OSRS Farming Training Guide From Level 1 to 99

In this OSRS farming guide, you’ll learn everything you need to know to master this profitable skill and make a good amount of OSRS gold in the process.

Farming skill in Old School RuneScape is probably the most peculiar since it has a good resemblance to real-life farming. You need to plant crops and watch them grow into full-fledged plants that bear sweet fruit.

Farming also differs from other skills in OSRS as it is mostly AFK. Despite being an AFK skill, it requires patience as you will not see your Farming levels shooting up compared to other skills.

Instead, it requires you to make regular Farming runs to plant seeds and harvest crops. Think of each run similar to what farmers do during the harvesting season in the real world.

And just like in reality, you need to know a lot about various plants and what species of plants to sow. So without further a do, let's start with the basics of farming in Old School RuneScape.

OSRS Farming Basics

The first thing to know about Farming is that there are these places called Farming patches. You cannot simply drop your seeds anywhere on the ground and expect them to take root. You must sow your crops in designated locations.

Furthermore, there is another layer of selection as Farming patches are dedicated to specific species of crops. You unlock more and more of these Farming patches with time and you'll become extremely efficient at training Farming when you gain access to more locations and teleportation methods.

The upside here is that in some cases various Farming patches are grouped in little clusters.

RuneScape Plant Types

Another thing to know is that plants come in different types:

• Normal trees
• Fruit trees
• Bushes
• Hops
• Vegetables
• Flowers
• Allotments
• Herbs
• Special plants

Each species of plant has a different seed that can be planted in their specific Farming patches. Trees need to be grown into Saplings first before putting them in the ground.

Seeds

There are lots of Seed types in the game. Your Farming level defines what Seeds you can plant into Farming patches. Seeds cannot be planted just into any Farming patch as well.      
Seeds can be received in a variety of ways, the most reliable being emptying Bird house traps with Hunter skill and acquiring Bird nests.

Saplings

Saplings are an intermediate stage between a Seed and a Tree. You need an Empty plant pot and fill it with soil from any Farming patch by using a Gardening trowel.

Tree Seeds must be planted into a Filled plant pot using a Trowel and then watered using a Watering can on a Filled plant pot. You will know that the Sapling is watered from a “w” appearing at the end of its name.

A Sapling takes around 5 minutes to become mature enough to be planted outdoors. Normal Trees that grow from Saplings can be manually chopped down or you can pay the Farmer 200 coins to do it for you and focus on Farming training.

Diseased Plants

Plants, just like animals, can get sick. When you plant your crops and they grow, they can catch a disease. If this happens, you need to take care of the plant yourself or pay a nearby NPC to take care of your plants for you.

You can cure diseased plants by using the Plant cure potion on them. These can be bought from Farming shops for 40 coins or a farmer at the Farming patch for 25 coins.

An alternative way of ridding your plants of disease is to use the Cure Plant spell from the Lunar spellbook. It requires level 66 Magic to cast 8 Earth runes and 1 Astral rune. It is worth choosing Cure Plant spell over Plant cure potion only if using Earth staff.

Worth noting: training your OSRS Magic to the Lunar spellbook level (66 Magic) lets you keep your patches healthy without ever buying Plant cure potions again. At level 78, the Arceuus Resurrect Crops spell saves expensive harvests from random disease — well worth the magic levels for late-game herb running.

Dead Plants

If your plants can catch a disease then they can die as well. Dead plants cannot be cured but you can attempt to revive them (we are not entirely sure if this does not count as necromancy).

This is done with the Resurrect Crops spell from Arceuus spellbook. The spell requires level 78 Magic and lots of runes: 25 Earth runes, 8 Blood runes, 12 Nature runes, and 8 Spirit runes. The chance of raising your dear plant back from the dead depends on your Magic level.

At level 78 Magic this chance is 50% and scales up to 75% at level 99 Magic. To avoid having to use this costly spell in the first place, you can pay NPC‘s to protect your plants or monitor them with Amulet of nature. The amulet can only be bound to a single Farming patch.

