Sims 4 Grafting Guide: All You Need to Know

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Katrina Dent

Kat became obsessed with Sims after a college roommate introduced her to the game. Since she started her first game, she's been obsessed. There's no other way that she would rather spend her time than to play Sims all day long. Once she got connected with other Sims players she realized how many people live, eat, and breathe for Sims too. Now, she loves sharing her passion and obsession with other like-minded individuals!

Latest posts by Katrina Dent (see all)

• Sims 4 Neighborhood Guide - August 7, 2021
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• Sims 4 Grafting Guide: All You Need to Know - June 5, 2021

After hitting level 5 in the gardening skills, your Sims gains the ability to cut and graft plants. This allows your Sim to make hybrid plants, which grow more items than other harvestable plants at once.

You’ll want this skill if you wish to earn money quickly and create plants you can’t otherwise find in the Sims 4 world. There are plenty of interesting grafting combinations for you to discover.

In real life, grafting is a horticultural technique that uses the tissues of plants to join and combine different types of greenery.

In the Sims 4 it’s the same concept, except you’re combining cartoon cow plants and death flowers to receive positive moodlets, a massive experience boost, and even cheat death. In the Sims 4, characters can perform amazing feats with the Grafting skill.

First, you need to understand the basics of grafting, so you can use this skill in unique and exciting ways. Let’s discover what the grafting ability can bring into your Sims 4 game.

Grafting Basics

In the Sims 4 you can take the cuttings of one plant and graph it with another.  All plants can be graphed onto each other, but only 11 combinations will produce a unique result which we’ll expand on in “Unique Grafting Results.”  

Growth Times

Plants can take anywhere between 24 to 96 hours to grow (unless it’s the U.F.O plant) and produce their fruit, herbs, spices, or flowers. The game uses the base plant as its timer, so if an Apple takes 36 hours to grow, the plant will take that long to become mature unless you start grafting. 

For example, carrots take 24 hours to mature, so you would plant this first in your backyard. 24 hours is the shortest amount of time for a plant to mature, so it’s in your best interest to use a clipping of a plant with the shortest growth time.

Note: All times are based on in-game time.

Grafting and Cutting in Action

Players must clip the plant that they want to use as a base for grafting. In this case, it would be carrots. If we wanted to cut down the time of a slower to mature plant, like the lemon tree, you would select the cut carrot plant and click on the lemon plant to graft.

The lemon tree, which would normally take 60 hours to harvest, will now take the timer from the Carrot plants (24 hours) because you used it as a base for grafting. 

The lemon tree will start as a sapling, but once it’s fully grown, you’ll receive lemons in 24 hours. This is an efficient way to make money quickly because you’ll earn $30 every 24 hours per lemon instead of the same amount every 60-you’re earning money at twice the rate you used to!

Grafting Specifics and Planting Requirements

It’s best to graph your plants 2-3 at a time because plants have 8 – 10 spots where fruit, herbs, spices, and flowers can spawn randomly each harvest. If you graph too many unique plants on one plant, you reduce the likelihood of it producing a good yield. 

You won’t produce any yield if your plants are too close together. Ensure that your plants are at least 2 spaces apart for optimal room. You still have to play by Seasons rules and not plant anything that’s out of season; otherwise, they’ll die.

When you graph one plant onto another, that plant will reappear as a sprout. The sprout you just grafted will have the same level as it did before it was grafted. You can only cut a plant 2 times before you kill it. Pay attention to how many times you cut a plant by either writing it down or looking at the in-game menus.

Grafting and Cutting Inventory

Cuttings get put into one pile in your inventory unless they’re new and, unfortunately, it’s difficult to identify what cuttings are from which plant. If you decide to go on a grafting spree, you may lose those cuttings in your inventory.

When grafting, the best plant to use as a base is grapes because they have a high turnover rate and they’re able to make a profit quicker. They appear in the seed bag often, so you can get them easily and will help you earn more money from the Gardening skill quickly.

Note: When you graph a plant that already has a plant grafted on it, it will give you the base plant. 

Buying Seeds

You can buy seeds from a computer. The packets you purchase will have random seeds inside, so it isn’t a reliable way to tell which seed you’ll get when you buy a pack. However, seeds are separated between common, uncommon, and rare, so refer to the stable at the bottom of the post to see which plants are in which pack.

