How is crossbreeding Jute and Tantalplant?

[Jojoya]

That doesn't cost an arm and a leg? I have 3.

They don't cost an arm and a leg because you produce most or all of the seeds yourself. The only cost is in setting up the initial growth cycle, and occasionally supplementing your stock if you have a bad string of RNG getting the chocobo food seeds.

The drawback is you don't get quite as many Onion seeds since your other plots are growing the seeds you need to get the Onions (but then one of those plots will also be growing the Onions to produce some of the seeds needed). On the other hand, you can make up for that by selling the excess seeds you produce or the items those seeds grow.

It becomes a choice - spend a lot of gil to buy the seeds you need to get more Onion seeds but cut into your profit margin, or spend very little gil but get fewer Onion seeds. Not knowing what you're paying for the seeds you're using or how much you're getting for the Onions/Onion Seeds, it's hard to say what's more profitable in the long run.

If you want to stick to the compact set up, at least switch to something other than Royal Kukuru Seeds. Jute, Broombush, Royal Fern, Blood Pepper and Glazenut all cross with Tantalplant to produce Thavnairian Onion Seeds but the items they grow are also valuable while Royal Kukuru Beans aren't. You'll make back most if not all of what you spent to buy the seeds.

[Angelhearth]

They don't cost an arm and a leg because you produce most or all of the seeds yourself. The only cost is in setting up the initial growth cycle, and occasionally supplementing your stock if you have a bad string of RNG getting the chocobo food seeds.

The drawback is you don't get quite as many Onion seeds since your other plots are growing the seeds you need to get the Onions (but then one of those plots will also be growing the Onions to produce some of the seeds needed). On the other hand, you can make up for that by selling the excess seeds you produce or the items those seeds grow.

It becomes a choice - spend a lot of gil to buy the seeds you need to get more Onion seeds but cut into your profit margin, or spend very little gil but get fewer Onion seeds. Not knowing what you're paying for the seeds you're using or how much you're getting for the Onions/Onion Seeds, it's hard to say what's more profitable in the long run.

If you want to stick to the compact set up, at least switch to something other than Royal Kukuru Seeds. Jute, Broombush, Royal Fern, Blood Pepper and Glazenut all cross with Tantalplant to produce Thavnairian Onion Seeds but the items they grow are also valuable while Royal Kukuru Beans aren't. You'll make back most if not all of what you spent to buy the seeds.

1. I used Old World Figs to get the seeds I needed, but they didn't produce enough, and the product wasn't worth anything, so I switched to Jute already.
2. I was told the onions don't produce seeds on their own, so I use flowerpots to grow them.
3. I use all 3 beds with the 3+5 setup, none for getting seeds. Not sure if that's smart or stupid, but there aren't anywhere on the net they really go into this, as I could find.

[Vidu]

If you bother reading the whole thread you'll see a link to the place that has the most knowledge about gardening, in FFXIV. Follow it and read the crossbreeding section. Then come back and tell me I screwed up.

Thats usually the kind of thing you'd provide an actual link for, instead of giving people directions from the mainpage of a site someone else. So when you refered to a link, I didnt expect you to be refering to someone elses post.
I'm not quite sure why your reacting so passive-aggressive and are getting hung up about the whole link-debacle instead of sticking to the topic you actually wanted to discuss (or asked for advice on). Not that thats not something one is used to from threads like this by now - so I suppose I'm going to save myself the headache from now and ignore them...

2. I was told the onions don't produce seeds on their own, so I use flowerpots to grow them.

No plant can produce seeds on their own, all seed-production requires crossbreeding, aka: at least two plants, planted next to each other in a garden bed.
Thavnair Onions can be used in quite a few crossbreeds, including premium chocobo foods - non of those crosses are all that great, but they're all possible. Using Thavnair Onions to get the Premium Chocobo Food seeds back that you need in your crossbreed to produce Thavnair Onion seeds is definitly an option.

[Mhaeric]

I'm not quite sure why your reacting so passive-aggressive and are getting hung up about the whole link-debacle instead of sticking to the topic you actually wanted to discuss (or asked for advice on). Not that thats not something one is used to from threads like this by now - so I suppose I'm going to save myself the headache from now and ignore them...

Take a look at their thread history. This behavior is par for the course.

[Vidu]

Take a look at their thread history. This behavior is par for the course.

Oh yeah, I know. At this point, this is simply me giving up now to try and answer questions from someone who seems to be determined to always turn that into an unpleasant experience...

(Theres probably no strict need to make this comment, but I have to admit to being a bit... frustrated and at my wits end at this point and kinda needed to vent that frustration a little. Oh well, blacklist and moving on, I suppose...)

[Angelhearth]

Is it strange to expect that those who answer in your threads actually read the whole thread? If you don't read the whole thread how do you know what else has been explained?

[Jojoya]

1. I used Old World Figs to get the seeds I needed, but they didn't produce enough, and the product wasn't worth anything, so I switched to Jute already.
2. I was told the onions don't produce seeds on their own, so I use flowerpots to grow them.
3. I use all 3 beds with the 3+5 setup, none for getting seeds. Not sure if that's smart or stupid, but there aren't anywhere on the net they really go into this, as I could find.

Thavnairian Onions can be used in crosses to get more of the chocobo food seeds (along with several other seed types), though it's subject to the same sort of RNG that you have trying to get the onion seeds. If you don't care about trying to cross them for other seeds, then the flowerpots are a good way to grow the onions if you don't want to use the flowerpots for more decorative plants.

I wouldn't say the 3+5 is stupid as such. It's definitely the best option for someone who only has access to a single garden patch. For those with access to more than one, marketboard prices of everything involved would need to be taken into account and it would take some time to do all the math.

At this point, you've probably got the information and experience you need with growing the onions. RNG is always going to be an annoyance and there's no particular cross that's more reliable than all the rest. You just have to decide what system works best for you. If you feel comfortable with the 3+5, stick with it.