Expert Tip: Use Resurrect Crops spell only on expensive crops.

Farming Patches

As was mentioned before, Farming patches are scattered all around Gielinor. Only specific types of plants can be planted into specific Farming patches.

Important Reminder: You will need to do a lot of teleporting, so training Farming on fresh accounts can be extremely difficult, if not impossible when considering the costs at a high Farming level.

To remember which Farming patches you already used come up with a seeding/harvesting system or simply visit them one by one in a circular route.

OSRS Farming Tools

While in theory the potion and spells mentioned above could be listed under this category, we’re talking about more down-to-earth stuff. Farming tools can be bought from any Farming shop and they all have their specific uses.

Tools	Use
Rake	Used for getting rid of weeds in a plot.
Spade	The most useful Farming tool. Used for harvesting crops, clearing away dead plants, and removing plant roots and bushes.
Watering can	Used for watering plants, which prevents disease during the watered growth cycle. Also used to water tree seedlings.
Seed dibber	Used for planting seeds in a plot.
Gardening trowel	Used to fill plant pots with soil, as well as planting tree seeds in plant pots to grow saplings.
Secateurs Magic secateurs	Used for cutting away diseased leaves from trees and bushes. Magic secateurs increase most variable yields when worn.
Basket	Used for storing up to 5 pieces of fruit (Tomatoes, Strawberries, Oranges, Apples, Bananas).
Empty sack	Used for storing up to 10 vegetables (Potatoes, Cabbages, Onions).
Empty plant pot	Most often leftover after planting a sapling in a tree or fruit tree patch; needs to be refilled before use.
Filled plant pot	Used along with a trowel to plant tree seeds, which, when watered, produce tree saplings that may then be planted in patches.

 

Tool Leprechauns are very useful little helpers. They are found at any Farming patch and can take in your tools for safekeeping.

 

What’s more, they all share their storage, so you can leave your tools with one Leprechaun and get them from another. Additionally, Tool Leprechauns can note your herbs and some other produce.

Types of Compost

 

Fertilizing your plants is extremely important for them to be healthy and yield fruit. For that, you will need to use the Compost bin quite a bit. There are three types of Compost: Compost (regular), Supercompost, and Ultracompost.

Compost

Compost can be created by putting Farming produce into Compost bins. Compost bin then must be closed and left alone for 60 minutes for the produce to rot and turn into Compost.

A single batch yields 15 Buckets of Compost. If you are impatient you can also buy it from some Farming shops. Compost reduces the chance of Plants acquiring disease by 50% and increases both minimum and maximum yield.

Supercompost

Supercompost can be obtained in a few ways. First, like with the regular Compost, you must put the necessary produce into Compost bins found near Allotment patches.

Supercompost is called “super” for its effects and not the time it takes for it to form as it takes 90 minutes or 1.5 times longer than the regular Compost.            

It is also possible to use a Compost potion on a full compost bin to turn the whole batch into Supercompost or on a single bucket of Compost that is already in your inventory (but why would you do that?).              

Supercompost can also be purchased for points rewarded from the Tithe Farm. Fertile Soil spell from the Lunar spellbook can apply the same effect on a Farming patch as Supercompost.

Supercompost reduces the risk of your plants catching a disease by 80% and just as Compost, it increases the minimum and maximum product yield.

Ultracompost

Last, but not least we have Ultracompost. Ultracompost is a version of Compost that is on steroids. Ultracompost can be obtained by fertilizing a Compost bin filled with Supercompost with 25 units of Volcanic ash or 50 when dealing with Big compost bin. You can also add 2 Volcanic ash to a single bucket of Supercompost to turn it into Ultracompost, though that is not economical. 

 As with Supercompost, there is a Magic alternative. Fertile soil spells from the Lunar spellbook can be used on a Farming patch to apply the effect of Ultracompost. Note that you need to have 2 Volcanic ash in your inventory for the spell to work.   

