A mutation is a visual change on a crop that raises its sell price, and in Grow a Garden 2 it is the single biggest lever on income after the crop itself. The wiki lists thirteen released mutations ranging from a modest 1.5x to a 100x Glow. The catch is that each one needs a specific weather, pet or plant to appear, and one rule in the sell formula quietly cuts the bonus for a whole category of crops. This guide covers every released mutation, where it comes from and how to plan harvests around it.
How mutations work
Each crop can carry exactly one mutation at a time. The final sell price is the base value multiplied by the fruit's size and by the mutation multiplier, so a mutation stacks with a large fruit instead of replacing it.
Most mutations are decided at harvest. The wiki gives a base 1% chance for a standard mutation to apply to a fruit, and a 0.1% chance when the plant itself updates while growing. Only some mutations, such as Gold and Rainbow, can be rolled during growth; the weather and event mutations in the second table below are marked as harvest-only. The wiki also notes a practical consequence: if a weather is active at the moment a plant is picked, that harvest gets one final roll at the weather's mutation.
Mutated crops no longer decay, according to the Crops page, while normal crops left unharvested lose 80% of their value until watered.
The mutations and what they pay
The multipliers are the wiki's published values. The last column shows the effective multiplier for single-harvest crops, explained in the next section.
| Mutation | Multiplier | Single-harvest effective | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aurora | 1.5x | 1.08x | Aurora weather |
| Gold | 10x | 2.35x | Gold Seed, Gold Moon, random chance |
| Frozen | 14x | 2.95x | Snowfall weather |
| Amber | 20x | 3.85x | Amber Cranberry plant, 5% per ripening fruit |
| Veil | 20x | 3.85x | Shadow Dragon equipped, 5% when planting |
| Electric | 25x | 4.60x | Lightning strikes during Lightning weather |
| Rainbow | 30x | 5.35x | Rainbow Seed, Rainbow weather |
| Starstruck | 50x | 8.35x | Starfall weather |
| Chakra | 60x | 9.85x | 20% of fruit stolen by a Kitsune |
| Ignited | 60x | 9.85x | Sunburst weather |
| Bloodlit | 60x | 9.85x | Blood Moon night |
| Eclipsed | 80x | 12.85x | Eclipse weather |
| Glow | 100x | 15.85x | Star Fruit plant |
Three more entries are listed as unreleased: Solarflare (5x), Pizza (5x) and Chained (8x), plus a Secret mutation with no multiplier yet.
The single-harvest penalty
The Mechanics page gives the price formula: base value, times size factor, times mutation multiplier, times decay and friend bonuses. For single-harvest crops the mutation bonus is reduced to effective = 1 + (raw - 1) x 0.15. A Gold Carrot therefore pays 2.35x, not 10x, and a Mushroom with the Glow mutation pays 15.85x, not 100x.
This changes where mutations are worth chasing. Multi-harvest plants such as Cherry, Venus Fly Trap or Dragon's Breath keep the full multiplier on every mutated fruit. Bamboo, Carrot, Tulip and Mushroom are single-harvest and get only 15% of the bonus. Spend weather-event harvests on multi-harvest crops first.
Weather that causes mutations
Weather is shared by everyone in the server. Each weather roll in Garden Valley uses these chances, per the Weather page:
| Weather | Chance | Duration | Mutation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rain | 30.77% | 5 min | none; 2x growth speed and revives plants |
| Lightning | 23.08% | 5 min | Electric |
| Rainbow | 15.38% | 5 min | Rainbow (boosted chance) |
| Snowfall | 7.69% | 2.5 min | Frozen |
| Starfall | 7.69% | 2.5 min | Starstruck |
| Aurora | 7.69% | 2.5 min | Aurora |
| Sunburst | 7.69% | 5 min | Ignited |
Eclipse (Eclipsed mutation) does not roll randomly. It starts when an Eclipse Bloom is harvested.
