TL;DR
- Only “Growing Plants” found in Build Mode under Furniture > Outdoor actually grow and mature over time.
- Water and fertilize your crops daily to keep moisture and nutrients high, which improves harvest quality.
- Plants take roughly two or more in-game days to fully mature, so lowering your day length setting speeds things up significantly.
- Bonsai trees require manual pruning, and your Gardening skill level affects how well the pruning turns out.
- Harvested crops never spoil and can be used in Cooking recipes or sold at the Pocket Market for Meow.
- Gardening levels from 0 to 10, unlocking new seed varieties, bonsai designs, and higher-quality harvests as you progress.
Understanding the Different Plant Types in InZOI
Before you start gardening, it helps to know that not every plant in InZOI behaves the same way. The game splits plants into three categories, and only one of them actually interacts with the Gardening skill.
- Decorative indoor plants, like heart hoya, aloe, and variegated monstera, can be watered to stay fresh, but they never grow, produce anything, or affect your Gardening skill. These are purely for home decoration.
- Outdoor decorations, including grass patches, marigolds, rose shrubs, boxwood arrangements, and flower arches, work the same way. They look nice but don’t grow or interact with the skill system.
- Growing Plants are the only category that matters for actual gardening. These mature over time, require daily care, and produce crops you can harvest. This category also includes saplings like Elm, Bamboo, and Orange, priced between 140 and 160 Meow, which grow into full trees.
How to Start Gardening in InZOI
To begin gardening, open Build Mode (the fourth icon in the bottom-right menu), go into the Furniture section, then select Outdoor and look for Growing Plants. From there, buy the seeds or saplings you want and place them wherever you’d like, whether that’s a dedicated garden plot in the backyard, a row of pots framing your front entrance, or a small indoor setup if you’re working with limited space.
If you’re building an outdoor garden specifically, consider adding extras like floor panels, a picnic bench, a BBQ grill, or a cooler nearby to make the space feel more like a real garden rather than just a row of plants.
Watering, Fertilizing, and Growth Mechanics
Once your plants are in the ground, you’ll need to water them daily to keep them healthy. Crops specifically track two important stats: moisture and nutrient intake, both of which you can check by hovering over the plant. If either of these drops too low, your crops can become bug-ridden or wither, which lowers their final quality. Withered or buggy crops can technically still be used in cooking, but it’s not recommended if you’re trying to get the best results.
Fertilizer comes in three tiers, available for purchase in the Build Mode catalog. Normal Fertilizer, at around 3 Meow, is perfectly fine for early crops like Tomato and Blueberry. As you unlock higher-value crops around Gardening Level 6, switching to Premium Fertilizer becomes more worthwhile, since the quality boost translates directly into better sell prices when you harvest. It’s also worth checking your crops regularly for weeds, since letting them spread can hurt your final harvest quality.
Most Growing Plants take roughly two or more in-game days to fully mature. If your day length setting is set to 4 or 24 hours, this can feel painfully slow in real time. For faster results, lower your day length setting to 48 or 96 minutes in the game options, which noticeably speeds up the entire gardening cycle without changing how the mechanics work.
Harvesting and Using Your Crops
Once a plant shows visible foliage, it’s ready to harvest. Select the plant and choose the harvest option, and your Zoi will collect the produce automatically. A good-quality harvest typically nets a lump sum of Meow per crop, and unlike most consumables in the game, harvested produce doesn’t spoil over time, so there’s no rush to use it immediately.
From there, you have two main options. Add fresh produce to your cooking ingredients to unlock special recipes tied to the Cooking skill, since several higher-tier dishes specifically require homegrown ingredients rather than store-bought ones. Alternatively, sell your harvest through the Pocket Market for extra Meow, which is a solid passive income source once your garden is established.
Growing Bonsai Trees
Bonsai trees work differently from regular crops. Instead of watering and fertilizing on a simple schedule, you interact with the bonsai directly and choose a desired shape to prune it into. Your Gardening skill level directly affects how well this pruning turns out, so don’t expect perfect bonsai shapes early on. As your skill improves, your pruning results get noticeably better, and well-shaped bonsai trees can also be sold for a profit if you’d rather treat gardening as a side income than a purely decorative hobby.
Farming on Cahaya Island
If you own the Cahaya Resort content, you’ll find an expanded farming system tied to the same Gardening skill. Instead of single potted plants, you purchase dirt plots through Build Mode and grow crops directly in the ground. This method takes longer than potted plants but supports more tropical-specific produce. As with standard gardening, you’ll want to check moisture and nutrient levels regularly and pull any weeds you spot, since the same quality penalties apply on Cahaya as they do back home.
How to Level Up Your Gardening Skill
Gardening levels from 0 to 10, and it becomes available starting at the Teenager life stage, meaning Teenagers, Young Adults, Adults, Middle-Aged, and Elder Zois can all participate. The skill increases naturally through regular gardening activities: planting, watering, fertilizing, pulling weeds, harvesting, and pruning bonsai all contribute experience over time.
Higher Gardening levels unlock wider seed selections, more advanced bonsai pruning shapes, and the ability to consistently produce higher-quality harvests, which sell for more Meow. At Level 6 specifically, you unlock the Lettuce Hydroponic System for around 35 Meow, which lets you grow crops indoors. This is especially useful for Zois living in apartments without outdoor yard space.
If your Zoi has the Plant Lover ambition under the Harmony & Peace category, they’ll naturally enjoy buying and interacting with plants more, which makes leveling Gardening feel like a more organic part of their daily routine rather than a chore.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do all plants in InZOI grow over time?
No. Only plants in the Growing Plants category mature and produce crops. Decorative indoor and outdoor plants can be watered to stay fresh but never actually grow.
How long does it take for crops to mature?
Most crops take roughly two or more in-game days under default settings. Lowering your day length to 48 or 96 minutes in the options menu speeds this up significantly in real time.
Does harvested produce spoil?
No. Harvested crops in InZOI don’t spoil, so you can store them and use them in cooking or sell them whenever you’d like.
What happens if I forget to water or fertilize my crops?
Low moisture or nutrient levels can cause your crops to become bug-ridden or wither, which lowers their overall harvest quality. They can still technically be used, but the results won’t be as good.
Can I grow plants indoors?
Yes. At Gardening Level 6, the Lettuce Hydroponic System lets you grow crops indoors, which is useful for Zois without yard space.