[Crops 101] How to Sow and Harvest Spinach

Welcome to your next “Crops 101” lesson of the Farming Simulator Academy! In this tutorial, we’re focusing on spinach. We show you how to plant and harvest this nutritious plant.

What you need for spinach

Let’s take a look at everything you need to plant and harvest spinach. Please note, you need special equipment.

• You need a tractor to attach the following tools and operate them. 
• You need a cultivator to prepare the ground for your next harvest. 
• You need a seeder to sow spinach.
• You need a fertilizer spreader, fertilizer, and lime to improve the yield. 
• You need a roller to condense the soil and increase the yield of your harvest.
• You need a weeder to get rid of the weeds that will soon pop up. Otherwise, the income from your crops will be reduced when you sell it. 
• You need a special harvester to harvest your plants.
• And you need a trailer to transport and sell the harvested spinach. 

Equipment Selection (recommendation)

We chose the following equipment. Feel free to pick alternatives, as ours are simply recommendations. Keep in mind, that vehicles and tools must be compatible, indicated by icons and power specifications.

• Tractor: Challenger MT635
• Cultivator: John Deere 980
• Seeder: UNIA FENIX 3000/4
• Fertilizer Spreader: Bredal K105
• Roller: Väderstad Rexius 1230
• Weeder: Gorenc Puler 600
• Harvester: Oxbo MKB-4TR
• Trailer: Farmtech EDK 650

Let’s go to work!

Got everything you need? Then let’s start on your assignment and cultivate some spinach! Note that you can only grow this crop from the start of March until the end of September if seasonal growth is enabled.

Step 1: Applying Lime

Applying lime improves your yield and needs to be worked into the ground. This step is not always necessary. The field information box will tell you, if your field needs lime. If you bought the Bredal K105 as a fertilizer spreader, you can use this machine for lime as well.

Just connect the machine to your tractor and place it next to lime. Press the designated button to refill the machine. When the machine is filled, head over to your field. Position yourself on one corner and start applying lime. 

Step 2: Cultivating the field

To plant spinach, you first have to cultivate the field. Hook your cultivator to your tractor, place the vehicle on one corner of the field, and just do one row after another until the whole field is done.

Step 3: Sowing Spinach

Connect your seeder to your tractor and place the machine next to your seeds. Again, press the designated button to refill the machine. Once you are done, head back to your field and start the same process again. 

Tip! If you plant spinach as soon as possible, you can have two harvests in one year!

Step 4: Fertilizing

After you are done applying lime, unload any leftover lime at your farm and refill fertilizer. Then, the same procedure starts again

Tip! Repeat the fertilizing process after your plants grow to increase the fertilization to 100%. The yield will be even higher. With a manure or slurry spreader, you can activate double activation rate to fertilize only once.

Step 5: Rolling

If you want to improve your yield even further, you need to use a roller on your freshly planted seeds. With a roller, you condense the soil, and therefore increase its quality and the yield by 2.5 %.

Step 6: Getting rid of weeds

Soon, the first weeds spawn on the field. Take your weeder to get rid of it before they grow past the first stage. In the first stage, you can still use the weeder to remove weeds. After that, you need a hoe or field sprayer, but let’s try to avoid that in favor of our finances. If you play with crop destruction, use a tractor with narrow tires, otherwise a lot of plants get destroyed. Got rid of it? Good, now we wait again, until the crops are fully grown.

Tip!  You can speed up a bit until the weeds start to grow.

Step 7: Harvest the crops

As soon as the plants are grown, just head over to your harvester and hop in! Drive to one corner of your field and start harvesting one row after another until you are done. 

To unload the harvester when the tank is full, drive it up to your trailer, facing it rearward, since it unloads in the back. Press the button to start overloading, and all the harvested spinach will be unloaded into your trailer until it’s full.

Step 8: Selling Spinach

When you are done harvesting, you are able to sell your harvested crops. Look for the best-selling point on the prices screen. Unload the trailer in the designated area. As spinach needs to be processed as soon as possible, you are not able to store it. 

If you planted and harvested as soon as you could, the plants will now start growing again and you can harvest a second time. Just be aware that spinach will only regrow once. If you want to grow this plant again next year, you have to cultivate it again. 

Well done!

Congratulations, you finished another lesson and now know how to plant spinach. Stay with the Farming Simulator Academy, and you’ll become a top-notch virtual farmer in no time!