At the very start of the game, all of your crops in Stardew Valley will need to be watered—and this can very quickly become a chore. This is especially true once you begin planting crops that grow on a trellis where you can’t simply walk through them! In this case, knowing how to install sprinklers on your Stardew Valley Farm can be incredibly helpful. Luckily, we’ve outlined some of the key things you should know to help inform this decision.
Stardew Valley Sprinklers: What You Need to Know
Before adding sprinklers to your Stardew Valley farm, making sure you’re aware of the different features of these tools is crucial. Luckily, sprinklers in Stardew Valley are surprisingly easy to make—especially for the first two types—which is well worth keeping in mind.
What is a Sprinkler in Stardew Valley?
A sprinkler in Stardew Valley, as you might have guessed, is a specialist piece of equipment that’s designed to automatically water your crops. Rather than having to water each plant, sprinklers automatically water tiles surrounding them, thereby saving you a significant job every day.
What Types of Sprinklers are Available in Stardew Valley?
There are three types of sprinklers in Stardew Valley: regular, quality, and iridium versions. Each of these varies slightly in terms of the crafting recipe and the amount of tiles they are able to water, with basic sprinklers being the easiest to make but the least efficient, and iridium sprinklers being the most costly in terms of materials but far more effective.
Regular Sprinklers
The first sprinkler recipe you’ll discover in the game is for a basic sprinkler, which is unlocked at farming level 2. To make a regular sprinkler, you will need one copper bar and one iron bar. These can be made in a furnace with one coal and five copper or iron ores; the smelting process takes thirty minutes and two hours, respectively.
It is also possible to occasionally find iron and copper bars in garbage cans and after slaying Shadow Brutes or Shadow Shamans. However, given the relatively low chances of this, it’s likely better to focus on crafting them in a furnace.
Regular sprinklers are the most limited in terms of range, only covering four tiles—those directly above, below, and to the east and west of the sprinkler. As such, if you’re planning to use basic sprinklers on your farm, you’ll need to consider the layout of your crop field
Quality Sprinklers
Another option you could consider for your farm in Stardew is a quality sprinkler, which is made from one iron bar, one gold bar, and one bar of refined quartz. The recipe for quality sprinklers unlocks at farming level 6, and these offer double the coverage of regular sprinklers. As such, instead of covering just the four tiles directly on either side of the sprinkler, quality sprinklers also cover tiles diagonally to the sprinkler itself.
In order to make gold bars for quality sprinklers, you’ll need to refine five gold ores with one coal in the furnace, which takes five hours. You’ll also need to create a refined quartz, which is made with one coal and one of either quartz or fire quartz in the furnace, taking 1.5 hours. You can also get refined quartz by recycling broken glasses and broken CDs in a recycling machine.
Iridium Sprinklers
The third and final sprinkler type in Stardew Valley is the iridium sprinkler, which is the most effective (but also the hardest to make by far). This sprinkler doesn’t unlock until farming level 9 and requires one gold bar, one iridium bar, and one battery pack. However, it is definitely worthwhile to consider, as an iridium sprinkler can cover a total of 24 tiles—in other words, all tiles within a two-tile radius.
An iridium bar can be crafted from five iridium ore and one coal in the furnace, which takes 8 hours. It is also possible to get these from shadow, purple, and iridium enemies, as well as from the Statue of Endless Fortune. You’ll also need to obtain a battery pack, which can be obtained from lightning rods, solar panels, iridium bats, and from a stingray fish pond.
Can I Upgrade My Sprinklers?
You cannot directly upgrade your sprinklers (e.g., from a basic sprinkler to a quality sprinkler), but you can apply upgrades that increase their efficacy. Notably, there are two upgrades; the pressure nozzle and the enricher, both of which are available for 20 gems from Qi’s Walnut Room. Pressure nozzles increase the radius of coverage for the sprinklers, while enrichers can be used to automatically apply fertilizer when planting seeds (provided you have placed fertilizer within the device).
Another thing you can upgrade in your Stardew Valley farm is your server! Compared to regular servers, ScalaCube’s premium Stardew servers offer premium services with 24/7 uptime, a lag-free experience, and offer the perfect way to make the most of multiplayer games—even when your friends aren’t online.
Is There an Alternative to Using Sprinklers in Stardew Valley?
If you don’t think the cost of sprinklers is worthwhile in your case, there are several alternative options you could consider. The most obvious is to simply upgrade your watering can in Stardew Valley, which allows you to water a much larger number of crops in a single go. This isn’t quite as efficient as the sprinklers, but it can still save a substantial amount of time.
Alternatively, you could use water retaining soil, which has a chance of keeping tiles watered overnight. The premium version is deluxe retaining soil, which has a 100% chance of staying watered—in other words, you’ll only need to water each crop once with this soil type.
Stardew Valley Sprinklers: What You Need to Know
Before adding sprinklers to your Stardew Valley farm, making sure you’re aware of the different features of these tools is crucial. Luckily, sprinklers in Stardew Valley are surprisingly easy to make—especially for the first two types—which is well worth keeping in mind.What is a Sprinkler in Stardew Valley?
