How to plant seeds in Valheim to grow food and trees

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Being able to plant seeds in Valheim give you a reliable source of food. Growing and harvesting your own vegetables and trees means that you'll have no shortage of sustenance and resources to keep you stocked as you explore the lush world. But how does it all work? Well...

Below I've laid out where to find every Valheim seed type, and how to plant them, whether it be a carrot or turnip, acorn or beech. I’ll explain how to care for the crops too and, while you'll still have many survival-related worries, at least finding a reliable food source won't be one of them. Different seeds can be found in different Valheim biomes so expect a little travelling depending on what you want to gather.

How to plant seeds in Valheim

So there are two types of seeds you can obtain in Valheim. The first are food seeds, of which there are currently these:

Carrot seeds - Black Forest
Turnip seeds - Swamp
Jotun - Mistlands
Magecaps - Mistlands.

Along with five types of tree seeds:

Acorns - Meadows
Beech seeds - Meadows
Birch seeds - Meadows and Plains
Fir cones - Black Forest and Mountain
Pine cones - Black Forest

In order to plant and start growing any of these you're going to need to craft a Cultivator, which requires five Core Wood and five Bronze to make. A Hoe – five Wood and two Stone – will also be useful to flatten the ground first.

With the Cultivator in your hands, left click to turn grass into soil. Then, with it still equipped, open your inventory and select a seed. Click on the ground and the seed will be planted. You don't need to tend to them or water them, thankfully they'll grow by themselves over time.

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Valheim workbench
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Valheim merchant

Harvesting carrots and turnips unfortunately doesn't provide you with seeds to replant and grow more though, so in order to have a recycling food farm, you need to craft a Cauldron, which just needs 10 Tin, a fire below it, and a Forge in the vicinity. Craft either Carrot Soup or Turnip Stew, and you'll unlock the respective seed plant. Head back to your farm and select the seed plant in the Cultivator build menu to grow your own carrot and turnip seeds.

Valheim Ancient Seeds explained

Wondering what Ancient Seeds are used for? Unfortunately, these are nothing to do with farming. As it stands, Ancient Seeds only have one use in Valheim, and that's to do with the Valheim Elder summon process. You need to sacrifice Ancient Seeds to spawn the second boss in the game, so they can't be planted to grow anything, disappointingly.