How to Grow Grass in FS22 Step by Step Guide

To grow grass in Farming Simulator 22, you sow it like any other crop using a seeder loaded with grass seed, wait roughly 2 in-game growth cycles for it to mature, then mow it with a dedicated mower. After harvesting, roll the field with a Grassland Care Roller to reset it back to the growing stage so it regrows automatically without re-sowing. That's the core loop. Everything else is about getting the timing right, using the correct tools, and not getting tripped up by seasonal growth settings.

What 'growing grass' actually means in FS22

Grass in FS22 is a proper crop type with its own planting, growth, and harvest mechanics. You're not just mowing a meadow that appeared on its own. You're establishing a grass field from seed, cycling it through growth stages, and harvesting it for hay or silage. The most common use case players aim for is the silage production chain: Grow Grass → Mow → Bale → Wrap the bales → Let them ferment. That fermented silage is a solid money-maker and a core feed input for livestock.

One thing that separates grass from other FS22 crops is how low-maintenance it is once it's established. Grass ignores the 'Needs Plowing' state entirely. It ignores 'Needs Lime.' It doesn't grow weeds. You also don't need to irrigate it. The main variables you're managing are growth stage, rolling, and seasonal timing. If you're coming from other crops and expecting to juggle plow, cultivate, fertilize, spray, and sow steps, grass is genuinely simpler once you understand its specific quirks.

Before you plant: what you need to have ready

Field ownership and condition

You need to own or lease the field you want to seed. The field doesn't need to be in a special state to accept grass seed. Because grass skips the plow and lime requirements, you're not stuck doing a multi-step prep on a freshly purchased field the way you would be for canola or wheat. That said, if the field is showing a 'Needs Cultivating' or similar state from a previous crop, running a cultivator first is still a clean way to prepare the surface before seeding.

Seasonal growth settings

This is the single most important prerequisite and the one that trips up new players the most. If you have seasonal growth enabled (which is the default realistic setting), you can't plant grass at any time of year. FS22 seasons each last roughly 3 in-game months, and each crop has a planting window tied to those seasons. Grass should be sown in spring or early summer. If you try to sow outside that window, the game simply won't let you, or the seed won't progress. If you cut grass in late autumn or early winter, don't expect regrowth until spring. That pause is intentional, not a bug.

Equipment you'll need

• Tractor: Any tractor with enough horsepower to pull your seeder.
• Seeder (with 'Grass' selected in the crop UI): Grass can also be sown with certain cultivators and weeders that support seeding.
• Grass seed: It takes 300 liters of grass seed per hectare, which is relatively cheap compared to other crops.
• Grassland Care Roller: Not the same as a standard field roller. This is the specific tool used after harvest to reset growth stages and provide a fertilizer state. You'll regret skipping this.
• Mower: Required for harvest. You cannot harvest grass with a combine or standard harvester.

Step-by-step: from bare field to established grass

1. Check the season: Open your calendar or time settings and confirm you're in spring or early summer. If seasonal growth is on and it's autumn or winter, wait it out or temporarily disable seasonal growth in settings if you just want to test the mechanics.
2. Prepare the field (optional but recommended): If the field had a previous crop, run a cultivator over it to clear the surface. Since grass doesn't need plowing or liming, you can skip those steps entirely.
3. Load your seeder with grass seed: In the seeder's crop selection UI, make sure 'Grass' is selected, not wheat or another crop. Fill with at least 300 liters per hectare you plan to cover.
4. Sow the field: Drive the seeder across the full field. Make sure you get complete coverage. Gaps left unseeded won't fill in on their own and will show up as patches that don't grow.
5. Roll the field immediately after sowing: Use a standard field roller right after seeding to address the 'Needs Rolling' indicator. This is a different step from the Grassland Care Roller used post-harvest. Getting these two confused is one of the most common mistakes players make.
6. Apply one round of fertilizer (optional for yield boost): Grass can only be fertilized once, not twice like most crops. If you want to maximize your silage output, run a fertilizer spreader or sprayer over the field after sowing.
7. Wait for growth: With seasonal growth on, grass progresses through its stages over in-game months. It typically becomes harvestable at around 2 growth cycles. The in-field overlay or walking onto the field will show you the current growth stage.
8. Mow when fully mature: Aim for the final growth stage before mowing. GIANTS specifically notes that letting grass reach its final stage increases the volume of material available for silage. If you mow too early, you're leaving yield on the table.
9. Roll with a Grassland Care Roller after harvest: This is the step that keeps the cycle going. The Grassland Care Roller transitions the field from 'Harvested/Mowed' back to 'Growing' and provides a fertilizer state at the same time. Skip this and your grass may not regrow, or it will regrow much more slowly.

