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[farecoal]

I've already dug into the cavern layer and there are now tower-caps growing in my fortress-but how do I get seeds to make a dedicated farm?

[FellMoodFox]

Tower caps have no actual "farm" seeds.  A "tower cap farm" is an area of your fortress dedicated to the natural growth of tower-caps and other spore-based trees.  It's constructed by creating a large open muddy area, especially good in soil areas, via irrigation.

I personally dig out an area around 24x24 or 36x36 in the soil layer next to a brook if possible, use floodgates to flood that area, then drain it out via another floodgate.  Then I lock it and wait for a few years, after which the tower caps grow.

But yeah, sadly, there's no seeds you can plant for any sort of tree.

[blue emu]

Correct. They grow from airborne spores. You don't (and can't) plant them... the best you can do is encourage their growth by muddying a large soil or sand area.

[farecoal]

Alright, thanks.

[TheyTarget]

Tower caps have no actual "farm" seeds.  A "tower cap farm" is an area of your fortress dedicated to the natural growth of tower-caps and other spore-based trees.  It's constructed by creating a large open muddy area, especially good in soil areas, via irrigation.

I personally dig out an area around 24x24 or 36x36 in the soil layer next to a brook if possible, use floodgates to flood that area, then drain it out via another floodgate.  Then I lock it and wait for a few years, after which the tower caps grow.

But yeah, sadly, there's no seeds you can plant for any sort of tree.

You dont need to flood it if its a soil layer. It should just grow.

[gtmattz]

You dont need to flood it if its a soil layer. It should just grow.

While this is true, you will see a significantly higher rate of growth on irrigated soil as compared to dry soil, so if you are serious about your subterranean wood farms, irrigating a large area of soil is your best route to lots of trees.

[Drawde]

I think that the type of soil matters as well.  I've had a couple soil types on one level before, and not gotten anything to grow in sand.  While other types get plenty of plants.

Basically just mine out an entire soil layer, while keeping it underground.  You'll get plenty of bushes and trees that way.  Also, I hear that getting a herbalist to gather the plants makes more room for trees to grow.

[gtmattz]

I think that the type of soil matters as well.  I've had a couple soil types on one level before, and not gotten anything to grow in sand.  While other types get plenty of plants.

Basically just mine out an entire soil layer, while keeping it underground.  You'll get plenty of bushes and trees that way.  Also, I hear that getting a herbalist to gather the plants makes more room for trees to grow.

It has more to do with biome, and nothing at all to do with soil type.  If you dig out a bunch of space in a biome with thick vegetation and lots of trees on the surface, you will see more abundant plantlife underground, conversely, you may have trouble getting much of a tree farm going in a desolate desert biome.

As for gathering plants, this is true.  The way it works is that a specific biome will have a cap on the number of plants in a specific area, so when you go through and pick all the plants it frees up slots for saplings to grow.  This, of course, works on the surface and in the caverns as well.