In Subnautica, there are two different growbeds players can find and use to cultivate their own plants. The Interior Growbed allows gamers to grow plants in a base module. Likewise, the Exterior Growbed gives explorers the option to create a garden on the seafloor.
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Gardening can be a fun hobby while stranded on the alien world, and the planters can actually yield some useful items. This guide will help people find the two planters, as well as provide a few tips about using them. With patience and the right strategy, anyone can become an underwater Martha Stewart in Subnautica.
Players will want to hop into their Seamoth and head to (880, -194, 638). This is the location of the Exterior Growbed, which is on the southwest side of the crash site. The Interior Growbed will be inside of the wreckage. Just on the other side of the vessel, players will find an entryway on the top left while looking to the west. It will be blocked by what looks like a metal crane. Explorers should head through the damaged hull and immediately make a left into the vent. The vent will lead people right to the Interior Growbed (911, -194, 623).
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When looking for these two items there, are a few predators to be wary of. The Reaper Leviathans are probably the worst creatures to encounter, as they love to destroy the Seamoth and can easily kill explorers as well. Keep an eye out for them and be as efficient as possible when collecting these items. Watching a leviathan crunch a newly built Seamoth is always devastating.
There are three principle groups of aquatic plants in the game. These include aesthetic flora, consumable flora, and fabrication flora. Aesthetic plants have little utility; however, they do look cool and can be used to decorate the interior and exterior of a base. Consumable plants, meanwhile, provide some form of buff or effect that lasts for a short period. Some plants of these plants can restore oxygen, health, etc. The final class of plants will be primarily utilized for fabrication purposes.
The primary species explorers will want to pick up in this category are listed below:
- Acid Mushroom
- Blood Vine
- Creepvine
- Deep Shroom
- Eye Stalk
- Gel Sack
- Ghost Weed
- Pygmy Bulb Bush
- Sea Crown
These plants are all used in various crafting recipes throughout the game.
Of the various consumable species in Subnautica, the following will be the most beneficial to grow:
- Purple Brain Coral: Oxygen
- Creepvine: Basic Foods
- Pygmy Bulb Bush: Food and Water
- Gel Sack: Food and Water
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Each Gel Sack provides +5 food and +4 water, making it a modest, but effective resource to have. The plants will stack in one inventory square, so explorers can take a lot of them with while journeying across the water world.
In addition to useful plants, there are a ton of purely decorative species in Subnautica. The list below outlines the best looking plants to use when tricking out the base.
- Blue Palm
- Jellyshroom
- Membrane Tree
- Regress Shell
- Rough Cradle
- Spotted Dockleaf
- Violet Beau
- Writhing Weed
Tiger Plants do not fit in these three categories, but they can be useful as well. These plants will attack Leviathan and hostile creatures and can be great additions to bases for defensive purposes.
There are just a few indoor plants in Subnautica, which makes sense since the game takes place mostly underwater. Each of these indoor plants and their uses are listed below:
- Bulbo Tree: Water
- Chinese Potato: Food
- Fern Palm: Decoration
- Grub Basket: Decoration
- Jaffa Cup: Decoration
- Lantern Fruit: Food and Water
- Marblemelon: Food and Water
- Ming Plant: Decoration
- Pink Cap: Decoration
- Speckled Rattler: Decoration
- Voxel Shrub: Decoration
The Marblemelon in particular is a plant that every player should have in their base. Since they grow fast and provide a much greater food boost than any of the other consumables, they’re invaluable to have around. For water, the Bulbo Tree is the top option.
Aquatic growbeds can be placed on any structure that players build. A simple platform will work, but they can be placed on any utility modules in game. Interior growbeds and planters can be placed in any indoor module that has enough space. Interior Growbeds take up a 4×4 square, with a 16 slot grid for plants. All of the planters are included below:
- Exterior Growbed: 4×4/ 24 slot
- Interior Growbed: 4×4/16 slot
- Plant Pot: 1×1/ 1-4 slot
- Plant Shelf: 1×1/ 3 slot
The act of harvesting and planting is simple. Players can use the knife to harvest a plant or gather the plant’s seeds. Then, the plant or seeds can be planted in one of the above containers. Every plant in the game will take up 1-4 slots in each planter. For example, Bloodvines take up four slots, while Acid Mushrooms occupy just 1 slot. Taking some time to understand the space needed for each plant is helpful for players that only have one growbed. With this knowledge in mind, players are ready to forge forth with alien botany in Subnautica.
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