Loftia: How to Farm Dews Fast with the Hydrofarm (Blue Cap Mushroom Setup)

Quick start: set up the Hydrofarm Dews loop in 8 steps

• Finish the main story first so the level 3 Cooking Station recipes, the Hydrofarm, and Blue Cap Mushroom seeds are unlocked. The seeds and Nutrient Solution only reach Hazel’s Seed Shop after the late main quest Never Too Mush.
• Craft a Hydrofarm at a level 3 Project Station (3 Carbon Fiber, 2 Glass and 3 to 5 Circuit Boards, see the materials note below) and place it at home.
• Plant Blue Cap Mushroom seeds in every slot, and keep the Nutrient Solution stocked so the farm can water itself.
• Plant pineapples in your garden beds, water them once, and leave them for two hours.
• Plant grapes on your trellises. One planting gives several harvests.
• Harvest and sell the Blue Cap Mushrooms raw every 40 minutes, then immediately rebuy seeds and Nutrient Solution.
• Cook two pineapples into a Pineapple Skewer (or make Tomato Basil Soup when you’re online) and sell for more than the raw crop.
• Spend leftover profit on upgrades, starting with Hydrofarm expansions and garden beds.

What you need before you start farming Dews with the Hydrofarm

You need the main story finished, a level 3 Cooking Station, and the materials to craft a Hydrofarm. Waiting on the story is a deliberate choice: starting gardening early means spending time on low-value items that take longer to pay off, and finishing first means everything is unlocked and easier to run.

• Main story completed. The Pineapple Skewer and Tomato Basil Soup recipes are sold at Kun’s Recipe Shop. Pineapple Skewer appears after the main quest Everything Is Connected, and Tomato Basil Soup after Mending What’s Broken.
• Level 3 Cooking Station. You don’t need to buy any of the level 2 recipes. Both recipes used here are level 3.
• Hydrofarm materials. 3 Carbon Fiber, 2 Glass and Circuit Boards, crafted at a level 3 Project Station. The crafting screen in the source video, recorded on November 7, asks for 5 Circuit Boards. The Loftia Codex lists 3 after Patch #2, which corrected several crafting recipes on November 10, so check the number in game. Each extra layer costs much the same type of resources.
• Nutrient Solution. The Hydrofarm needs this to water itself. Buy it at Hazel’s Seed Shop for 100 Dews a bottle, alongside your seeds.
• Seeds: Blue Cap Mushroom seeds (40 Dews each), Pineapple Seeds (30 each), and Grape Seeds (50 each).
• Optional but helpful: A Seed Maker, which counts as one of your processing stations, so you can turn harvests back into seeds instead of paying for them. Since Patch #2 its recipe sits at Project Station level 3.
• Optional but helpful: Basil seeds (40 each) if you plan to make Tomato Basil Soup.

How the three-part passive farming flow earns Dews

The flow stacks three crops with different timers so you can leave and come back without losing growth time. Hydrofarm mushrooms are the real money maker on a 40-minute loop, pineapples cover long absences at two hours, and grapes tick along in the background across several harvests.

In practice: plant your Hydrofarms and pineapples, head out to gather resources or do other things, then return to harvest, sell, restock, and replant. When you’re going to be away for a while (logging off, cooking dinner, watching something), throw pineapples on first. When you’re actively playing and checking in, the 40-minute mushroom cycle fits neatly around a resource run. Expect the money to stay modest at first because restocking seeds and solution eats a big share of each payout.

How to run the Hydrofarm Blue Cap Mushroom loop, step by step

1. 1Mark step 1 done

   Craft the Hydrofarm and plant seeds in every slot

   Craft the Hydrofarm at your level 3 Project Station and place it at home. It starts as a single layer with only five growing spots, and you add layers using the same type of resources. Fill every spot with Blue Cap Mushroom seeds; the cycle is 40 minutes.

2. 2Mark step 2 done

   Keep the Nutrient Solution stocked so it waters itself

   Fill the farm’s reservoir with Nutrient Solution and you never water by hand. One bottle adds 25 units to the tank. The source video counts about five units per seed, so one bottle covers roughly five seeds. We could not confirm the per-seed figure a second way. If you run out, the plants won’t grow, so check the level each time you replant.

3. 3Mark step 3 done

   Harvest, then look for the larger mushrooms

   Collect the mushrooms when the timer finishes. In the source video some plants grow larger than others: a normal plant gives one Blue Cap Mushroom, while a larger one gives two. We could not confirm a second way what decides the size, so treat doubles as a bonus on top of the baseline.

