Planter Box

A Planter Box is a basic building used to grow domesticated plants. It functions as a small self-contained planting container rather than a full farm tile, and it is especially useful when a plant needs irrigation but the area does not have piping available. Duplicants supply the required liquid directly from a Pitcher Pump, and irrigation cannot be delivered through a pipe. Plants that require fertilizer can also be fed manually by Duplicants, or automated with an Auto-Sweeper.

A Planter Box stores enough resources for three cycles of irrigation and fertilizer for the plant it contains. For example, a Mealwood planted in a Planter Box stores 30 kg of dirt, while a Bristle Blossom stores 60 kg of water. When the stored resources drop below what is needed for half a cycle, the box requests more supplies. Like other domesticated plants, seeds grown in a Planter Box mature faster than wild plants.

Not every plant can be placed in a Planter Box. Thimble Reed cannot be grown in it, and Pincha Pepperplant cannot be grown in it either. The same limitation applies to Sand Vine in some references. This makes the building useful for many crops, but not a universal replacement for all agricultural setups.

Planter Boxes are often considered less advanced than Farm Tiles, since Farm Tiles can perform the same growing function while replacing the floor and avoiding the Decor penalty. Even so, Planter Boxes have several practical advantages:

• They can be built on top of tiles that preserve Duplicant movement speed, including Metal Tile setups.
• They can be built over Airflow Tiles, so gas exchange is preserved instead of being blocked.
• They can be placed in front of Tempshift Plates and Drywall, which Farm Tiles cannot do.
• They do not block liquid, which makes them valuable for plants that fail if their bottom tile is submerged.

This last point is particularly important for Wheezewort. When a Wheezewort cools gas, it draws gas from below and releases it above. If the bottom tile is covered by even a small amount of liquid, the plant stops functioning. This can happen easily in steamy environments where gas cooling produces water, such as near a Steam Vent or Cool Steam Vent. A Planter Box can keep the plant active without requiring constant mopping.

Because of these traits, Planter Boxes are most useful when a plant needs careful placement, open gas flow, or protection from accidental flooding. They are also a convenient way to build around existing infrastructure, especially when floor replacement is undesirable.