Planter Box quick facts
- A Wet Seed touching the box grows into a Flower
- Only Gold and Amethelis can pass through it
- Blocks the player, but not liquids or gases
- Unlocked by the Planter Box node: Tier 3, 2000 Gold
Growth building
Sandustry Planter Box: The Machine That Grows Your Harvest
The Planter Box is where your Seed chain stops being industrial waste and starts being a crop. A Wet Seed only has to touch it to sprout into a Flower, and the box itself does the sorting: of every solid pixel, only Gold and Amethelis are allowed through.
Wet Seed → Flower
Tier 3 ยท 2000 Gold
Passes only Gold & Amethelis
Official wiki numbers
Grow Flowers, Step by Step
The Planter Box is less a processor and more a plot of land with rules. Follow the seed's journey and check each stage as it moves toward harvest.
Wet the Seed before planting
Dry Seeds will not sprout. They must drink Water to become Wet Seeds first, and only that wet version grows when it reaches the box.
Checkpoint: the Seeds have darkened into Wet Seeds.
Let a Wet Seed touch the box
Contact is the whole recipe. A Wet Seed that reaches the box sprouts into a Flower built from a Vine stem and a head carrying 4 Amethelis plus 1 Gold.
Checkpoint: a Flower grows the moment the Wet Seed lands on the box.
Collect only the harvest
Gold and Amethelis are the only solid pixels that pass through the box. Anything else, including the Vine and unplanted Seeds, stays on top instead of slipping into your collection line.
Checkpoint: Gold and Amethelis fall through while the rest stays on top.
Dry Amethelis in the Steam Dryer
The Amethelis that falls through is the real payoff. Run it through a Steam Dryer and it becomes Dry Amethelis, the late-game material the Tier 5 research lines draw on.
Checkpoint: Dry Amethelis comes out of the Steam Dryer.
When the Box Stalls
A dry or stalled plot usually fails in one of three ways. Here is what each one looks like and how to undo it.
Nothing is sprouting
Dry Seeds do not grow. Only a Wet Seed sprouts on contact, so wet the Seeds with Water before delivery and confirm they have changed color.
The Wet Seeds do not arrive
Wet Seeds sit at the same density as Water, so they can hang suspended in a pool instead of sinking to the box. Gather them where they float and route them in from that side.
The harvest is not falling through
The box passes only Gold and Amethelis. Vine and unplanted Seeds stay on top by design, so draw your collection line off the pass-through lane rather than the surface.
Where the Planter Box Fits the Factory
This building is the bridge between a waste-stream Seed line and a repeatable harvest line that still depends on upstream input.
Fourth step, 2000 Gold
The Planter Box node sits in Tier 3 and costs 2000 Gold. By the time you can afford it, your Kinetic Press line should already be minting the Seeds it plants.
From Residue to Flower
The full line runs Burnt Residue through a Kinetic Press for Seeds, wets those Seeds, plants them here, and catches the Gold and Amethelis that drop through.
Diagnose a dry plot
If nothing is growing, the usual causes are dry Seeds sitting on the box or the Wet Seeds failing to arrive because they are suspended in a water pool out of reach.
Core farming role
- The Planter Box grows a Wet Seed into a Flower on contact.
- The box only lets Gold and Amethelis pass through as solids, which makes it a built-in harvest filter.
- The building sits on the farming branch that begins with Seeds from the Kinetic Press.
What still varies by field layout
- Harvest rate still depends on field size, seed supply, and how you trigger Flower destruction.
- Filter behavior beyond the listed pass-through materials can still create edge cases in mixed farms.
- Early Access patches can change unlock cost or placement behavior, so re-check exact layouts after updates.
Featured Questions
Why are my Seeds not growing?
The box needs Wet Seeds, not dry ones. Wet them first, then make sure the seed actually touches the box.
Why is Vine piling up on top?
That is expected. The box only passes Gold and Amethelis, so other flower parts stay above the surface.
Where does the seed supply come from?
The usual route is Burnt Residue into a Kinetic Press, then water the Seeds before delivering them here.