Every fruit tree at a glance
There are 8 fruit trees. Six saplings are sold at Pierre's General Store (and sometimes at the Traveling Cart); the Banana and Mango saplings are traded for items on Ginger Island. A mature tree grows one fruit a day in its season, 28 fruit a year on the farm. The first-season column is what those 28 regular-quality fruit sell for with no professions.
Fruit trees in Stardew Valley: sapling cost, season and first-season income
| Tree | Season | Sapling | Fruit (regular) | First season, raw | Pays back after |
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| Apricot Tree | Spring | 2,000g | 50g | 1,400g | 38 fruit |
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| Cherry Tree | Spring | 3,400g | 80g | 2,240g | 40 fruit |
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| Banana Tree | Summer | Dragon Tooth × 5 | 150g | 4,200g | traded, not bought |
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| Mango Tree | Summer | Mussel × 75 | 130g | 3,640g | traded, not bought |
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| Orange Tree | Summer | 4,000g | 100g | 2,800g | 38 fruit |
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| Peach Tree | Summer | 6,000g | 140g | 3,920g | 40 fruit |
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| Apple Tree | Fall | 4,000g | 100g | 2,800g | 38 fruit |
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| Pomegranate Tree | Fall | 6,000g | 140g | 3,920g | 40 fruit |
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Pays back: fruit sold raw, counting the yearly quality rise, until the total covers Pierre's sapling price. The Traveling Cart sells the same saplings for 1,500g to 2,500g (Apricot) up to 7,500g (Peach), so it is only a bargain on a lucky day. All six of Pierre's saplings together cost 25,400g.
The pattern is simple: every sapling costs about forty times what one regular fruit sells for, so they all take about the same number of fruit to repay. What changes between trees is how much they earn after that. A Peach tree makes almost three times as much a season as an Apricot tree, so once you can afford it, the expensive sapling is the better tree.
How fruit trees work
Fruit trees are a long-term investment that needs almost no work once planted. These are the rules that matter, as the Stardew Valley Wiki states them:
- 28 days to grow. A sapling takes 28 days to become a tree, and it grows in any season, winter included.
- No watering, no dying. Fruit trees never need water and do not die when the season changes. Outside their season they just stop fruiting.
- One fruit a day in season. The fruit waits on the tree, up to 3 at a time. Visit at least every 3 days or the tree stops adding fruit until you pick it.
- A clear 3x3 space while it grows. The sapling must sit in the middle of an empty 3x3 area, and the 3x3 areas of two trees cannot overlap. Debris or anything you place next to a young sapling stops it growing that night. Once the tree is mature, you can put paths and objects right next to it.
- Weather does not matter, except lightning. Rain or sun, the tree keeps fruiting. A lightning strike in a storm burns it for 4 days, and it grows coal instead of fruit until it recovers.
- Quality climbs with age. The fruit is silver quality after one year, gold after two and iridium after three.
When to plant each sapling
Because a sapling needs 28 days, planting it on the first day of its own season means the tree matures on day 1 of the next season and you get no fruit that year. Plant it one season early instead. These are the latest days to plant on the farm and still get the full first season:
Latest planting day for a full first season
| Tree | Fruits in | Plant by | Fruit in the first year if planted on Spring 1 |
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| Apricot Tree | Spring | Winter 1 | 0 |
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| Cherry Tree | Spring | Winter 1 | 0 |
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| Banana Tree | Summer | Spring 1 | 28 |
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| Mango Tree | Summer | Spring 1 | 28 |
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| Orange Tree | Summer | Spring 1 | 28 |
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| Peach Tree | Summer | Spring 1 | 28 |
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| Apple Tree | Fall | Summer 1 | 28 |
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| Pomegranate Tree | Fall | Summer 1 | 28 |
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So spring trees (Apricot, Cherry) go in during winter, summer trees during spring and fall trees during summer. A spring tree planted on Spring 1 of your first year gives nothing until the next spring, which is why the cheap Apricot is a poor first purchase if you buy it in spring. A summer tree bought on Spring 1 gives a full summer of fruit in the same year.
Planting later than the "plant by" day still works, you just lose the days the tree was not ready. A Fall tree planted on Summer 8, for example, matures on Fall 8 and gives 21 fruit that fall instead of 28.