The growth timeline and what to watch for

Grass grows from freshly sown seed to harvestable in approximately 2 in-game day/growth cycles under normal settings. With seasonal growth enabled, expect it to take a few in-game months rather than a couple of in-game days. Players commonly report grass hitting its second and final harvestable stage around Month 3 of the growing season. The field info overlay is your best monitoring tool: walk up to a patch or open the field info and it will show you the current growth stage and whether the crop is ready.

You don't need to water grass fields. Water in FS22 is for livestock and greenhouses, not field crops. Grass growth is entirely driven by growth stage timers, seasonal settings, and fertilization state. Once the seed is in the ground and rolled, your job is mostly to wait and watch the growth stage indicator.

One thing worth knowing: once grass is established and you harvest it, it automatically resets to the first growth stage without needing re-sowing. That's what makes grass such an efficient production crop. You sow once, then the Grassland Care Roller + time does the rest through repeated cycles.

Why your grass isn't growing (and how to fix it)

Most grass problems fall into a small handful of causes. The good news is that because grass ignores plowing, liming, and weed mechanics, you don't have to diagnose nearly as many variables as you would with other crops.

The most common confusion I see in community threads is mixing up the standard field roller and the Grassland Care Roller. They look similar but serve completely different purposes at completely different points in the cycle. Standard field roller goes in right after sowing. Grassland Care Roller goes in right after mowing. Swap them around and you'll have a field that either never gets rolling cleared or never properly resets for regrowth.

After the harvest: managing cycles and what to do next

Once you've mowed and collected your grass, you have a few processing paths depending on what you want to produce. For hay, the cut grass gets dried (either naturally over time in warm weather, or using a tedder to speed it up), then baled. For silage, you bale the fresh cut grass and immediately wrap the bales with a bale wrapper. Those wrapped bales ferment over time into silage, which sells well and feeds cattle efficiently. The silage route is generally seen as the more profitable option, especially if you're running a larger livestock operation.

For the regrowth cycle, the sequence is: Mow → Roll with Grassland Care Roller → Wait for seasonal growth → Mow again. You're not re-sowing. The field resets automatically after each mow, and the Grassland Care Roller is what kickstarts that reset. If you also want to maintain yield quality, apply one round of fertilizer each cycle since grass only takes a single fertilizer application per cycle.

Grass is honestly one of the smoother production loops in FS22 once you've done it once. If you are switching to FS19, the basic steps are similar: seed grass, roll it, then mow for hay or silage based on the season how to grow grass in fs19. The main things to stay on top of are seasonal timing (don't mow right before winter if you want quick regrowth), rolling after every harvest, and waiting for full maturity before mowing to maximize silage volume. Get those three right and the cycle basically runs itself.

How FS22 grass compares to other Farming Simulator versions

If you've played other versions and are wondering how FS22 stacks up, the core mechanics here carry forward but with refinements. The Grassland Care Roller mechanic and the distinction between growth stage rolling and post-harvest rolling are more clearly defined in FS22 than in earlier titles like FS19. Players moving from FS19 sometimes get confused because the roller behavior is more nuanced in FS22. The newer Farming Simulator 25 builds on these same concepts with additional production chain updates, so mastering the grass loop in FS22 gives you a strong foundation for later entries in the series as well. The same grass-loop basics also apply in FS25, so knowing the FS22 timing and tool sequence will help you grow grass faster there too grow grass in FS25.