Grafting is a more reliable way to keep plants growing in your garden long-term.

How to Get to the Level 5 Gardening Skill

As this is a blog post about grafting, we won’t go too in-depth about the gardening skill.  We already have a guide on how to get the most out of Gardening in Sims 4.

However, if you’re here to learn how to use the grafting skill, you’ll need to reach level 5. 

Here is the abilities list your Sim has to go through before reaching the grafting skill

• Level 1: Gain the ability to plant, water, harvest, weed, and sell plant items.
• Level 2: Sims can research Gardening at any computer using the directions Web > Research Gardening. Using this option gains you the Focused moodlet, which will help you gain more experience while using your skills, including Gardening.
• Level 3: Sims can Fertilize Plants, which helps them evolve at a faster rate.
• Level 4: Fall and Spring plant seeds are unlocked for the player. Your Sim earns the ability to talk to plants, which fills your Sims’ social needs and grants Gardening Experience.
• Level 5: Winter and Summer plant seeds are unlocked for the player. Your Sim unlocks the Graft and Cutting abilities, which let you grow unattainable plants.

Although the Level 5 Gardening Skill allows you to participate in Grating and Cutting, you may want other skills through leveling up, including Super Sell ability at level 8. When the player unlocks future skills, it makes gardening way more manageable and less tedious.

• Level 6: The Weeding abilities area of effect is increased to include all nearby plants. At this level, other Sims gain the ability to compliment your garden.
• Level 7: Uncommon and Farmer seed packets are available for purchase. Your Sims unlock the Tend Garden ability, which allows them to Weed and Water the Garden by clicking on one single plant. This is a considerable upgrade since you’ll have multiple plants at this point. You still have to choose when to fertilize and harvest.
• Level 8: Sims can use the Super Sell ability to sell multiple plants at once, making you money much quicker. Sims can buy the ability to regrow Bonsai Trees for $50.
• Level 9: Gardening interactions become more efficient, so Sims can weed and water plants quicker.
• Level 10: Rare seeds are available for purchase at $1,000 each, but you may get plants that you don’t currently have, which is a positive.

Once you have all of the above skills, Grafting and Cutting become more efficient, as well. 

Regular Grafting Results

When you graft anything that doesn’t produce a unique grafting result, all that happens is your plants combine to create a hybrid plant.

For example, if you graft an Apple with a Blackberry, but you use the Apple as a foundation, the Blackberry bush will grow at the rate of the Apple (36 hours instead of 96) and has the chance to produce both Apples and Blackberries.

You can add another plant to this hybrid plant. For example, you could add grapes. The grafted plant would still take the grow rate of the Apple, but now you have the chance to produce Apples, Blackberries, and Grapes.

The more you graft onto on plant, the less likely it is you’ll receive a high-quality yield. In fact, if you graph more than 4 plants, you’ll almost always get low-quality food, which won’t sell for much. It’s best to keep grafting at a minimum.

Unique Grafting Results

Splicing the following plants together will create the following results:

• Strawberry + Blue Bells = Grapes
• Sage + Basil = Parsley
• Pear + Lemon = Plantain
• Tulip + Chrysanthemum = Bird of Paradise
• Daisy + Strawberry = Bonsai Buds
• Grapes + Rose = Bonsai Buds
• Dragon Fruit + Snapdragon = Cow Berry
• Snapdragon + Strawberry = Dragon Fruit
• Snapdragon + Lily = Orchid
• Apple + Cherry = Pomegranate
• Orchid + Pomegranate = Death Flower

How to Make: Death Flower

To create a Death Flower, follow these instructions:

• Graft a Cherry with an Apple to make Pomegranate
• Graft a Snapdragon and a Lily to make an Orchid
• Graft the Pomegranate and Orchid together to make the Death Flower

The Death Flower is a rare flower that’s incredibly useful to your Sims. With this flower, a Sim can exchange it to save a life when the Grim Reaper shows up to claim a body.

Sims that are currently dying can’t present a Death Flower to the Grim Reaper, so keep one on all of your Sims, just in case.

