Hytale Essence of Life Farming: Yields, Profits & Growth Times

Essence of Life is the core resource that powers Hytale’s farming system. Every seed you craft costs Essence, and every crop you harvest rewards you with it.

If you manage your farm correctly, you create a sustainable loop. If you plant the wrong crops, you will run out of resources. This guide covers how to get Essence of Life efficiently and which crops give you the best return on investment.

Want to run the math for your specific farm setup? Use our Interactive Hytale Farming Calculator to see exact profits.

What is Essence of Life Used For?

Essence of Life serves three main purposes in Hytale.

1. Unlocking the Farming Bench

You need to craft a Farmer’s Workbench to start farming.

• Tier 1 (Base): Costs 6 Wood Trunks + 20 Fiber.
• Tier 2 Upgrade: This is the first step that requires Essence. It costs 50 Essence of Life plus Wheat, Lettuce, and Softwood.

2. Crafting Seeds

Every seed recipe requires Essence of Life. Costs range from 2 Essence (Wheat) up to 10 Essence (Potato).

• Normal Seeds: You must pay this cost every time you plant.
• Eternal Seeds: You pay a high cost once to craft them, but they never need to be replanted.

3. Crafting Greater Essence of Life

Higher tier bench upgrades require a rare material called Greater Essence of Life. You cannot find this item in the world. You must craft it.

• Recipe: 100 Essence of Life = 1 Greater Essence of Life
• Where to Craft: Farmer’s Workbench (Essence Tab)

Bench Upgrade Requirements

To unlock better crops, you must upgrade your bench. Here are the costs for each tier.

Bench Tier	Upgrade Cost (Summary)	Crops Unlocked
1 (Base)	Wood + Fiber	Wheat, Lettuce
2	50 Essence + Crops	Carrot, Corn
3	1 Greater Essence + Crops	Cauliflower, Turnip
4	2 Greater Essence + Crops	Aubergine, Pumpkin
5	3 Greater Essence + Crops	Tomato, Chilli
6	4 Greater Essence + Crops	Cotton, Rice
7	5 Greater Essence + Crops	Potato, Onion
8	6 Greater Essence + Crops	Petal Crops
9	7 Greater Essence + Petals	Mushrooms
10	8 Greater Essence + Petals	Saplings

How to Get Essence of Life

Primary Source: Harvesting Crops

The best way to get Essence is by harvesting food crops. Every crop from Wheat to Onion yields Essence of Life when harvested.

The Loop:

1. Spend Essence to craft seeds.
2. Grow the crop.
3. Harvest to gain more Essence than you spent.
4. Repeat.

Converting Excess Crops

At Tier 2, you unlock the ability to convert spare vegetables directly into Essence of Life. This is useful if you have too much food, but harvesting crops is still the fastest way to generate Essence.

Secondary Sources

You can find small amounts of Essence in other places, but they are not reliable for farming.

• Wild Grass: Harvesting wild grass has a chance to drop 0 to 1 Essence.
• World Encounters: Some enemies and chests contain Essence.

Crop Yields and Profitability

Not all crops are profitable. Some high tier crops actually cost more to craft than they return in Essence.

Key Rule: Stick to low tier crops if you are using Normal Seeds.

Crop		Tier	Seed Cost	Avg Yield	Net Profit
Wheat		1	2	3.0	+1.0
Lettuce		1	2	3.0	+1.0
Carrot		2	3	4.5	+1.5
Corn		2	3	4.5	+1.5
Tomato		5	6	7.0	+1.0
Cotton		6	8	7.5	-0.5 ⚠️
Potato		7	10	8.5	-1.5 ⚠️
Onion		7	10	8.5	-1.5 ⚠️

Warning: Cotton, Rice, Potato, and Onion result in a net loss of Essence if you use Normal Seeds. Only farm these if you have Eternal Seeds or if you desperately need the item itself.

Best Crops by Progression Stage

• Early Game (Tier 1): Start with Wheat or Lettuce. They are cheap (2 Essence) and safe.
• Mid Game (Tier 2-5): Carrot and Corn are the best reliable profit sources (+1.5 per harvest).
• Late Game (Tier 6+): Do not farm high tier crops for Essence unless you have Eternal Seeds.

Growth Times and Modifiers

Base Growth Times

Most crops take about 72 minutes to grow initially. However, there are important exceptions.

• Tomato: 72 min initial / 38 min regrowth (Eternal only)
• Potato: 104 min initial / 95 min regrowth (Eternal only)

How to Speed Up Growth

You can stack three environmental modifiers to make crops grow up to 10x faster.

1. Fertilizer (2x Speed): Apply fertilizer to the soil.
2. Water (2.5x Speed): Plant near water or use irrigation.
3. Light (2x Speed): Ensure the crop has access to light.

Pro Tip: If you combine Water and Light, you get a 5x speed boost without spending any resources.

Eternal Seeds vs Normal Seeds

Normal Seeds These do not regrow. You harvest the plant, the seed is gone, and you must craft a new one.

Eternal Seeds These regrow indefinitely. The regrowth time is usually faster than the initial growth time.

• Pros: No crafting costs. Infinite profit loop.
• Cons: Slightly lower Essence yield per harvest. Hard to find.

Tomato is the best Eternal crop because it regrows in just 38 minutes. This is nearly twice as fast as other crops, meaning you get double the harvests.

Tips for Maximizing Essence

1. Start with Wheat: It is the safest way to build your first stack of 50 Essence for the Tier 2 bench upgrade.
2. Avoid the Potato Trap: Never try to farm Essence with normal Potato seeds. You will go bankrupt.
3. Use Water and Light: Always plant crops near water and under the sky. This 5x speed boost is free.
4. Expand Horizontally: If you want more Essence, plant more plots. 20 plots of Wheat will generate Essence faster than 5 plots of Tomatoes.
5. Craft Greater Essence Early: You need a lot of it for late-game upgrades. Start saving Essence of Life as soon as you hit Tier 3.

Quick Reference

• Best Starter Crop: Wheat (+1.0 Profit)
• Best Mid-Game Crop: Carrot (+1.5 Profit)
• Best Eternal Crop: Tomato (Fastest Regrowth)
• Worst Crop for Profit: Potato (-1.5 Loss with normal seeds)

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For detailed calculations on any crop with your specific setup, use the Farming Calculator.

Related Guides

• Eternal Seeds Guide : Crafting recipes, drop rates, and yield comparison
• Farming Calculator : Calculate yields, growth times, and efficiency