Ultracompost reduces the chance of your plants getting sick by a whopping 90% and increases the minimum and maximum crop yields more than Supercompost does. 

The Farmer’s Outfit

Farmer’s outfit is extremely handy. It can be purchased from the Tithe farm minigame shop. The complete set provides a 2.5% increase to Farming XP gains (2% from separate pieces + 0.5% set bonus), therefore it is recommended to get it as soon as possible.

Obtaining it at a high Farming level might be pointless. If you decide on getting it, first purchase Torso (0.8%), then Legs (0.6%), followed by Hat (0.4%), and leave the Boots (0.2%) for last. 

The Farming Guild

The Farming Guild is a place any competent farmer should visit. Like other artisan guilds, it provides various bonuses. Farming Guild contains additional Farming patches that can be used to gain more XP.

Farming Guild has a caste system of sorts: beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Each section has its own Farming level requirement which is level 45 Farming, 65 and 85 respectively. Each section unlocks more Farming patches to be exploited by a rising agriculturalist such as yourself.

To enter the Farming Guild, you only need a minimum Farming level of 45 (Beginner tier), 65 (Intermediate), or 85 (Advanced). The 65% Hosidius favour requirement was removed on 10 January 2024 in the Children of the Sun update — Farming level is now the only gate.

OSRS Quests that Reward Farming Experience

If you're chasing 99 efficiently, knock out these quests early — many are part of the broader OSRS optimal quest guide route and bank significant XP before you even touch a seed.

Quest	Experience	Other requirements	Level
Recipe for Disaster (Goblin generals subquest)	1,000	-	-
Enlightened Journey	3,000	36 Crafting 20 FIremaking 20 Quest Points	30
Fairytale I - Growing Pains	3,500	-	-
Grim Tales	4,000	59 Agility 52 Herblore 58 Thieving 71 Woodcutting	45
Forgettable Tale...	5,000	22 Cooking	17
Garden of Tranquillity	5,000	-	25
My Arm's Big Adventure	5,000	10 Woodcutting	29
Rum Deal	7,000	42 Crafting 50 Fishing 47 Prayer 42 Slayer	40
Song of the Elves	20,000	70 Agility 70 Construction 70 Herblore 70 Hunter 70 Mining 70 Smithing 70 Woodcutting	70

 

Quests that Require Farming

Quest	Level
Forgettable Tale...	17
Garden of Tranquility	25
My Arm's Big Adventure	29
Enlightened Journey	30
Rum Deal	40
Grim Tales	45
Fairytale II - Cure a Queen	49
Song of the Elves	70

 

OSRS Diaries that Require Farming

Difficulty	Diary	Task	Level
Easy	Kandarin	Plant Jute seeds in the farming patch north of McGrubor's Wood.	13
Easy	Morytania	Place a Scarecrow in the Morytania Flower (patch).	23
Medium	Ardougne	Harvest some strawberries from the Ardougne farming patch.	31
Medium	Falador	Place a Scarecrow in the Falador farm flower patch.	23/47
Medium	Kandarin	Pick some limpwurt root from the farming patch in Catherby.	26
Medium	Karamja	Grow a healthy fruit tree in the patch near Brimhaven.	27
Medium	Kourend & Kebos	Enter the Farming Guild.	45
Medium	Varrock	Pick a white tree fruit.	25
Hard	Ardougne	Check the health of a palm tree near Tree Gnome Village (not in Gnome Stronghold).	68
Hard	Ardougne	Pick some poison ivy berries from the patch south of East Ardougne (Near the Ardougne Monastery).	70
Hard	Kourend & Kebos	Plant some Logavano seeds at the Tithe Farm.	74
Hard	Morytania	Pick some belladonna from the farming patch at Draynor Manor.	63
Hard	Morytania	Harvest some watermelon from the allotment patch on Harmony Island.	47
Hard	Morytania	Harvest some Bittercap mushrooms from the patch in Canifis.	53
Hard	Varrock	Collect at least 2 yew roots from the tree patch in Varrock Palace. (If boosting, make sure to boost when digging up the yew tree, not when planting!)	68
Hard	Western Provinces	Check the health of your palm tree in Lletya	68
Elite	Ardougne	Pick some torstol from the patch north of East Ardougne.	85
Elite	Falador	Find at least 3 magic roots at once when digging up your magic tree in Falador.	91
Elite	Kandarin	Pick some dwarf weed from the herb patch at Catherby.	79
Elite	Karamja	Check the health of a palm tree in Brimhaven.	68
Elite	Karamja	Check the health of your Calquat tree patch.	72
Elite	Kourend & Kebos	Chop some redwood logs.	-/90
Elite	Kourend & Kebos	Create your own battlestaff from scratch within the Farming Guild.	85
Elite	Western Provinces	Have Prissy Scilla protect your magic tree.	75