How to Make: Cow Berry

To create a Cow Berry, follow these instructions:

• Graft a Snapdragon with a Strawberry to make Dragon Fruit
• Graft a Snapdragon and a Dragon Fruit to make a Cow Berry

Cowplants in Sims 4

The Cowplant is back in the fourth installment with a few changes from Sims 3. Rather than being an unlockable from a career, they can only be obtained by a rare berry called “Cow Berry.”

When you plant the Cow Berry, it takes on three stages:

• Sprout Stage: The Sim plants the berry and tiny horns pop out of the soil. Planting the Cow Berry doesn’t require Gardening Skill.
• Baby Stage: A tiny Cowplant is seen after a few days. When it’s in this stage, only interactions like Watering are available.
• Mature Stage: A fully matured Cowplant rises up and it can start feeding it, petting it, or playing with it. If the Cowplant devours a Sim, the Cowplants owner can milk it for a special potion.
• Death: After only 12  in-game hours of neglect, it will die.

In Sims 4, players have the option to name Cowplants.

Where to Find Rare Plants in the Sims 4 Overworld

Where to Find: Cherries

You can find wild Cherry trees in the following locations:

• Oasis Springs: Caliente Lot
• Oasis Springs: Landgraab Lot
• Oasis Springs: Landgraab Lot (Down Clift)
• Windenburg: The Shrieking Llama Pub
• Windenburg: Munches Lot

Where to Find: Snapdragons

You can find wild Snapdragons in the following locations:

• Willow Creek: Foundry Cove
• Willow Creek: Courtyard
• Willow Creek: Pendula View
• Willow Creek: Sage Estates
• Willow Creek: Willow Creek Commercial District
• Magnolia Blossom Park
• Sylvan Glade
• Windenburg: The Island
• Newcrest: Twin Oracle Point
• Newcrest: Optimist’s Outlook
• Newcrest: Midtown Meadows

Where to Find: Dragon Fruit

You can find wild Dragon Fruit in the following locations:

• San Myshyno: Romance Festival Plant
• San Myshyno: Spice Festival Plant

Where to Find: Blackberry

You can find wild blackberry in the following locations:

• Oasis Springs: Desert Bloom Park
• Windenburg: The Island
• Windenburg: Countryside
• Windenburg: Van Haunt Estate
• Magnolia Promenade: Surrounding Area

Where to Find: Orchid

You cannot find orchids on the main map, but you can make them.

• Snapdragon + Lily = Orchid

Where to Find: Pomegranates

You cannot find pomegranates on the main map, but you can make them.

• Apple + Cherry = Pomegranate

Where to Find: Bonsai Bud

You cannot find pomegranates on the main map, but you can make them.

• Daisy + Strawberry = Bonsai Buds
• Grapes + Rose = Bonsai Buds

Where to Find: Bird of Paradise

You cannot find bird of paradise on the main map, but you can make them.

• Tulip + Chrysanthemum = Bird of Paradise

Where to Find: Trash Plants

Leaving  trash in your yard will cause it to grow into a Trash Plant. They’re useless and waste your time/effort to water.

Where to Find: U.F.O.

U.F.O plans sometimes grow in Intergalactic Growth Pods and they can sometimes be found at the romantic festival in San Myshuno.

Gardening Cheats for Sims 4

Instead of waiting for the perfect graft, cheat instead!

The following cheats use the cheat dialogue box. To open the box, select CTRL + SHIFT + C at the same time. When the box pops up on the top left of the screen, enter testingcheats true. To turn cheats off, enter testing cheats false.

1. Grow Fruits: items.gsi_create_obj 0x1FA1C
2. Death flower: items.gsi_create_obj 0x10CAS
3. Dragon Fruit: items.gsi_create_obj 0x205B90
4. Cherry: items.gsi_create_obj 0x057C3HA5ATAH
5. Trash Fruits: items.gsi_create_obj 0x51AHA59P

