Stardew Valley takes players into the world of farming and small-town living. Throughout the game, fans will gain access to a myriad of different types of growing, foraging, and crafting to advance their inherited farm. At one point, farmers have the choice between a cave for Fruit Bats or for mushrooms. Check out this Stardew Valley guide to learn which is the best choice for a playthrough.
To even access this part of the game, players will first need to earn 25,000G. Farmers can do this by selling resources or the best Stardew Valley crops for making lots of money. Afterward, a villager named 
Demetrius appears in the morning to give the option. Essentially, the decision turns the farm's cave into a haven for bats or a growing operation for mushrooms. While neither of these are game-changers, there are some reasons to stick with one over the other.
Updated on May 8, 2025 by Renri Seong: You may have noticed the empty cave on your farm upon starting a Stardew Valley playthrough. This cave remains empty until you've met a certain requirement, in which you'll have the choice to turn it into a Mushroom Cave or a Fruit Bat Cave. Both caves farm their respective resources (ie: mushrooms and fruits), but it may be hard to decide which is better. Fruit can only be obtained from fruit trees, whereas different types of mushrooms can be foraged in certain seasons or by exploring the mines. The choice is ultimately up to the player and whichever cave resources they'll find more useful. If you're struggling to make the choice, you might want to read up on the pros and cons of both cave options. The following guide has been revamped to include information for the Farm Cave in the Stardew Valley 1.6 update.
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How to Unlock the Farm Cave
How to Make 25000g Quickly
While you may already know that you unlock the Farm Cave features from Demetrius, you'll probably be wondering how to unlock it. To unlock the Farm Cave, you'll need to have amassed a total of 25000g. This doesn't mean you need 25000g in your wallet; you just need to make 25000g total.
There isn't an in-game achievement that will alert you when you've made 25k. However, there is the Greenhorn achievement, which you'll get by making 15000g. You can use this as an indicator of how close you are to the 25000g goal.
If you meet the requirements, Demetrius will visit you the following morning, asking if he can use the Farm Cave on your property. You'll then be prompted to choose from mushrooms or fruit bats.
If you're having trouble making the 25000g, then here are some pointers:
- Unless it's required for the Junimo Bundles at the Community Center, you should be selling everything you grow or catch. Gold-star quality produce and fish sell for more than their no-star counterparts.
- Sell to Pierre and Willy as often as you can. You can use the bin outside your farmhouse, but you won't get the funds until the following day. Thus, if you're in a rush to obtain the money, selling them straight up is recommended.
- Once you have a coop and barn, you can start getting eggs and milk. Instead of selling these products as-is, you should turn them into mayonnaise and cheese respectively, then sell them.
Once you make your decision, you can't change it. If you chose fruit bats but want to change to mushrooms halfway into your playthrough, you won't have the option to do so.
Fruit Bats Cave
How Often Does Fruit Spawn?
The Fruit Bat cave is highly recommended if you're trying to complete the Pantry bundle at the Community Center in time for winter. The Artisan Bundle requires six items, but you can choose from animal products (ex: Cheese, Goat Cheese, Truffle Oil) or fruits. This means you can technically complete the Artisan Bundle by providing one of each fruit.
Fruit bats will also harvest fruit from every season, meaning you can get an Apple (a fall fruit/tree) in winter, spring, or summer. Although the fruit you get from the bats is randomized, you won't have to worry about waiting 28 in-game days just for a fruit tree sapling to grow.
You can get the following fruits from the fruit bat cave:
- Spice Berry
- Blackberry
- Salmonberry
- Wild Plum
- Apple
- Orange
- Peach
- Pomegranate
- Apricot
- Cherry
The downside to the fruit bats option is you won't always get the fruit you want. You also want to keep the cave floor empty, as the chance of fruit spawning is affected by how much space is available. There's a chance of fruit spawning every night and a 48% chance of no fruit spawning. Finally, the fruit bats tend to lose their usefulness once you have enough to buy fruit tree saplings.
In short, if you're going the Community Center route, you should choose fruit bats to complete the Artisan Bundle without having to waste money on fruit tree seeds.
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Mushrooms Cave (Farm)
How Often Do Mushrooms Spawn?
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The mushroom option will set up six crates that will harvest a mushroom every other day. You can get the following mushrooms from the farm cave:
- Common Mushroom
- Chanterelle
- Morel
- Red Mushroom
- Purple Mushroom
Mushrooms aren't as rare as fruit, but you're likely to get more mushrooms than you would fruit from the fruit bats. However, mushrooms are required to make the Life Elixir drink, which fully restores your HP when consumed.
Another reason you may want to choose the mushroom cave is for the Dehydrator. In 1.6, choosing the mushroom cave will also give you a free dehydrator, whereas the fruit bat cave comes with nothing. This machine is extremely useful for drying fruits or mushrooms, which can be sold or given to the raccoons in Cindersap Forest.
The downside to the mushroom cave option is that there are many and easier ways to farm mushrooms than waiting on your Farm Cave. Red and Purple Mushrooms can be collected from the Mushroom Floors in the mines, Chanterelle and Morels can be foraged from the Secret Woods in fall and spring respectively, and the Common Mushroom is a fall foraging item.
Ginger Island Mushroom Cave
From Stardew Valley 1.5, you'll be able to visit Ginger Island after completing the Community Center or the Joja Community Development Plan. Once you gather enough Golden Walnuts on Ginger Island to repair the bridge to the Dig Site, you'll unlock a new cave that spawns mushrooms after freeing Professor Snail (requires a bomb).
You could potentially end up with two mushroom caves if you chose the mushroom option for your farm cave. If you want to avoid redundancy, choose the fruit bats for the farm since you'll get a mushroom cave on Ginger Island.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 90 /100 Critics Rec: 99%
- Released
- February 26, 2016
- ESRB
- E for Everyone (Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Simulated Gambling, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco)
- Developer(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Publisher(s)
- ConcernedApe
- Engine
- Proprietary
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
- Stardew Valley does not currently support crossplay between different consoles and PC
WHERE TO PLAY
- Genre(s)
- RPG, Simulation
