Farmville Adds Buildable Greenhouse; Includes Hybrid Seed Crop Mastery Guide and Geneaology

Farmville, Zynga's ultra-popular Facebook application that allows city folk and ruralists alike to experiment with the art of managing virtual farms, added a new twist to the game with the via a buildable, functional greenhouse feature. What exactly does the Farmville greenhouse do? How does it work? What on earth are Farmville hybrid seeds and how can you create your own? Here's a look at the new feature, including detailed hybrid seed crop mastery guide information and costs.

How to Place and Build Your Farmville Greenhouse

As is the case with all Farmville buildables, you'll be prompted to place the frame of your brand new Farmville greenhouse upon entering your farm, and then you'll need to use a collection of bricks, nails and wooden boards to prepare it for use. Not sure where to get your building materials? Try checking your Facebook feed; you can grab materials from friends' posts. You can also collect building materials for your Farmville greenhouse from the following sources:

- Request nails, wooden boards and bricks from friends.
- Send friends building materials via the free gifting menu.
- Open special delivery boxes.

There are three levels of Farmville greenhouse; add additional building materials to increase your structure's level and capabitilies.

Level one requirements: 4 wooden boards, 4 nails, 4 bricks.
Gives access to 1 seed tray.

Level two requirements: 15 wooden boards, 15 nails, 15 bricks.
Gives access to 4 seed trays.

Level three requirements: 20 wooden boards, 20 nails, 20 bricks.
Gives access to 8 seed trays.

How to create Farmville Hybrid Seeds

After you've successfully placed your Farmville greenhouse and constructed a basic level one structure, you'll be prompted to create new seeds of your very own. A demo will guide you through the process of creating a strawberry / raspberry hybrid -- the strapsberry -- and then you'll be free to create your own Farmville hybrid seeds by combining two different types of seed. If you're a newer farmer with limited coins available, be aware that creating hybrids isn't free. Here's a look at the 20 base seeds available for use and how much each will run you.

Strawberries 500 coins
Raspberries 1,000 coins
Blueberries 2,500 coins
Tomatoes 5,000 coins
Onions 8,500 coins
Leeks 4,750 coins
Golden Poppies 2,500 coins
Sunflowers 6,750 coins
Wheat 650 coins
Rice 2,250 coins
Rye 7,000 coins
Corn 7,500 coins
Peppers 3,500 coins
Jalapenos 4,000 coins
Pumpkins 1,500 coins
Squash 2,000 coins
Spinach 1,750 coins
Rhubarb 3,250 coins
Lilac 1,750 coins
Daffodils 3,000 coins

Note that you'll need to combine the cost of each half of a hybrid seed combo in order to determine the total price.

Farmville Hybrid Seeds Available and Mastery Guide Information

With the seeds available for use listed above, here's a look at the hybrid seeds that can be created, including the combination of seeds required to create each, cost per 50 seeds created, coin value, experience points awarded when the seeds are planted on your farm, grow time and mastery guide information. The hybrid seeds can be used to grow 10 brand new masterable crops, including the following unusual combos.

Straspberry
Strawberries (500 coins) + Raspberries (1,000 coins)
Sell for 91 coins
2 XP gained
2 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 1000/3000/5250

Purple Tomato
Blueberries (2,500 coins) + Tomatoes (5,000 coins)
Sell for 274 coins
2 XP gained
4 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 875

Long Onion
Leeks (4,750 coins) + Onions (8,500 coins)
Sell for 505 coins
3 XP gained
12 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 713

Sun Poppy
Golden Poppy (2,500 coins) + Sunflowers (6,750 coins)
Sell for 455 coins
3 XP gained
23 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 448

Double Grain
Wheat (650 coins) + Rice (2,250 coins)
Sell for 167 coins
2 XP gained
12 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 450

Whisky Peat
Rye (7,000 coins) + Corn (7,500 coins)
Sell for 680 coins
3 XP gained
23 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 550

Fire Pepper
Peppers (3,500 coins) + Jalapenos (4,000 coins)
Sell for 302 coins
3 XP gained
12 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 613

Squmpkin
Pumpkins (1,500 coins) + Squash (2,000 coins)
Sell for 199 coins
3 XP gained
16 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 350

Red Spinach
Spinach (1,750 coins) + Rhubard (3,250 coins)
Sell for 255 coins
3 XP gained
14 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 390

Lilac Daffy
Lilac (1,750 coins) + Daffodils (3,000 coins)
Sell for 220 coins
3 XP gained
16 hour grow time
Mastery Guide Information: 325

Creating Farmville Hybrid Seeds: The Brass Tacks

Each new seed hybrid takes 3 days to mature without the aid of friends. If you wish to speed up the process, you can ask for help by clicking the 'ask friends' link inside your greenhouse. A dialog box much like the one used to send free gifts will appear. Simply select the friends you think will be most likely to help out, and send your requests. Three friends total can help to create each seed hybrid. Each friend who responds to your request knocks one day off of the total creation time. So if three friends immediately respond, your hybrid seeds will be ready for use right away.

Once three different friends respond to your help request (or three days pass), the Harvest button will become live. Click, and you'll be rewarded with 50 of your new, crossbred seed. Altrustic players can click to share some seeds with friends via the Facebook feed. Friends who click on the link will receive 20 seeds. All harvested hybrid seeds can be found in your marketplace. Players are free to create as many of the same seed as you like, presuming you have tray space and the requisite number of coins available to do so.

So there you have it: The need-to-knows behind your Farmville greenhouse and hybrid seed creation. Check back for updated hybrid seed crop mastery guide info, and for new crop options as they're added to the game. And have fun!