Now you’ll have the hardest to earn grafting objects in the game

The Sims 4 Grafting Chart

Image	Plant Name	Rarity	Bush Tree	Type	Min $	Max $	Hours	Efficiency	Used in	Found Other	Splice
	Apple	Common	Tree	Fruit	15	35	36	0.92	Cooking	Seed packet
	Basil	Common	Bush	Herb	5	10	24	0.33	Gourmet	Seed packet
	Bird of Paradise	Rare	Bush	Flower	10	0	36	0.00		Splicing Only	Tulip with Chrysanthemum
	Blackberry	Rare	Bush	Fruit	55	140	96	1.44
	Blue Bells	Common	Bush	Flower	10	30	36	0.78		Seed packet
	Bonsai Buds	Rare	Bonsai	Bonsai	5	NA	N/A	24.00	Turns into Bonsai Tree	Splicing Only	Daisy with Strawberry Grapes with Rose
	Carrot	Common	Bush	Veggie	10	20	24	0.83	Both	Seed packet
	Cherry	Uncommon	Tree	Fruit	15	40	60	0.65
	Chrysanthemum	Common	Bush	Flower	10	30	36	0.78		Seed packet
	Cow Berry	Rare	Unique	Unique	15	100	NA	NA		Space + Fishing + Splicing	Dragon Fruit with Snapdragon
	Daisy	Common	Bush	Flower	5	10	24	0.33		Seed packet
	Death Flower	Rare	Bush	Flower	1	1	48	0.02	Avoiding Death (Reaper)	Splicing Only	Pomegranate with Orchid.
	Dragon Fruit	Rare	Bush	Flower	0	0	96	0.00		Splicing Only	Strawberry with Snapdragon
	Grapes	Common	Bush	Fruit	35	85	48	1.77		Seed packet	Blue Bells with Strawberry
	Lemon	Common	Tree	Fruit	10	30	60	0.50	Gourmet
	Lily	Uncommon	Bush	Flower	20	45	36	1.25
	Mushroom	Common	Pile	Veggie	5	10	24	0.42	Cooking	Seed packet
	Onion	Uncommon	Bush	Veggie	15	35	48	0.73	Cooking
	Orchid	Rare	Bush	Flower	25	60	36	1.61			Lily with Snapdragon
	Parsley	Common	Bush	Herb	5	15	24	0.54	Gourmet	Seed packet	Sage with Parsley
	Pear	Uncommon	Bush	Fruit	15	35	60	0.58
	Plantain	Common	Tree	Fruit	20	40	72	0.56		Seed packet	Pear with Lemon
	Pomegranate	Rare	Tree	Fruit	20	45	72	0.63		Fishing	Apple with Cherry
	Potato	Uncommon	Bush	Veggie	10	25	24	1.04	Both
	Rose	Uncommon	Bush	Flower	20	45	48	0.94
	Sage	Common	Bush	Herb	5	10	24	0.33	Gourmet
	Snapdragon	Common	Bush	Flower	15	35	36	0.92
	Spinach	Common	Bush	Veggie	5	10	24	0.33	Both	Seed packet
	Strawberry	Uncommon	Bush	Fruit	10	20	24	0.83
	Tomato	Uncommon	Bush	Veggie	15	30	24	1.25	Both
	Trash Fruit	Rare	Bush	Unique	5	10	24	0.42	Leave trash on ground	Leave trash on ground
	Tulip	Uncommon	Bush	Flower	15	30	36	0.78
	U.F.O	Rare	Bush	Unique	120	300	112	2.68	Rocket Mission	Rocket Mission

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) 

Conclusion

Grafting in the Sims 4 comes with many positives, specifically creating plants you wouldn’t have access to with this skill.

Although grafting can take a while to build up and initiate, it’s worth it in the end when you can cheat death or feed other Sims to a mutant cow monster. Grafting can also make foodstuff, fertilizer and help you earn money incredibly fast.

A word of advice: Grafting can be a helpful tool, but you could potentially kill all your plants if you do it incorrectly. Be sure not to spam your grafted plants with multiple combinations, and only cut your plants a maximum of 2 times to avoid destroying your rare and valuable plants.

Have fun creating incredible plants, like the Cowplant, in your Sims 4 world!

Continue reading:

Sims 4 Guide to Gnomes – Ultimate Guide to Appeasing Gnomes

Sims 4 Beekeeping Guide

Sims 4 Gardening and Plant List: Our Full Guide

Sims 4 Greenhouse Guide: Top Tips and Tricks