Nights last two minutes inside a ten-minute day cycle. Each night has one moon: Normal 77.45%, Gold 12.75%, Rainbow 5.88%, Blood 1.96% and Mega 1.96%. A Blood Moon applies Bloodlit, which is one night in about 51 on average, around eight and a half hours of play. The Gold and Rainbow moons spawn Gold Seeds and Rainbow Seeds around the map instead of changing crops directly, and the Mega Moon spawns Mega Seeds.
Plants and pets that create mutations
- Star Fruit: glows at night and strikes a random plant in the garden with starlight, applying Glow. It costs 315,000,000 Sheckles or 1,899 Robux and has a 0.12% restock chance, an average of 833 restocks, or roughly 69 hours of five-minute timers.
- Amber Cranberry: gives Amber to 5% of its fruit as they ripen. It was a Fall Harvest seed and the wiki marks it not obtainable at the moment.
- Eclipse Bloom: harvesting it starts the Eclipse weather for two and a half minutes.
- Shadow Dragon: a Super pet that applies Veil to 5% of seeds planted while it is equipped. Its source egg, the Fall Rainbow Egg, is listed as not obtainable.
- Kitsune: a Secret pet that steals fruit at night and gives 20% of them Chakra. Big, Mega or Rainbow does not boost it.
- Unicorn and Golden Dragonfly: double the chance of Rainbow and Gold respectively (x2.25 as Rainbow, x3 as Big, x4 as Mega). Both come from the Common Egg at 0.2247%.
Pet variants named Big and Mega are a separate system from crop mutations. They change a pet's size and ability strength and have nothing to do with sell prices.
Gold Seeds, Rainbow Seeds and Mega Seeds
A Gold Seed grows a random Seed Shop plant as a Gold fruit, and rarer plants are less likely to be chosen. The same applies to the Rainbow Seed. They only spawn at night during the matching moon, in higher numbers with more players in the server, and they cannot appear with fewer than two players. Private servers are listed as less reliable than public ones. The Mega Seed grows a larger version of any non-limited crop.
The Atlantic Giant Pumpkin from Fall Harvest is immune to every mutation and to watering, though the wiki says Gold and Rainbow can still be applied through their moons.
How to plan around mutations
- 1Keep multi-harvest crops planted and ready before a rare weather, so the roll lands on a fruit worth the full multiplier.
- 2Harvest while the weather is active, because the final roll happens at pick-up.
- 3Hold Gold and Rainbow Seeds until you have free plots for a high-value multi-harvest crop; the result is random but a seed always produces a mutated plant.
- 4Equip the Unicorn or Golden Dragonfly during Rainbow weather and Gold Moon nights.
Common mistakes
- Chasing a 100x Glow on Carrots or Mushrooms. Single-harvest crops only get 15% of the bonus.
- Expecting events to cover every plant. A 1% chance per fruit means a 20-fruit harvest yields one mutation on average.
- Stacking two mutations. Each crop holds one mutation at a time.
- Selling mutated fruit blindly. Check the Sell Stand multiplier view and the Daily Deal before cashing out.
FAQ
What is the best mutation in Grow a Garden 2?
Glow has the highest published multiplier at 100x, obtained through the Star Fruit plant. Among weather mutations, Eclipsed pays 80x and Bloodlit, Ignited and Chakra pay 60x.
How do you get the Gold mutation?
Plant a Gold Seed, which spawns during a Gold Moon night, or hope for the random Gold roll on any harvest. Gold pays 10x.
How many mutations can a crop have in Grow a Garden 2?
One. The wiki states a crop can carry exactly one mutation at any given time.
Do mutations work on every crop?
Almost all of them. The Atlantic Giant Pumpkin is immune. Single-harvest crops get a reduced bonus.
What does the Rainbow weather do?
It boosts the chance of the Rainbow mutation for five minutes and gives the player a temporary Rainbow Carpet. Rainbow pays 30x.
