How to get the Omni Plant

I enjoy growing gardens and improving the gardening skill in the Sims 3. As your sim gains the gardening skill, they are able to plant and grow more and more things. There are also many special types of plants that can be found as seeds or earned. For example, you can find seeds for a Life Plant, Death Flower Bush, Money Tree, and Flame Fruit Bush. By completing opportunities, you can gain knowledge of several other types of plants: Eggplant, Cheese Plant, Steak Plant, and Burger Patty Plant. I’ve gotten all of these before. But now I’m currently on a challenge/opportunity to grow 10 Outstanding steaks, and in return I’ll gain access to the Omni Plant (at least that’s what it sounds like)! I’ve heard of it, but never seen the Omni plant or know what it grows. On a Gamespot forum, they claim it replicates anything you feed it from your inventory. You can ‘Feed’ it items when it’s mature. On the Sims Wiki, you can find the gardening skill necessary for each type of plant, prices, and more.

Update: My omni plants have replicated roasts, snails, and pomelos. I think you get about 4 for each, which means your 1 item you feed an omni plant is quadrupled. I was also able to replicate Life Plant and Flame Bush, but the death flower did not appear in the list when you select an item.

Omni Plants ready for harvest

Apartment Life: Butler vs. Servo Robot

In the Apartment Life expansion pack is a new NPC character, the Butler. He does many domestic chores, much like the Servo or Robot does for a family. So the question is: Which is best? Hiring a butler for a base fee of $20 and $25 per hour, or getting a Servo (Open for Business) to join the family?  First of all, it is more difficult to get a Servo. You can build up the Robotics badge and build one yourself, you can become friends with an existing one and invite him/her to move in, or you can go to another Sims’ store to buy one that they have built (and pay the specified price). The butler can just be hired over the phone. One disadvantage to the Butler is that he seems to arrive around 10 am and leave sometime in the late afternoon or early evening, while the Servo is a part of the family and is there all the time. The Servo is controllable, so you can tell him which chores to do, and he doesn’t need to sleep much. He also has fun and social needs, so he will not do chores all the time. But he may play with the kids or pets. The Butler will cook and serve food, while Servo will make food but not serve it. This means children won’t be able to eat until another family member serves it. The Butler can also order groceries or hire repairmen/exterminators when needed, which is very useful. I read that he will also greet guests that arrive. I believe both will clean and do the gardening. What are your thoughts as to which is better in which circumstances?

How to Become a Plant Sim

I created my first Plant Sim today with one of the pre-made sims in Freetime, Julien Cooke. He has a mustache and goatee, but wears a green skirt and leotards I guess. See picture below.

To achieve plantsimism, I planted 13 fruit trees and sprayed them whenever they needed it. I began in the middle of the summer and he became a plant sim in the middle of autumn. It didn’t seem like he had sprayed that much, but as I understand, Sims become plant sims when they spray for bugs a certain number of times. He earned a bronze Gardening talent badge while tending the trees, and when he became a Plant Sim it must have jumped to a Gold badge! Now he can talk to the trees (which need it since most were sick). Since Julien’s hobby is cooking, I’ll have him cook with all the fruit that he’s grown! My Plant Sim posing with Thumbs Up

Effects of Fruit and Vegetable Juice

Not only is it fun to grow your own fruit and vegetables and use them to make healthy meals and juices, but each of the juices has a special effect! Here’s the list:

  • Apple Juice: 3 apples; faster homework
  • Beauty Cocktail: 2 oranges, 2 cucumbers; love potion
  • Eggplant Juice: 2 eggplants; random skill point
  • Lemonade: 6 lemons; cools Sims down
  • Orange Juice: 6 oranges; cures cold
  • Orangeade: 4 oranges, 2 lemons; random badge
  • Pepper Punch: 2 pepper, 1 pole bean, 1 apple; energy boost
  • Pureed Boot: 1 boot; sim acts nutty
  • Strawberry Juice: 3 strawberries; less furious
  • Strawberry Lemonade: 2 lemons, 2 strawberries; platinum mood
  • Tomato Juice: 6 tomatoes; warms Sims up
  • Vegetable Cocktail: 1 tomato, 1 cucumber, 1 pepper, 1 pole bean; build skills faster

Source: CompSimGames.About.com

I would assume tasty and mouthwatering fruits and vegetables have a greater effect than bland ones. When you have produce in your inventory, click on the Juicer or Fridge to stock. You can also remove produce from each appliance.

Plants will not grow or appear

I built a greenhouse with several fertilized garden plots, and installed some sprinklers and tiny borders/divides to put lights in. The plants would do find in some plots, but in several the plants were not growing at all! The weeds would pop up, and hovering over would indicate they were healthy, but no leaves would show. After several days of waiting with nothing, I composted and tried again, but with no luck, until I removed the sprinklers, divides, and lights that were nearby and on the same square of land. I only found one forum topic on the subject, which just advised to check any hacks or custom content you may have installed. But since they started appearing after I removed the objects nearby, I don’t think custom content is the problem. And I don’t have any hacks (or cheats activated).

How to get the Wishing Well for Your Garden – Requirements

What are the requirements for receiving the wishing well? How big does your garden have to be, and what needs to be in it? I had my vegetable garden reviewed by the Garden Club today, and did well enough to receive the Wishing Well! The first few times I was reviewed, they liked the conditions of my plants but said to make the garden bigger. I didn’t know how big the garden had to be before I would get the Wishing Well. See the picture below to get an idea of how big my garden was. I also had 2 fruit trees, and the front of the house was lined with flowers and bushes, with an edging in front. I had several decorations, but only 2 were in the greenhouse with the garden. I tried the Wish for Friends option, and 3 Sims appeared. As soon as my Sim talked to them, they became best friends! My Sim had platinum status at the time of wishing. Does less than gold aspiration status make a difference?

My Winning Vegetable Garden

Information about the Wishing Well:
Options: Drink; Wish for… Friends, Romance, or Money
Can NOT be set for sale in a business
CAN be given as a gift to someone else

Making Fantastic Gardens

Today I found a really cool link that explains the common pitfalls of creating flowerbeds and gardens. Ever get annoyed that something prevents your sims from trimming the bushes or watering the flowers? Find out how to place edging and pavement properly (especially with the triangle flowerbeds) and how to place flowerbeds on slopes and on raised platforms. The only problem is some things require the moveobjects cheat, so you may not want to resort to that. But check it out: http://website.lineone.net/~andrewhdknock/GardeningTutorial.htm