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[Curious Key]

So I've come back to DF after a long hiatus, and my plump helmet farm ground to a halt after the dwarfs ran out of seeds, despite that they hadn't been cooking them. Do low-skilled dwarfs now sometimes get less seeds back than they use?

[bluephoenix]

Are you sure your dwarves are not just carrying the barrel with the seeds in it around?
What does your kitchen menu say? How many seeds does it say you have?
The lowest amount of plump helmets you can get from a seed is 1 (assuming the whole farming process was done correctly).
So unless you are cooking your plump helmets, you should not loose seeds.

[Curious Key]

Kitchen stocks list no plump helmet seeds, it's really quite odd. The only possibility I can see is a dwarf carrying the barrel off on a strange adventure, but that would only account for it if being in transit removes it from the kitchen stock screen.

[Naryar]

Items being used or in transit tends to not be counted, yes.

ran into a similar issue with vine whips and vine whip flour.

But maybe you have so much plump helmets all the seeds are in plump helmet form ? put some plump helmets to brewing.

[Niddhoger]

Low-skilled farmers can actually reduce your seed stockpiles.  So, if you lack both an excess of plump helmets AND plump helmet spawn... you probably didn't start with a grower.  This is a big no-no.  In the meantime, you can harvest cavern (or surface) plants for additional stock to brew/mill/eat.  Then you'll have more seeds for your planter to gain experience from.  I STRONGLY recommend you disable "All dwarves harvest" for the time being.  Harvesting yields growing experience that you sorely need to accumulate on one or two dorfs.  I also recommend planting as much as possible on this dorf to maximize experience gain.  If you wind up with excess plants, you can turn him into a hauler for a couple seasons.  However, between growing for food, booze, textiles, and dyes... you should have plenty of work for him to train for. 

[Lytha]

Eh... how would that happen? Farmer uses 1 seed for the farming plot tile, and then there's at least one plump helmet guaranteed to grow. No loss even with an unskilled derp.

[Naryar]

Low-skilled farmers can actually reduce your seed stockpiles.

what

no

[Dozebôm Lolumzalìs]

But...that's impossible! UNLESS, some of your plants wither, in which case, since you have not gotten an INCREASE in seeds, may mean you have none left.

[Niddhoger]

Something must have changed then, originally an unskilled grower could fail to grow anything, resulting in a reduction in crops.  I've always embarked with a grower, however, so *shrugs*

[Curious Key]

Something must have changed then, originally an unskilled grower could fail to grow anything, resulting in a reduction in crops.  I've always embarked with a grower, however, so *shrugs*

Well that's exactly what *apparently* happened, as now that my farmers are a bit more skilled and I bought more plump helmets, there's no problem. So I guess we'll chalk that one up as a mystery.

[Loci]

Kitchen stocks list no plump helmet seeds, it's really quite odd. The only possibility I can see is a dwarf carrying the barrel off on a strange adventure, but that would only account for it if being in transit removes it from the kitchen stock screen.

You did notice the kitchen screen is now divided by categories, right? You won't see seeds unless you tab over to the seeds heading.

[Aslandus]

The seed stocks don't count the ones still in plump helmets, if they haven't brewed or eaten then the seeds are still in the plant...

[PatrikLundell]

I never embark with anyone having any skills, as I want to use the points for stuff to bring with me (including a few more seeds [9]), as well as assigning tasks to dorfs actually suitable to perform them (Dwarf Therapist). I've run out of seeds only when I suffered huge amounts of withering in the fields because the dwarves  just wouldn't harvest, but otherwise I've had no problems, except when seeds have been locked up in unprocessed plants (uneaten/unbrewed plump helmets, for instance). Storing food in stockpiles without barrels/pots can promote withering, and vermin can destroy food as well.

Well, I tend to run into a booze crisis during the first winter, because the dorfs insist on eating the plump helmets raw instead of eating the food brought, thus starving the still. Inexperienced farmers don't exactly produce huge yields.

[Lytha]

Something must have changed then, originally an unskilled grower could fail to grow anything, resulting in a reduction in crops.  I've always embarked with a grower, however, so *shrugs*

Well, no. Okay, I only know DF since it went 3d, so I can't speak of the very early versions of DF. But I never embarked with a grower and I never had a farmer fail the planting, thus diminishing my seeds.

I do run into seed issues with some aboveground plants in 40.19 (Alfalfa and Onions were difficult, IIRC), but that's probably because the wildlife grown as crop produces something that can only be cooked instead of eaten raw or brewed. Of the more normal crops, Quarry Bushes can be a bit low on seeds sometimes, if the farmer's workshop got stuck too long doing other things than processing them to bags.