These Stalk Tips Will Make You a Turnip Trading Tycoon on 'Animal Crossing'

One of the fastest ways to earn a lot of bells quickly on Animal Crossing: New Horizons is to play the "stalk market," but it's not without risks. Traders only have a few hours on Sundays to purchase turnips from Daisy Mae, who represents her grandmother Sow Joans on your island. Turnip prices fluctuate each day, and if you don't sell before Sunday, when Timmy and Tommy have a weekly moratorium on turnip buying, you're stuck with a bunch of rotting root vegetables. If only there was an Animal Crossing turnip price calculator!

Well, there kind of is. In fact, there are several user-created apps to help players predict when turnip prices will be highest on their island. If you want to be a bear in this volatile stalk market, read on for more info on turnip price calculators and prediction apps.

Built based on intel from dataminer Ninji, who has uncovered a lot of the game's secrets by looking into its code, an app called Turnip Prophet will help players be a little more bullish in their trading habits. The bad news is, you will have to gather data for a week at least before you will have enough data to guide you, but after that, you should get a clearer picture on when turnip prices will be most favorable throughout the week.

You'll need to keep track of how much Daisy was selling for on Sunday and methodically track the price quoted by Timmy and Tommy twice a day. Typically, the price will change from the morning to the afternoon, so check between the hours of 8 a.m., when Nook's Cranny opens, and 11:59 a.m., then again between noon and closing time (10 p.m.)

You can check the price regardless of whether you have any turnips to sell, but it might be wise to buy only a modest sum until you have a week of data to enter. 

Other calculators that run based on a datamine by Ninji include ac-turnip.com and stalks.io. The latter of these allows you to make an account to store your information, while the other two use cookies to store your information, so if you frequently wipe your browser history, you may prefer stalks.io.

With online play, you aren't beholden to the prices set on your island. Be sure to become Best Friends with other people who play regularly and give each other daily reports when turnip prices are particularly high. Anything over 200 bells is worth reporting. 

And remember that after noon on your island, the price should maintain at that level until 10 p.m., so you have plenty of time to shop around before selling on your own island for a more modest sum. In general, stalk prices will reach their peak on a Wednesday or Thursday, so that's when you'll want to start getting serious about price hunting.

Typically, Daisy Mae will sell turnips for between 90 and 140 bells each. When prices are under 100, buying a high amount is a fairly low risk venture, even if your stalk prices peak at 160 bells or so. Just make sure you sell before Saturday at 10 p.m. After Nook's closes on Saturday night, you're stuck with those turnips, and the next morning they'll be rotten. 

The one small silver lining is that rotten turnips attract ants and flies, and that's the only way to add those two insect species to your Critterpedia. Still, what an expensive way to catch a bug! You're far better off leaving one or two turnips to rot for that purpose rather than a lot of 1,000. 

Happy trading!