Fruit quality goes up every year
A tree's fruit starts at regular quality and gains a star a year: silver after 1 year, gold after 2, iridium after 3. An iridium fruit sells for twice the regular price, so the same tree earns twice as much in its fourth season as in its first. This is income from one tree on the farm, per season, sold raw:
One tree, one season of fruit, sold raw
| Tree | Year 1 (regular) | Year 2 (silver) | Year 3 (gold) | Year 4+ (iridium) |
|---|
| Apricot Tree |
1,400g |
1,736g |
2,100g |
2,800g |
|---|
| Cherry Tree |
2,240g |
2,800g |
3,360g |
4,480g |
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| Banana Tree |
4,200g |
5,236g |
6,300g |
8,400g |
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| Mango Tree |
3,640g |
4,536g |
5,460g |
7,280g |
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| Orange Tree |
2,800g |
3,500g |
4,200g |
5,600g |
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| Peach Tree |
3,920g |
4,900g |
5,880g |
7,840g |
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| Apple Tree |
2,800g |
3,500g |
4,200g |
5,600g |
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| Pomegranate Tree |
3,920g |
4,900g |
5,880g |
7,840g |
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Years count from the season the tree first fruits. With the Tiller profession, fruit tree fruit sells for 10% more: an iridium Peach season becomes 8,624g.
The quality comes from the tree's age, not from your Farming level or fertilizer, so there is nothing to speed it up except starting early. That is the strongest reason to plant fruit trees in your first year even though they pay back slowly: the clock on iridium fruit starts the day the tree matures.
Sell raw, or make Jelly, Wine or Dried Fruit?
All eight fruits count as fruit, so they go into the Preserves Jar (Jelly), the Keg (Wine) and the Dehydrator (Dried Fruit, five fruit at a time). These machines ignore the quality of what goes in. That matters for fruit trees, because your fruit becomes iridium in year four and the machines do not pay extra for it. Gold per fruit, no professions:
Gold per fruit: raw, Jelly, Wine and Dried Fruit
| Fruit | Raw (regular) | Raw (iridium) | Jelly | Wine | Dried Fruit, per fruit | Wine with Artisan |
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| Apricot | 50g | 100g | 150g | 150g | 80g | 210g |
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| Cherry | 80g | 160g | 210g | 240g | 125g | 336g |
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| Banana | 150g | 300g | 350g | 450g | 230g | 630g |
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| Mango | 130g | 260g | 310g | 390g | 200g | 546g |
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| Orange | 100g | 200g | 250g | 300g | 155g | 420g |
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| Peach | 140g | 280g | 330g | 420g | 215g | 588g |
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| Apple | 100g | 200g | 250g | 300g | 155g | 420g |
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| Pomegranate | 140g | 280g | 330g | 420g | 215g | 588g |
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Wine is three times the fruit's base price, Jelly twice the price plus 50g, Dried Fruit is made from five fruit. Artisan adds 40% to all three.
What the table says:
- Wine earns the most per fruit for every tree (Apricot Jelly ties it), even after the fruit turns iridium. An iridium Peach sells for 280g; the same fruit as Wine is 420g, and 588g with Artisan.
- For the Apricot, Jelly ties Wine (150g each) and a Preserves Jar finishes much sooner than a Keg, so Apricots belong in jars.
- Raw iridium never beats Jelly. Jelly is worth more than twice the base price, iridium fruit exactly twice, so even old trees earn more in a jar.
- Dried Fruit earns less per fruit than Wine or Jelly but turns five fruit into one item a day per machine. It is the answer when you have more fruit than kegs, as Dehydrator vs Keg explains.
Plan the machines before the fruit piles up. A tree gives one fruit a day, a Preserves Jar takes 2.5 days per Jelly and a Keg 6.25 days per Wine, so turning all of one tree's fruit into Jelly as it comes in needs about 2.5 jars, and into Wine about 6.25 kegs. Fruit keeps, so you can also store it and process it through the season. Check how your machines compare for each fruit in the Keg vs Preserves Jar calculator, and how many machines a whole orchard needs in How Many Kegs Do I Need?.
Fruit Wine also ages in a Cask. An iridium-quality Peach Wine is worth 1,176g with no professions, twice the fresh Wine, and Are Casks Worth It? works out whether the wait pays.
What one tree earns over four years
Here is the whole investment for each tree you can buy: four fruiting seasons on the farm, with the yearly quality rise, minus Pierre's sapling price.
Four seasons of fruit after the sapling is paid for
| Tree | Sapling | Sold raw | As Wine | As Wine, Artisan |
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| Peach Tree | 6,000g | 16,540g | 41,040g | 59,856g |
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| Pomegranate Tree | 6,000g | 16,540g | 41,040g | 59,856g |
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| Orange Tree | 4,000g | 12,100g | 29,600g | 43,040g |
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| Apple Tree | 4,000g | 12,100g | 29,600g | 43,040g |
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| Cherry Tree | 3,400g | 9,480g | 23,480g | 34,232g |
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| Apricot Tree | 2,000g | 6,036g | 14,800g | 21,520g |
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Peach and Pomegranate trees earn the same (their fruit has the same price) and come out on top. Orange and Apple are next, also tied. Per gold of sapling the trees are close: the Peach is the weakest deal (6,000g for a 140g fruit) and the Apple the best (4,000g for a 100g fruit). Every tree gives one fruit a day on one tile, so the pricier fruit still earns more in total once the sapling is paid off. If you are choosing where your next few thousand gold goes, buy the tree that earns most in total and that fits the season you can plant for.
