Please increase the spawn rate of rare tree saplings

[dim compass]

In a couple of past updates you increased the spawn rate of Queen bees but there's another thing that really needs an increase and that is the spawn rate of rare tree saplings. The season is halfway and I haven't gotten so much as a single orange tree saling and I keep the propagation hive fully stocked with bees. The spawn rate of rare tree saplings really needs a boost because the way it currently is is just maddening!

[crimson stone]

Are you using just one propagator hive? Each one within range of your fruit tree(s) has a chance to trigger, if that helps.

[dim compass]

I have my trees set up in such a way where each hove is surrounded by 4 trees of each kind and during the entire summer season I got only ONE grapefruit tree. I did get multiple pear trees though

[crimson stone]

You get better chances if you have lots of hives. Each prop hive (unless it's empty of bees) is checked overnight to spawn a new tree. Adding more trees doesn't do anything (and there is a ton of bad info out there). Like trees don't have to be showing un-picked fruit to breed, for example (I did most of mine while they weren't in season with no fruit showing).

Several hives and a couple of trees would be a much faster setup than what you described. I don't know for sure if you can get orange from grapefruit (you can absolutely get more grapefruit from it though!), so you might need to keep a pear tree in range too.

[dim compass]

Oh so you need different kind of trees in close range in order to get other kinds? Could you point me to a guide about this topic?

[crimson stone]

https://www.google.com

(on a less sarcastic note, every post I found out there had a mix of good and mostly bad info so I can't give you The One True Website™ - what I told you above is my direct, current experience and no I you don't need different trees)

The best I can sum it up is that each propagator hive checks the trees within its range each night and produces 0-1 new saplings. New saplings can be the same as one of the existing trees or a variant from the same season. (i.e. a pear tree can make another pear tree, or it could make an orange or grapefruit tree). I'm not sure if a grapefruit tree can produce an orange tree (referring to how some seasons have two different variant species).

[stoic cargo]

If you are trying for a specific offspring, try putting only the same season tree near the propagator instead of all 4

[dim compass]

I have 4 of each seasonal tree around a propagation hive so I have 4 peach, 4 pear, 4 apple and 4 plum, each around their own hive

[crimson stone]

Really just add more propagators to that setup and you'll see more results.

[dim compass]

Okay but I'll have to think of a different layout first to make optimal use of the space I have

[crimson stone]

If space is an issue, you don't need so many fruit trees. You can do a fairly compact setup with like ~4 prop hives in the middle and a few trees around the edge of their range (check the individual hive ranges, having a tree be hit by as many hives as possible is good here)

How far along are you in story progression? You get a lot more farmland later on which might help with space.

[dim compass]

I'm already in post-game