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The spot will be around all day, so if you don’t have at least 10,000 Bells saved in your pocket go ahead and try to get that much before proceeding. This will benefit you in the long run. You can still grow a money tree without that many Bells, but your tree will be worth significantly less.
Once you’ve got your Bells ready to go, dig that magical, glowing spot. You’ll dig up 1,000 Bells. Keep your shovel out, but don’t close the glowing hole! Instead, you’re going to take out 10,000 Bells from your Bell stash and make them into an item. Do this by selecting the Bells in your inventory then choosing 10,000 Bells as shown in the screenshot below.
You can also bury more than 10,000 Bells at a time. Some users have reported successfully burying 30,000 Bells and more. IGN is investigating just how much works, but we have not successfully grown any tree that produces more than 10,000 Bell bags. Plant more at your own risk.
Now that your Bells have been turned into an item, select those Bells in your inventory to bury them. You can also plant the 1,000 Bells you found if getting 10,000 Bells isn’t an option, but again, your money tree will grow significantly fewer Bells.
Ta-da! The little sprout that comes up is the confirmation that you’ve successfully planted your first money tree. After a few days, your tree will grow to its full size and will start producing three bags of bells. Each bag is worth the amount you planted, so if you planted 10,000 Bells, you’ll earn 30,000 Bells from the tree. And remember, you can only shake down your tree for money once.
Good luck with your tree!
How to Move a Money Tree
Did you know that you can replant your money tree if it’s in a bad spot? All you need is a piece of fruit and your trusty shovel to dig up the money tree. The tree will appear in your inventory as a small tree with Bell bags on it. Its name changes depending on how much it’s grown. A new tree will be called “Nursery money tree” while one that’s had a few days to grow is called “Small young money tree.”
Did you know that some trees drop Bells when you shake them? There’s a rumor that, once a day, a random tree drops even more Bells if you keep shaking it! There’s also a random rock that’ll drop Bells instead of resources when you hit it with your shovel. That rock changes daily.
Money Tree Myth Busting: Can You Grow 99K Bell Bags?
Players, including some among our staff, have reported planting more than 10K and successfully growing more than 10K bell bags without any time travel cheating. This is completely random and luck based. For that reason, we do not recommend it as an efficient way to make money.
You’re better off planting 10K for a guaranteed 20K profit than planting 99K for a (likely) 69K loss.
But you can use the money tree and the time travel cheat with guaranteed results…
Time Travel Cheating While Planting Money Trees
We were able to confirm that you can plant 30K bells for 90K results by using the time travel cheat to jump 2 years ahead. And 297,000 bells by planting 99K in the year 2000 and jumping to 2060, as long as you don’t use the same date twice. This means you can jump from 1/1/2000 to 1/1/2060 THEN 1/2/2000 to 1/2/2060. Credit to Samuel Harris (@GooseSamuel on Instagram) for contacting us about the 99K planting cheat. For more details on how to use this cheat check our our Time Travel Guide.
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