If you haven’t reached the Log Cabin or explored the Northern area, please follow the walkthrough to get there — CLICK HERE FOR WALKTHROUGH.
Your journey into planting and cutting trees starts when you find some Fir Cones under Towering Grand Firs next to the Log cabin.
As a side note, you can also find Fir Cones under some Towering Grand Firs in the Northern part of Bellflower Meadows. To see the Fir Cones more easily behind the trees, click on “Toggle visibility of trees and tall buildings” in your Settings and trees will become see through.
To get a better idea of where to find the Towering Grand Firs in the North of Bellflower Meadows, look for these flowers at the lower right (circled in red in both photos above).
After you first pick up Fir Cones, this quest notification will show up for the quest Forestry.
Forestry
Open up the quest and click the green “Show Me” button for the first part of the quest.
As you can see at the top left of the quest window, the difficulty for this quest is hard, so it will take some time to finish it.
After you click “Show Me”, the quest will indicate where you can plant the Fir Cones you just found.
How do I plant a seed?
Open up Joe’s backpack and click the green “Plant” button next to Fir Cone.
Now, make sure the square is green, which means you can plant there, then click, and Joe will plant the Grand Fir Seed.
Don’t click on the Grand Fir Seed you just planted, otherwise Joe will clear it and the seed will go back to your backpack.
Keep hovering with your mouse cursor over the seed you just planted and you will see 3 windows telling you this info:
- how much energy it takes to cut the tree/seed
- when the next growth stage is due
- when the tree is fully grown
Trees you plant have 4 growth stages. Here’s an example of how long it takes to get from Fir Cone to Towering Grand Fir after you plant the Fir Cone (Grand Fir Seed):
- 1st stage — 1 hour — becomes Fir Sprout
- 2nd stage — 2 hours — becomes Fir Sapling
- 3rd stage — 5 hours — becomes Mature Grand Fir
- 4th stage — 16 hours — becomes Towering Grand Fir
You can use fertilizer to speed up the growth. Rain will also help, but partially.
When you hover over a seed or tree you can also see on the menu that appears to the right what you get for cutting the tree in each growth phase, and the tool you need to cut it.
To continue the quest “Forestry”, you now have to wait for the tree to grow up to a Towering stage.
After the tree reaches the final growth stage, you will have to make Joe cut the tree with an upgraded axe.
How do I upgrade my axe?
To upgrade your axe, you have to advance in the game. If you’re stuck, please read our complete Bellflower Meadow Walkthrough.
While you’re exploring the new land and advancing towards the point in the story where you can upgrade your axe, you can still cut down other trees.
How do I cut trees that require a Tree Permit?
You may notice that you can also cut some trees (Frasier Firs) in the Northern Area of Bellflower Meadows, but to do that, you will need a Tree Permit.
You can only cut the trees that show a red Tree Permit sign over them when you hover with your mouse cursor.
After you upgrade your axe, you will also be able to cut towering trees with Tree Permits, but more on that later in the article.
How do I get a Tree Permit?
To get a Tree Permit, click on your farm’s name at the top > Stats & Skills tab > Vouchers sub-tab.
There, you can exchange 1 Green Voucher for 1 Tree Permit by clicking the button with “1 green voucher” on it.
Now Joe can start cutting down that Frasier Fir and pick up the Loot.
Get Fir Resin for Torches to explore the Mine
As shown in the last 3 photos above, you can !!!cut Frasier Firs with a Tree Permit to get more Fir Resin!!!
Here’s what we got for cutting the Frasier Fir in the photo above:
Fir Resin also sometimes drops from Towering Grand Fir trees — depending on how much you have. Remember to look under the Towering Grand Firs near the Log Cabin or in the Northern area of Bellflower Meadow. It’s easier if you use the “Toggle visibility of trees and tall buildings” option in your Settings for the Northern area.
Besides cutting Frasier Firs with Tree Permits, you can also get Fir Resin by cutting Towering Grand Fir trees with an upgraded axe.
What do I do if I have no more seeds? How do seeds appear?
If you don’t have any more seeds to plant in your backpack or Old Shack, you can look for seeds just like when you found the Fir Cones next to the Log Cabin (or area in the North) to unlock the quest “Forestry”. In the Northern area, it’s easier to see Fir Resin or Fir Cones if you click the option “Toggle visibility of trees and tall buildings” in Settings.
Each tree type has its own unique area where it grows and where you can look for seeds if you do run out — so, you won’t find seeds for all tree types next to the Log Cabin, for example. Seeds appear once a day when you run out.
Seeds appear only if you have previously cut that tree type. So, you will get an Elm Tree seed only if you have a 0 (zero) quantity in your backpack or Old Shack, and if you have previously cut an Elm Tree to get an Elm Tree Seed — it’s a sort of “unlock” mechanism.
How do I get Hardwoods?
You get hardwoods by cutting trees in the last 2 stages: Mature and Towering.
How do I cut Towering Trees?
Again, if you’re stuck with upgrading your axe, please read our complete Bellflower Meadow Walkthrough.
After you upgrade your axe, choose a towering tree like grand fir or oak and start chopping. Don’t forget the stub after it falls to get more loot 😉
For some towering trees such as maples, elms or beech, you will have to upgrade your axe again, to the 3rd one, the Lumberjack Axe.
How do I plant more Maple, Elm or Beech seeds?
Every tree type has their own spacing requirements, and Maple trees, Elm trees, and Beech trees need more space. Also, some trees have preferred planting zones.
Since bigger trees (Maple, Elm or Beech) require more space, it’s advisable to plant them first, then the smaller ones (Fir, Oak). If you want easy access to the bigger trees (cut and replant), plant fewer smaller trees next to them.
Here’s a general idea of where you can plant more Maple trees and Elm tree in the Northern area of Bellflower Meadow. Again, bigger trees were planted first.
And here’s where you can plant more Maple trees (near the fishing hut) and Beech trees (across the bridge).
In the example in the photo below, the Maple trees were planted before Fir trees. So, if you cut a Maple tree, you won’t be able to plant another Maple seed (Samara) in its place since Fir trees were planted very close in the meantime — and planting Maple seeds (Samara) requires more space.
The solution is to clear more trees until you can plant more seeds.