 

Best Way To Level Up Farming in OSRS

If you're chasing 99 efficiently, the meta-consensus across Theoatrix, OSRS Wiki and the speedrunning community converges on the same three-stage path:

1. Quest stack to level 38 — Recipe for Disaster (Goblin Generals subquest) + Fairytale I + Enlightened Journey + Garden of Tranquillity + Forgettable Tale + My Arm's Big Adventure stack to ~32,500 Farming XP with no seed planting at all. See the quest table above for full details.
2. Tree runs from level 15 onwards — every 16 hours, plant the highest tree + fruit tree + hardwood + special tree slots you can. Always pay the farmer to protect each tree — death loss + replant time costs more XP than the 200-1000 gp protection fee. The only exception is the cheapest path, where Ultracompost replaces protection on lower-tier trees.
3. Tithe Farm + herb runs as filler — herb runs every 80 minutes for cash and supplementary XP, Tithe Farm for active XP bursts when you want to compress the timeline.

For players starting from scratch with no quests done and no Farming level, an alternative to the quest stack is Bagged plants in your Player-Owned House — roughly 78 bagged plants will take you from level 1 to 15 if you want to skip questing. Slower than the quest stack but possible from any level.

To level up Farming efficiently you should stick to planting various Trees. They take time to mature thus you can spend this time doing other things. This method of Farming training while efficient is also costly at high Farming levels, so make sure to buy OSRS gold if your bank account is depleted.

Make sure to pay the Gardener a 200 coin fee so he will cut down the Trees for you and all that you need to do is click on the Tree to receive Farming XP. Don’t forget to pay protection money.

Last, but not least, for fast Farming training you should buy items on the Grand Exchange and note items needed as protection payment to save inventory space. You will also need to teleport a lot, so make sure to unlock all available teleports or use the closest ones you have to particular Farming patches.

Tree Patches

Crystal Trees (level 74 Farming, requires Song of the Elves) sit outside the standard tree-run loop but reward an enormous 13,240 Farming XP per check. The crystal sapling is craftable from a crystal acorn — a Gauntlet drop — so once you're past 74 Farming, plant a crystal tree on cooldown for the single biggest XP-per-action source in the late game.

Once your trees mature, you have two options: pay the gardener 200 coins per tree to clear it for you, or chop it yourself for free OSRS Woodcutting XP — a clean two-for-one if you're training Woodcutting alongside Farming.

Fruit Tree Patches

 

Tithe Farm Minigame

The Tithe Farm minigame in Hosidius is the fastest Farming XP per hour in OSRS. It unlocks at level 34 Farming, gets better as you level, and since the Children of the Sun update in January 2024 it requires no Hosidius favour — just walk in. After the May 2023 rework it's also solo-instanced, so no other players can grief your run.

Three seed tiers, unlocked by Farming level:

• Golovanova — level 34 Farming
• Bologano — level 54 Farming
• Logavano — level 74 Farming (best XP)

At level 74+, depositing 100 Logavano fruits awards roughly 37,800 Farming XP with the Farmer's outfit equipped, and a clean 25×4 layout takes about 19 minutes — ~100-120k XP/hr depending on layout efficiency (the OSRS Wiki cites ~95-110k as the typical range; 119k is the upper bound with a perfect 25×4 layout). Compare that to passive tree runs, which average 60-90k effective XP/hr at the same level once you factor downtime.