4. 4Mark step 4 done

   Sell the mushrooms raw, with no cooking

   Blue Cap Mushrooms are sold as they are, with no cooking step, at the same bin by your house where you sell everything else. A harvest of 40 mushrooms is worth 4,000 Dews before costs, since each one sells for 100.

5. 5Mark step 5 done

   Rebuy seeds and solution right away

   Restock before you spend anything else. Put your fresh profits toward seeds and Nutrient Solution first so you never end up with no money to replant. It’ll drain a big part of what you just earned, but that’s how the game is set up.

6. 6Mark step 6 done

   Optional: make seeds instead of buying them

   A Seed Maker turns crops back into seeds. The source video shows a 5-minute processing time. This works for grapes and for the Hydrofarm crops, and it saves some Dews on restocking.

   

Pineapples and the Pineapple Skewer: the two-hour passive earner

Pineapples are the best set-and-forget crop because they need no watering during the two-hour grow time. Plant, water once, and walk away.

• Cost: Pineapple Seeds are 30 each, so two pineapples cost 60.
• Raw sale: Two pineapples sell for 120 (60 each).
• Cooked sale: Two pineapples cooked into one Pineapple Skewer sell for 135, and cooking also raises your cooking level.

Rain also waters your beds, so on rainy days you may not need to water them at all. Top up on pineapple seeds whenever you restock; the max seed stack is the goal.

Grapes and Tomato Basil Soup: the supporting income

Grapes are a long-lasting passive crop, while Tomato Basil Soup is the recipe to make when you’re actively online. Both are supplements to the Hydrofarm rather than replacements for it.

• Grapes: Grape Seeds cost 50 at Hazel’s Seed Shop, grow on a trellis, and each grape sells for 100. The first growth takes 3 hours. The source video says each later harvest comes back in about one hour, for several cycles from one seed, which we could not confirm a second way.
• Tomato Basil Soup: Two tomatoes and one basil. You buy the recipe at Kun’s Recipe Shop after the main quest Mending What’s Broken, and each bowl sells for 160 Dews, 30 more than its ingredients sell for raw.
• Basil seeds: 40 each, selling for 70, but basil must be watered by hand every 10 minutes, which is why pineapples are the better passive pick.

The best upgrade order for Dews: Hydrofarm first, then garden beds

Put your Dews into Hydrofarm upgrades first, then garden beds, because Hydrofarm expansion is what scales your income. Buy these upgrades, which the game calls permits, from Amani at the Permits Office, and always restock seeds before you spend on them.

• Hydrofarms permit: Raises how many Hydrofarms you can place, from one up to five. The last tier costs 20,000 Dews plus 50 Bloom and takes you from four Hydrofarms to five. This is the priority for raising profit per cycle.
• Garden beds: After a couple of upgrades the next one costs 15,000 Dews plus 25 Bloom, taking you from four beds to six. A good next target once the Hydrofarm is rolling.
• Trellis for grapes: 2,500 Dews takes you from three trellises to four, which is one more grape slot.
• Processing Stations permit: Lets you place more processing stations, Seed Makers included, which can save money on seeds.

If making money is the goal, skip the other upgrades until your finances are where you want them.

Which farming perks help Dews early and which to skip

Most farming perks are skippable early, and a carry limit boost is the one worth picking up. Farming skill progress is slow: the creator of the source video reports that about 1,000 harvested crops only reached level 12, nearly 13.

• Skip for now: Eternal Bloom, the perk that gives a 10% chance to produce a same-color seed when you harvest a grown flower. It doesn’t help this setup.
• Worth taking: Crop Satchel I, plus five to the crop carry limit, if you’ve got the points to spend.

6 mistakes that slow your Dews farming in Loftia

• Farming before finishing the story. You waste time on low-value items. Finish the main story first.
• Spending before restocking. Buy seeds and Nutrient Solution first, or you can strand yourself with no money to replant.
• Running low on Nutrient Solution. No solution means no growth. Check the level every cycle.
• Relying on basil for passive income. It needs watering every 10 minutes. Use pineapples for hands-off farming.
• Chasing complicated recipes. Dishes needing many crops, forageables, and honey are too much work for the payout. Stick to pineapples and the Hydrofarm.
• Buying upgrades in the wrong order. Spend on Hydrofarm and garden beds before trellises and extras.

Loftia Hydrofarm and Blue Cap Mushroom FAQ

Source & credit

This guide draws on the excellent video walkthrough by Serrohverse. Watch it for the full visual run-through, and give the creator your view: