Best Stardew Valley Summer Crops: Profit per Day

Blueberries are the year-one summer engine at 18.57g per tile per day; once the Desert is opened, starfruit leads at 25.00g — but it needs a 400g seed.

Blueberries are the year-one engine

80g seeds, 13 days to maturity, then regrowth every 4 days with a yield of three berries per harvest at 50g each. Over a full summer a single bush produces around 22 berries — about 1,100g from one 80g seed. Plant them the first day of summer; every day of delay is pure loss.

Melons pay for the bundles

Melons (80g seed, 12 days, 250g) are slower and single-harvest but three of them are required for the Quality Crops bundle, and melons have a chance to become giant crops for bonus yield. A mixed field of mostly blueberries with a melon block covers both money and progression.

Starfruit for Oasis players

Once the bus to Calico Desert is repaired, starfruit (400g seed, 13 days, 750g sell) is the strongest pure-gold summer crop. Hops on trellises are the sleeper pick — daily 25g harvests from day 11 onward add up enormously, but the trellis blocks walking so plan the layout before planting.

Gold per day is the only fair comparison

Every "best summer crop" list is really answering one question: how much gold does a tile produce over the 28 days of summer? Sticker price alone misleads — starfruit sells for 750g but costs 400g a seed, while a blueberry seed costs 80g and keeps producing. The comparison only works when you net the seed cost, count every harvest that actually fits, and divide by the season.

net gold per day = ( Σ harvests × sale value − seed cost × plantings ) / 28

Three rules make the arithmetic honest:

Count only harvests that fit inside the season. A 13-day crop planted on day 20 never pays back. The window, not the crop, decides.
Regrowing crops get credit for every additional harvest. Blueberry matures in 13 days and then produces every 4 days, so a day-1 planting gets four pickups.
Charge the seed every time you plant. Non-regrowing crops you replant pay the seed cost again, which is exactly why melons look better on paper than in a 28-day ledger.

Summer crops ranked by gold per day

Base-quality sale value, no Tiller profession bonus, no processing, full 28-day planting on day 1.

Crop	Seed cost	Days to first harvest	Regrowth	Harvests in 28 days	Net gold per tile	Gold per tile per day
Starfruit	400g	13	none	2	700g	25.00
Blueberry	80g	13	every 4 days	4 (3 berries each)	520g	18.57
Hops	60g	11	daily	18	390g	13.93
Melon	80g	12	none	2	340g	12.14
Hot Pepper	40g	5	every 3 days	8	280g	10.00
Radish	40g	6	none	4	200g	7.14
Summer Squash	free (forage seed)	6	none	4	180g	6.43
Poppy	100g	7	none	4	160g	5.71

Read the table in two halves. Starfruit wins on raw gold — 25.00 per tile per day, and it nearly doubles again as wine. But it needs the Oasis, which means the Desert, which means the Vault bundles are done or 40,000g has changed hands. Blueberry wins on access. An 80g seed available from Pierre from day one, and it returns 18.57 per tile per day for the whole season.

Three worked examples

Blueberry. Plant on day 1, matures day 13, then yields 3 berries every 4 days. Harvests land on days 13, 17, 21 and 25 — four pickups. Each pickup is 3 × 50g = 150g. Gross 4 × 150 = 600g, minus one 80g seed = 520g net, 18.57g per day. Note the seed is charged once, because blueberries are never replanted.

Melon. Matures in 12 days and does not regrow, so a day-1 planting yields on day 12 and the replant yields again on day 24. Two harvests of 250g = 500g, minus two 80g seeds = 340g net, 12.14g per day. The second seed is the whole difference: melon's 250g sale price is five times a blueberry's 50g, but it delivers once instead of twelve berries across four pickups.

Starfruit. 400g seed, 13 days to maturity, 750g sale. Two plantings fit in 28 days, so 1,500g gross minus 800g of seed = 700g net, 25.00g per day. It is the best raw number in the table and the worst cash-flow crop in it, because you spend 800g before the first berry is picked. With kegs the same fruit becomes starfruit wine, which is where the real year-two money is.

Where the ranking changes once processing enters

Raw gold per day is the right metric with no machines. Add kegs and the ranking shifts, because processing multiplies value without touching the tile count.

Crop	Raw gold/tile/day	Processed product	Processed value	Best use
Starfruit	25.00	Starfruit Wine	2,250g	Keg, if you have the seeds and the kegs
Melon	12.14	Melon Wine	1,050g	Keg, when starfruit is unavailable
Blueberry	18.57	Blueberry Wine	210g	Keg only if nothing better is queued
Hops	13.93	Pale Ale	300g	Keg — daily hops keep kegs busy

The pattern is that processing rewards high base value and punishes volume. Starfruit wine is 3× the fruit; blueberry wine is 4× a single berry but a single berry is only 50g, so the processed product is worth a quarter of what one starfruit sells for raw. Hops is the exception: weak as a crop at 25g, but Pale Ale keeps a keg working every day, which is why hops players build keg networks rather than crop fields.

The bottleneck moves. Once you have more harvest than keg throughput, extra gold per day stops mattering — keg time becomes the constraint. At that point the correct crop is whatever keeps machines loaded with the fewest pickups, which is usually hops or ancient fruit rather than a higher-value seasonal fruit.

Planting on day 1 versus planting late

The single largest swing in summer income is the planting date, and it is entirely under your control. A blueberry planted on day 1 gets four harvests. Planted on day 5 it gets three. Planted on day 14 it gets two, and its net drops from 520g to 290g per tile for identical seed cost.

Blueprint	Planting date	Blueberry harvests	Net per tile	Gold per day
On schedule	Day 1	4	520g	18.57
Slightly late	Day 5	3	370g	13.21
Missed the window	Day 14	2	220g	7.86
Too late to pay	Day 20	1	70g	8.75*

*The last row is the trap in the metric. A late planting can show a respectable gold-per-day while returning almost nothing in absolute terms, because it is dividing a small number by a very small number of days. When summer is nearly over, the question is no longer which crop is most efficient — it is whether any crop can finish.

What actually decides your summer

Before the Desert: blueberries on every sprinkler-fed tile. Low seed cost, four harvests, no replanting, and the crop survives being under-watered for one day.
With the Desert unlocked: starfruit on the tiles you can afford to seed, blueberries filling the rest. Starfruit's 800g seed outlay for two harvests is the part that needs planning, not the crop itself.
With a keg network: hops, because daily harvests keep machines running. Pale Ale at 300g per bottle is low per unit but the throughput is unmatched.
Always: plant on day 1. No crop choice recovers the gold lost to a late start.

Summer planning at the desk

Blueberries, melons and starfruit differ by gold per day, not by sticker price, so the summer call is made before you plant. These are the items for that planning.

Planner notebook — Summer is 28 days and the regrowers change the maths; a written schedule keeps the harvests on time.
PC game controller — The summer routine is watering, harvesting and shipping, which is comfortable on a gamepad.
Gaming mouse — Machine rooms and the shipping bin are mouse work during the busiest month of the year.
Desk lamp — Summer play often runs late; a desk lamp keeps your notes readable without glare on the screen.

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Sources and standards

Where these figures come from

Every formula on this page is implemented from the published reference material below. Where a value depends on a regional code, the calculator lets you override it rather than assuming one jurisdiction.

Stardew Valley — official site — the game of record; version notes and feature announcements come from here.
ConcernedApe — the developer, and the authority on balance changes between updates.

Figures, formulas and reference tables last verified: 23 September 2026

FAQ

Blueberries or melons in summer?

Blueberries for profit per tile over the season; a small melon patch for the Quality Crops bundle and giant-crop lottery. Most farms run both.

Do I need to water blueberries every day?

Yes — unwatered crops stall that day. Sprinklers (quality at Farming 6) remove the daily chore from the blueberry field entirely.

How many harvests does a blueberry plant give in one summer?

Four, if planted on day 1. It matures in 13 days and then produces every 4 days: days 13, 17, 21 and 25. Each harvest yields three berries at 50g each, so 150g per pickup and 600g gross for the season.

What is the most profitable summer crop?

On raw sale value, starfruit at 25.00g per tile per day — 700g net per tile over 28 days. With kegs it becomes starfruit wine at 2,250g a bottle, which is the strongest crop pipeline in the game. It requires Desert access, however, so blueberries are the realistic answer for most players.

Is starfruit worth it in year one?

Usually not. You need the Oasis, which means the Vault bundles or 40,000g, and each seed costs 400g — 800g spent per tile before the first harvest. Until that cash is spare, blueberries return more per gold invested.

How many days does starfruit take to grow?

Thirteen days to first harvest, and it does not regrow. In a 28-day summer, two plantings fit: day 1 harvests on day 13, and the replant harvests on day 25.

Are hops worth growing without kegs?

No. Raw hops sell for 25g, which is well below blueberries on the same tile. Hops are only worth it when processed into Pale Ale at 300g in a keg — they exist to keep kegs busy with daily harvests, not to be sold as crops.

Why is ancient fruit better than starfruit?

Because it never has to be replanted. Ancient fruit regrows indefinitely once established, so a single planting keeps producing season after season, especially in the greenhouse. Starfruit pays more per harvest but costs 400g a seed every time.

What should I plant on day 1 of summer?

Blueberries, on every tile you can water, and starfruit on whatever you can afford to seed if the Desert is unlocked. The planting date matters more than the crop: a day-1 blueberry returns 520g a tile, a day-14 blueberry only 220g.

Do summer crops need fertiliser to be worth it?

Fertiliser improves quality, and quality multiplies sale value, so on a high-value crop it pays for itself. On a volume crop like blueberries the gain is real but small per tile, and the extra step is best removed with an Enricher-equipped sprinkler rather than done by hand.