Tithe Farm rewards points (capped at 16,000 since the June 2025 raise). The full Farmer's outfit costs 400 points and adds a +2.5% Farming XP boost. Wear it for every herb run, tree run, and Tithe trip from the moment you can afford it.

• Strawhat — 75 points
• Shirt / Jacket — 150 points
• Trousers — 125 points
• Boots — 50 points

Tithe Farm is the fastest grind if you don't mind active gameplay. Most pros mix both: passive runs every few hours plus a focused Tithe session whenever they want an XP burst.

Farming Guild Patches & Tier Unlocks

The Farming Guild, west of the Kebos Lowlands, is one of the biggest farming infrastructure wins in OSRS. As of the January 2024 favour removal, the only thing gating it is your Farming level. Three tiers, each unlocked by a milestone:

• Beginner (level 45) — east wing: cactus, two allotments, flower patch, bush patch
• Intermediate (level 65) — west wing: herb, tree, anima patch, plus the Hespori boss patch
• Advanced (level 85) — north wing: fruit tree, spirit tree, celastrus, redwood

A few patches deserve their own callout:

• Anima patch (Intermediate) — plant Attas, Iasor, or Kronos seeds for world-wide effects on every other farming patch: Attas boosts yield, Iasor reduces disease, Kronos can skip a growth stage. Strongest farming buff in the game.
• Spirit tree patch (Advanced) — once grown, you get a permanent teleport hub.
• Celastrus patch (Advanced) — celastrus bark crafts into battlestaves, excellent passive OSRS Crafting training for any active farmer.
• Redwood tree (Advanced) — by far the largest single-check XP after Crystal Trees, and redwood logs are excellent Firemaking fuel.

Boosts work — eat a Stew with positive Farming roll or sip a Garden pie to enter a tier a few levels early. You won't lose access mid-run.

OSRS Farming Guide For Each Level

Improving your farming skill is not that hard as long as you know what needs to be done. The more time you spend playing RuneScape and by doing these tasks repeatedly, the faster you can level up.

Level 1-17 Farming

As with other OSRS skills, some quests grant skill XP. Farming is no exception. You should complete the Fairytale Part 1 quest before you begin Farming. Not only will you receive 3,500 XP that will boost you straight to level 17 Farming, but also Magic secateurs. Magic secateurs are incredibly useful when using Herb patches, Allotment patches, farming grapevines, and hops.

Level 17-27 Farming

Remember all those Oak trees you were cutting down when you started playing OSRS? Time to plant them now! Plant Oak trees at the 5 Tree patches available to you. When harvesting, remember to first click on an Oak tree before you give the 200 coins payment to the Gardener for cutting it down. Each Farming round takes about 200 minutes.

Level 27-30 Farming

In addition to planting Oak trees, you can now plant Apple trees as well. Apple trees and Oak trees can be planted simultaneously during the first run because Apple trees occupy different Farming patches (fruit trees). Each Apple tree round takes about 960 minutes or 16 hours.

Level 30-33 Farming

At this level range, you should swap Oak trees for Willow trees. Willow tree round takes about 280 minutes.

Level 33-39 Farming

Now it’s time to swap the Fruit tree slot. Start planting Banana trees instead of Apple trees. Banana tree rounds last a bit shorter than Apple tree rounds (about 840 minutes).

Level 39-42 Farming

Willow trees do not go anywhere still, but you will swap Banana trees for Orange trees at this Farming leveling stage.

Level 42-45 Farming

Hello, Willow, my old friend. Once again you are only making changes in Fruit tree slot and start planting Curry trees. Don’t forget to keep planting Willow trees.

Level 45-51 Farming

At last, the Willow tree is gone. Well served, buddy, press F to pay respects. Swap Willow trees for Maple trees and continue harvesting until level 51 Farming.