A tree also uses its season's fruit slot in your bundles, quests and cooking, so it is common to plant one of each for the collection and more of the best ones for money.
Fruit trees in the Greenhouse
A fruit tree in the Greenhouse fruits every day of the year: 112 fruit instead of 28. Trees can be planted on the soil in the middle or on the border tiles around it, and planting them on the border leaves every soil tile free for crops. That makes Greenhouse border trees close to free money.
One tree in the Greenhouse, per year
| Tree | Year 1, raw | Year 4+, raw | Year 1, Wine with Artisan |
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| Apricot Tree | 5,600g | 11,200g | 23,520g |
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| Cherry Tree | 8,960g | 17,920g | 37,632g |
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| Banana Tree | 16,800g | 33,600g | 70,560g |
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| Mango Tree | 14,560g | 29,120g | 61,152g |
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| Orange Tree | 11,200g | 22,400g | 47,040g |
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| Peach Tree | 15,680g | 31,360g | 65,856g |
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| Apple Tree | 11,200g | 22,400g | 47,040g |
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| Pomegranate Tree | 15,680g | 31,360g | 65,856g |
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In the Greenhouse a Peach sapling pays for itself after 43 days of fruit, inside its first year. The Banana is the best Greenhouse tree of all, but its sapling comes from Ginger Island. Plan the soil and sprinklers around your trees with the Greenhouse Planner.
Banana and Mango trees
The Banana and Mango are the two most valuable fruits from trees (150g and 130g regular), but you cannot buy their saplings with gold. The Island Trader on Ginger Island trades a Banana Sapling for 5 of the item Dragon Tooth and a Mango Sapling for 75 of the item Mussel. In the valley they fruit only in summer, like the Orange and Peach. On Ginger Island and in the Greenhouse they fruit every day.
A Banana tree on the farm makes 4,200g in its first summer and 17,640g as Wine with Artisan. Bananas and Mangos are not treated as "fruit tree fruit" for gifts, so villagers react to them as ordinary fruit.
Quality saplings: chop and replant
Chopping a fruit tree down gives you its sapling back, at the quality of the fruit it was growing. A higher-quality sapling grows faster: silver 2 times, gold 3 times and iridium 5 times as fast, and its fruit starts at a higher quality. Players use this to move or multiply an old orchard: a tree that already grows iridium fruit gives an iridium sapling that is ready in days instead of four weeks. Chopping a tree that is still a sapling just returns the sapling.
Are fruit trees worth it in Year 1?
Only as a long-term buy. In your first year, the same gold in seeds turns over many times in one season, while a tree takes a full season to start and another to pay back. The cheapest sapling, an Apricot at 2,000g, makes 1,400g in its first spring sold raw and is paid off in its second. Buy trees once your crops are running and you have gold you will not need for seeds, and plant them early so the years of quality start counting. The Year 1 money guide shows where your first-year gold goes further.
Fruit trees and the Community Center
Fruit tree fruit fills these Community Center bundles:
- Artisan Bundle: Apple, Apricot, Orange, Peach, Pomegranate, Cherry (any 6 of its 12 items).
- Fodder Bundle: Apple (needs all 3 of its items).
- Enchanter's Bundle: Pomegranate (needs all 4 of its items).
The Artisan Bundle takes any six of its twelve items, and six of them are fruit tree fruit, so a few trees can fill most of it on their own. Track it in the Bundle Tracker or see every bundle.
Quick questions
What is the best fruit tree in Stardew Valley?
For gold, Peach and Pomegranate: 3,920g in their first season sold raw and 7,840g once the fruit is iridium. Banana is better still but its sapling is traded on Ginger Island.
How long do fruit trees take to grow?
28 days, in any season. Plant a sapling 28 days before its season so it fruits from day 1.
Do fruit trees need watering?
No. Fruit trees never need water and do not die in winter.
Can you plant fruit trees in the Greenhouse?
Yes, on the soil or on the border tiles. In the Greenhouse they fruit every day of the year.
When do fruit trees give iridium fruit?
Three years after the tree matures. Fruit is silver after one year and gold after two.
Is it better to sell fruit or make Wine?
Wine. The Keg ignores fruit quality, but even iridium fruit sells for less than Wine made from it.