A sprinkler in Stardew Valley, as you might have guessed, is a specialist piece of equipment that’s designed to automatically water your crops. Rather than having to water each plant, sprinklers automatically water tiles surrounding them, thereby saving you a significant job every day.What Types of Sprinklers are Available in Stardew Valley?
There are three types of sprinklers in Stardew Valley: regular, quality, and iridium versions. Each of these varies slightly in terms of the crafting recipe and the amount of tiles they are able to water, with basic sprinklers being the easiest to make but the least efficient, and iridium sprinklers being the most costly in terms of materials but far more effective.
Regular Sprinklers
The first sprinkler recipe you’ll discover in the game is for a basic sprinkler, which is unlocked at farming level 2. To make a regular sprinkler, you will need one copper bar and one iron bar. These can be made in a furnace with one coal and five copper or iron ores; the smelting process takes thirty minutes and two hours, respectively.It is also possible to occasionally find iron and copper bars in garbage cans and after slaying Shadow Brutes or Shadow Shamans. However, given the relatively low chances of this, it’s likely better to focus on crafting them in a furnace.
Regular sprinklers are the most limited in terms of range, only covering four tiles—those directly above, below, and to the east and west of the sprinkler. As such, if you’re planning to use basic sprinklers on your farm, you’ll need to consider the layout of your crop field
Quality Sprinklers
Another option you could consider for your farm in Stardew is a quality sprinkler, which is made from one iron bar, one gold bar, and one bar of refined quartz. The recipe for quality sprinklers unlocks at farming level 6, and these offer double the coverage of regular sprinklers. As such, instead of covering just the four tiles directly on either side of the sprinkler, quality sprinklers also cover tiles diagonally to the sprinkler itself.In order to make gold bars for quality sprinklers, you’ll need to refine five gold ores with one coal in the furnace, which takes five hours. You’ll also need to create a refined quartz, which is made with one coal and one of either quartz or fire quartz in the furnace, taking 1.5 hours. You can also get refined quartz by recycling broken glasses and broken CDs in a recycling machine.
Iridium Sprinklers
The third and final sprinkler type in Stardew Valley is the iridium sprinkler, which is the most effective (but also the hardest to make by far). This sprinkler doesn’t unlock until farming level 9 and requires one gold bar, one iridium bar, and one battery pack. However, it is definitely worthwhile to consider, as an iridium sprinkler can cover a total of 24 tiles—in other words, all tiles within a two-tile radius.An iridium bar can be crafted from five iridium ore and one coal in the furnace, which takes 8 hours. It is also possible to get these from shadow, purple, and iridium enemies, as well as from the Statue of Endless Fortune. You’ll also need to obtain a battery pack, which can be obtained from lightning rods, solar panels, iridium bats, and from a stingray fish pond.
Can I Upgrade My Sprinklers?
You cannot directly upgrade your sprinklers (e.g., from a basic sprinkler to a quality sprinkler), but you can apply upgrades that increase their efficacy. Notably, there are two upgrades; the pressure nozzle and the enricher, both of which are available for 20 gems from Qi’s Walnut Room. Pressure nozzles increase the radius of coverage for the sprinklers, while enrichers can be used to automatically apply fertilizer when planting seeds (provided you have placed fertilizer within the device).Another thing you can upgrade in your Stardew Valley farm is your server! Compared to regular servers, ScalaCube’s premium Stardew servers offer premium services with 24/7 uptime, a lag-free experience, and offer the perfect way to make the most of multiplayer games—even when your friends aren’t online.
Is There an Alternative to Using Sprinklers in Stardew Valley?
If you don’t think the cost of sprinklers is worthwhile in your case, there are several alternative options you could consider. The most obvious is to simply upgrade your watering can in Stardew Valley, which allows you to water a much larger number of crops in a single go. This isn’t quite as efficient as the sprinklers, but it can still save a substantial amount of time. Alternatively, you could use water retaining soil, which has a chance of keeping tiles watered overnight. The premium version is deluxe retaining soil, which has a 100% chance of staying watered—in other words, you’ll only need to water each crop once with this soil type.
FAQs
What is the best Stardew Valley sprinkler layout to use?
When planning your Stardew Valley sprinkler layout, you’ll need to carefully consider how many tiles your sprinklers cover. If you are using basic sprinklers, for example, you’ll need to arrange the sprinklers diagonally with one untilled gap between them to ensure full crop coverage; contrastingly, Stardew Valley quality and iridium sprinklers have a much neater coverage of either one or two lines of tiles bordering the sprinkler, making them much easier to lay out.
What is the most effective type of sprinkler in Stardew Valley?
Iridium sprinklers are the most effective in terms of the number of tiles covered. However, basic sprinklers use much easier to obtain materials.
How do I remove a sprinkler in Stardew Valley?
If you’ve accidentally misplaced your sprinklers in Stardew Valley, you can remove these by hitting them with an axe or pickaxe.