Level 51-57 Farming

While we do not agree with this classification, you should start planting Pineapple trees instead of Curry trees. Pineapples do not grow on trees.

Level 57-60 Farming

Once again, changes in the Fruit tree slot. Papaya trees. Plant them. Care for them. Love them.

Level 60-68 Farming

Continue planting Papaya trees, but swap Maple trees for Yew trees. Remember, that at level 65 Farming you unlock additional Farming patch in the Farming Guild. Make sure to include it in your planting/harvesting rotation.

Level 68-75 Farming

Enough with Papaya trees, time to plant some Palm trees instead.

Level 75-99 Farming

Magic trees at last! Continue planting Palm trees and swap Yew trees for Magic trees. At level 85 Farming you will unlock an additional Farming patch in the Farming Guild, so make sure to make good use of it. Magic saplings are usually very expensive, therefore prepare to pay an arm and a leg for them.

Alternative Farming Leveling Methods

Level 36+ Farming

At level 36 Farming you can become an owner of your own Vinery patches at Hosidius. Planting Grapes provides massive XP gains but is expensive in seed cost. As of the Children of the Sun update on 10 January 2024, you no longer need 65% Hosidius favour to access them — just walk in.

Grapes require a very specific fertilizer – Saltpetre. You must use Saltpetre on the soil using a Gardening trowel before planting Grape seeds. There are 12 Grape patches in the Hosidius vinery.

Grape trees require 35 minutes to fully mature. This means that you will be planting and harvesting Grapes almost non-stop. This method is as intense as it is expensive.             
When harvesting grapes it is highly recommended to use Magic secateurs you should have already received from completing Fairytale Part 1 quest. Magic secateurs increase yield by 10% on herbs, allotments, grapes, bushes, hops, limpwurt, celastrus and coral nurseries — wear them OR keep them in your inventory (since the February 2023 update). Additionally, Grape yield is affected by your Farming level, so this method becomes more and more effective with time.

How To Make Money Using Your Farming Skill

Farming does not only depletes gold from your bank account at exorbitant rates but it can also bring gold in. Planting Herbs can be very profitable, especially at high Farming levels.

Herb runs are profitable from the moment Ranarrs unlock at level 32 — you don't need to wait for level 75. Toadflax (level 38), Snapdragon (62), and Torstol (85) just keep raising the ceiling. Your harvested herbs aren't only sale fodder either: they're the backbone of OSRS Herblore training, where they brew the prayer pots, super combats, and stamina potions you'll burn through everywhere else in the game.

There are 9 Herb patches in the game and you should make use of all of them. Plant the most profitable Herbs available for you at a given Farming level.

Herbs, unlike Trees, cannot be protected against the disease so you need to take extra precautions. If you can, use Ultracompost on Herb patches before planting seeds and when harvesting your Herbs, remember to use Magic secateurs to further increase profits.

To decrease the chance of your Herbs becoming diseased even more, you can plant Iasor plants in Anima patches. Iasor plants require level 76 Farming.

Final Thoughts About Farming in Old School RuneScape

We hope you enjoyed this carbon-free OSRS Farming guide of ours. No tractors used, no pesticides or herbicides, only perfectly natural fertilizers. What’s more, the yield is purely organic and GMO-free. We wish your journey to level 99 Farming to be pleasant and profitable.

Hopefully, you can get your own Farming skill cape with our OSRS farming training tips.

Now, has your journey became too profitable? Sell OSRS gold to us for real money and use it to buy some organic produce in real life!

Stuck on a Farming quest unlock or want to skip a chunk of the grind? Probemas runs Farming-focused boosting on Discord — Song of the Elves for crystal trees, the Fairytale series for Magic Secateurs, Tithe Farm point grinds for the Farmer’s outfit, and Hosidius diary completions. Join our Discord and a real human will quote you in minutes.

Continue training other skills with our companion guides: OSRS Fishing 1-99, OSRS Firemaking 1-99, and OSRS Cooking 1-99.