How to Make Fertilizer in Ark Survival Evolved

To grow crops in Ark Survival Evolved, you will need crop plots, seeds, and some nitrogen source.  Any feces, and owl pellets will work grow crops, but they eventually spoil.  Crafting fertilizer will give you a higher nitrogen content, and fertilizer will never spoil.   

Fertilizer is made in two ways in Ark

1 - Compost bins.  Compost bins are crafted in your inventory from common resources (50 wood, 15 thatch, 12 fiber).  They are structures that can be placed on a foundation, or flat ground.  Placing three feces and 50 thatch into the compost bin will create one fertilizer in 1.5 game days. 

2- Dung beetles.  Tame a dung beetle by placing feces in the right slot of your hot bar and walk up to a dung beetle, a message will appear telling you to feed the beetle.  After a number of feedings the beetle will be your friend.  Once you have the beetle back to your base, put feces in its inventory and set the beetle to wander.  A tamed dungbeetle only eats spoiled meat, so make sure you have some in its inventory, or a feeding trough, or your tame will starve.  The dung beetle will turn the feces into fertilizer and make oil too.  

Nitrogen Content in Ark

• Human 1,000
• Small     3,500
• Medium  7,500
• Large     15,000
• Massive 35,000
• Snow Owl 50,000
• Fertilizer 54,000

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Dung Beetles Taming and Use in Ark Survival Evolved

Dung Beetles are a very useful creature in Ark Survival Evolved.  They make fertilizer and oil for very little work, plus they look cool while doing it.  The Dung Beetles are a passive tame.  Put poop in your far right slot on your hot bar and walk up to them to feed.  Give them a taste and reload your hot bar with dung. There is no need to tame a high level one, it will mostly just make the process longer than it needs to be.  I usually wear a ghillie suit and use some bug repellent to make it less likely that I will aggro the other creatures that are around.  The Dung Beetles themselves don't aggro very easily.  

Once the dung beetles are tame you will have to have a place for them to wander.  Only when the dung beetles have been enabled to wander, do they produce fertilizer and oil.  After you enable wandering you will need to put poop in their inventory, and that's it.  I put all the dung beetles experience points into weight, so I can load them up with more poop, and tend to them less frequently.  Now you will have fertilizer to place in crop plots.  Dung beetles eat spoiled meat once they are tame, so make sure to have some in the feeding trough.  

Adding fertilizer to crop plots, and placing them in a greenhouse will make gardening easier and the greenhouse effect will increase crop yields.  A greenhouse is also a good place to have the dung beetles on wander.  

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