality

Analyse your saplings with the treealyzer to get that sort of information about your saplings before you plant, so that you know whether you should plant just the silver limes to purify the strain, or if you should start crossing them again

(EDIT: Offing advice with that based on how I know bee breeding to work, from what I've seen, tree breeding is similar, just the crossing mechanism is different)

yeah I don't think they are pure breed, what am I looking for on the treealizer to tell if it's pure breed, do you know? Thanks!

 

[YX33A]

yeah I don't think they are pure breed, what am I looking for on the treealizer to tell if it's pure breed, do you know? Thanks!

Use the Beealyzer for those Trees. Yeah, kinda wonky, but unless there is a Treealyzer, the Bee one will suffice.

 

[Mechman007]

Use the Beealyzer for those Trees. Yeah, kinda wonky, but unless there is a Treealyzer, the Bee one will suffice.

?? There is a treealyzer though, i'm looking at it but don't know what to look for on it that says it's a pure breed!

 

[pizzawolf14]

There's a species row that should have 2 columns. One is labeled active and the other inactive. If the row matches in the two columns, then it's a pure breed.

 

[YX33A]

?? There is a treealyzer though, i'm looking at it but don't know what to look for on it that says it's a pure breed!

Ah, guess that was added somewhat recently? I haven't even bothered with Trees or Butterflies ever, so my data on how to scan them is showing it's age.

 

[Adonis0]

yeah I don't think they are pure breed, what am I looking for on the treealizer to tell if it's pure breed, do you know? Thanks!

There's a species row that should have 2 columns. One is labeled active and the other inactive. If the row matches in the two columns, then it's a pure breed.

This ^
The species row will most likely be the first one on the first page (that's where it is for the bee one)

You'll also be able to see on the sapling after you've analysed it, if you hold down shift for the aditional information on the item. If it is a pure-bred it will once again have the same species repeated twice, but if it's a hybrid, it will have the species that the sapling is of first (the active trait) and then have a differing species as the second

EDIT: To get pure-bred species, I'd recommend doing a bit of inbreeding. There's none of those pesky genetic defects or diseases you would normally get by doing that in reality, so don't feel bad about forcing your trees to inbreed.

 

[LunaticMiner]

Check out my rudimentary auto sifting system! (and by system I mean a primitive thing that I made to progress)

 

[LunaticMiner]

Thanks, all. I made another tree farm strictly for rubber trees, and crafted some of my iron into shears (I sifted a lot before I got the above setup) and I have my 2 block tall smeltery (you can probably see that grey roundish dot in the corner of my platform on the minimap) that nets me double the ores, and I always crush my ore gravel down to dust for maximum output. My next goal: Make a 5x5 auto-farmed tree area.

 

[Mechman007]

This ^
The species row will most likely be the first one on the first page (that's where it is for the bee one)

You'll also be able to see on the sapling after you've analysed it, if you hold down shift for the aditional information on the item. If it is a pure-bred it will once again have the same species repeated twice, but if it's a hybrid, it will have the species that the sapling is of first (the active trait) and then have a differing species as the second

EDIT: To get pure-bred species, I'd recommend doing a bit of inbreeding. There's none of those pesky genetic defects or diseases you would normally get by doing that in reality, so don't feel bad about forcing your trees to inbreed.

Thanks alot for the help! I need pollen for inbreeding correct? Just wondering if you know how to use an alveary sieve- I placed one down but right clicking on it does nothing (No interface)!

 

[Zeeth_Kyrah]

Thanks alot for the help! I need pollen for inbreeding correct? Just wondering if you know how to use an alveary sieve- I placed one down but right clicking on it does nothing (No interface)!

The alveary sieve is a block which you place in the large alveary multiblock. It has a slot where you put a piece of woven silk (which you make in a carpenter, after you centrifuge the silk out of silky propolis, which is made by jungle bees). The woven silk will collect pollen, but as soon as you remove the pollen, the silk will be destroyed and you'll have to make a new piece. Remember, you need a full multiblock alveary to use the alveary sieve.

Alternately, there should be a gendustry sieve you can use. It'll be simpler and faster, but require a lot of other stuff to craft.

 

[Mechman007]

The alveary sieve is a block which you place in the large alveary multiblock. It has a slot where you put a piece of woven silk (which you make in a carpenter, after you centrifuge the silk out of silky propolis, which is made by jungle bees). The woven silk will collect pollen, but as soon as you remove the pollen, the silk will be destroyed and you'll have to make a new piece. Remember, you need a full multiblock alveary to use the alveary sieve.

Alternately, there should be a gendustry sieve you can use. It'll be simpler and faster, but require a lot of other stuff to craft.

Thanks so much! I'll make that gendustry one then! =D

EDIT: Would that be the sieve upgrade for the gendustry alvearies?

 

[Adonis0]

Thanks so much! I'll make that gendustry one then! =D

EDIT: Would that be the sieve upgrade for the gendustry alvearies?

Yeah, because you obtain your pollen from the hive output, so where you pick up the combs, drones, and princesses.
So you add the sieve upgrade to an industrial apiary (I think it's called, the gendustry apiary)