Tiny Eden: getting super compost

It comes from an upgraded composter

The in-game encyclopedia points you at the composter on the roof, which is where the confusion starts: a player who loaded theirs got ordinary compost and nothing else. The same machine makes regular compost from the start; players report super compost only after the upgrade.

The upgrade is a button inside the composter's own interface, not in the shop or the skill tree. Players who found it describe it as easy to miss.

The seven regular soil components, compost among them, are on the soil page.

On 21 September a developer answered a player asking about it in German with the same detail: the upgrade icon is a little small, sits in the top left corner of the composter screen and carries a green arrow, and once you upgrade the composter you can make super compost. The poster asked which symbol, another player said they had none either, and a third suggested comparing your quest status with screenshots of the state at which the upgrade appeared for them.

• "You have to upgrade the composter to be able to get supercompost."
• "the update button should be in the composter interface (when you interact with it) on the top left - it's not very big, but noticeable if you look for it."

When the button is not there

Several players opened the composter, looked at the top left, and found nothing, including one who built a second composter to check. The developers first answered that the button is likely tied to progress elsewhere, and admitted the game does not tell you which quest.

On 17 September, in a thread from a player stuck in a loop between the Scouts, a water collector and blueberry soil, a developer named the quest. That is the route below, and it is the closest thing to an official answer.

1. 1

   Step 1: Finish the Biosphere quest

   Its step reads Upgrade Calendula to level 3; see the Biosphere page and the calendula page.

2. 2

   Step 2: Upgrade the composter

   Interact with it and look for the upgrade button in the top left of its screen.

3. 3

   Step 3: Make super compost

   The developer's route ends here.

What asks for it

Part of the frustration is that the game lets you buy things you cannot use yet. Players report seeds and orders that need super compost showing up before the composter upgrade is available.

One player needed three parts for a single planter. How planter soil targets work in general is covered on filling a planter to its targets.

A fuller list is on the soil recipes page: a community sheet marks nine plants as needing super compost, eggplant, mint, basil, pumpkin, watermelon, cabbage, arugula, calendula and blueberry.

Do not spend all your biomass on regular compost

Biomass is the bottleneck, and it is easy to burn through before you know you will need it. One player composted everything into regular compost, then reached the point where super compost was needed; another described being locked out until they could collect enough biomass again.

Players tied the shortage to the Recycling skill, which sat at zero experience for many of them until Update #5, which is covered on recycling XP stuck at 0. The same update made composters show their progress as a percentage on the model itself.

A player who reached Recycling level 6 found the Dirt to Gold skill costs two points, and that they had none spare. They call super compost slow to make and say filling one planter takes six days, and asked for the skill to cost one point or for regular compost to be made viable. That is one player's account, and the developers had not replied.

• "I just composted so much into regular compost T-T"
• "it's been a year in game and i still haven't gotten enough biomass to create 3 parts super compost for a planter."

The loop, and how players got out of it

The stall players describe is circular: Biosphere wants calendula, calendula wants super compost, and the composter upgrade comes after Biosphere. Some found a way out. One planted calendula with extra regular compost instead of super compost, and another says the upgrade appeared for them after the rooftop pond and the City Scouts questline.

Two players described being stuck on the Industries of Roofs quest instead: a water collector needs a higher Scouts level, and the only Scouts order asked for a dish they could not make. One player's workaround was to do the +10 reputation quests for the other factions, to get more orders from the faction they needed. Update #7 fixed the Super Compost icon, but the notes name no fix for the loop itself.

The loop was still catching players after Update #9. On 21 September a player who said they had completed every quest was being asked for blueberry dishes and could not upgrade the composter, and repeated it in the Russian-language thread: no fruit, no super compost and no progress on the Vintage orders. A reply in the English thread told them to press Esc and report a bug. Update #10 the same day listed only minor improvements to the Composter screen.

Why it feels like a wall

A player who wrote up the biggest sources of confusion in launch week used super compost as the example: eggplant seeds on sale, no way to grow them. Players have asked for super compost to be sold until the recycling bug was fixed; no such option has been announced.

Until the quests show their dependencies, the rule that got people through is simple. Keep some biomass in reserve once you see super compost crops appear, and treat a missing upgrade button as a sign to push other questlines first.

Frequently asked

Can you buy super compost in Tiny Eden?

Players report it is not sold and is made in the composter on the roof once the composter is upgraded.

Where is the composter upgrade button?

At the top left of the composter's interface. A developer says to finish the Biosphere quest first, which lets you upgrade the composter.

What is super compost used for?

Players report blueberries need it to start growing, eggplant seeds are sold before you can make it, and the story asks for it for a yellow flower.