Disease

This feature has been removed from the game.
The information presented here is for reference only.

Exclusive to:

“It is weakening beföre mine eyes!”

–Wigfrid, examining a Grass Tuft developing Disease.

“HA. DISEASE. A BIOLOGICAL LAPSE IN JUDGMENT”

–WX-78, examining a Diseased Grass Tuft.

“A poor excuse for wood.”

–Woodie, examining a Sapling developing Disease.

“Would some nice soup make you feel better?”

–Warly, examining a Diseased Sapling.

“Yeuch! Is it supposed to smell like that?”

–Winona, examining a Berry Bush developing Disease.

“Maybe it needs some chicken soup?”

–Webber, examining a Diseased Berry Bush.

“Oh! Friend got sick!”

–Wormwood, examining a Diseased Juicy Berry Bush.

“Vileness spreads within it.”

–Wendy, examining a Stone Fruit Bush developing Disease.

“Maybe that's how a moon bush is supposed to look?”

–Walter, examining a Diseased Stone Fruit Bush.

Disease was a feature that affected replanted Plants in Don't Starve Together, introduced in A New Reign and removed in Reap What You Sow. Diseased plants had the appearance of being surrounded by flies and became darker in color before dying and disappearing. They did not drop their specific resources, but instead yielded Rot if picked or dug up by the player with a Shovel.

Mechanics

After a plant had been replanted by the player, it had a timer set to 50 days. Once that timer was up, it had a 10% chance to become Diseased. If the chance failed, the timer was reset to another value between 30-70 days and the process would repeat itself. If it was successful, the plant entered a "warning" phase for 4-6 days, where the player character would comment on the infection when harvesting it. If left unhindered, the plant would become fully Diseased, and would begin to spread to other nearby replanted crops every 1.5-2.5 days without warning.

The following table illustrates the variants available for each type of resource, note that the sources on bold were invulnerable to Disease:

Resource Type	Cut Grass		Twigs			Berries		Stone Fruit
Plant Variant
Plant Variant	Grass Gekko	Grass	Sapling	Spiky Bush	Twiggy Tree	Berry Bush	Juicy Berry Bush	Stone Fruit Bush
Specific Resource
Specific Resource	Cut Grass		Twigs			Berries	Juicy Berries	Stone Fruit

Prevention

“Bah! Tiny plant is smell terrible!”

–Wolfgang, picking a plant developing Disease.

“Caught it just in time. The roots were nearly rotten.”

–Wickerbottom, digging up a plant developing Disease.

Upon harvesting a plant developing Disease, the player character would give a warning that the plant was becoming sick. While in this state, it could be harmlessly dug up with a Shovel and then replanted. This prevented it from becoming irrecoverable and consequently spreading. A fully Diseased plant could also be dug up to prevent further spreading, but it would be destroyed in the process.

Beyond this, there was no way to stop Disease from occurring entirely. There were certain methods used to avoid it, however:

Basic resources such as Saplings and Grass Tufts could be replaced with Spiky Bushes, Twiggy Trees, and Grass Gekkos, as they were unaffected by Disease.
Food resources such as Berries and Stone Fruit could be replaced with alternative sources such as gathering Bull Kelp, Cactus Flesh, and Lichen, or utilizing Mushroom Planters and Farms. However, this was before the Reap What You Sow update, meaning that Farms were far less effective at the time.
Grass and Twigs could also be obtained from Tumbleweeds instead of Saplings and Grass Tufts.

Trivia

Disease was added to the game far before A New Reign was announced, becoming part of the latter update after the Beta release with some tweaks. Before that, Grass Gekkos and Twiggy Trees were also able to become Diseased.
- Despite never being in the final game, every character had quotes for Diseased Grass Gekkos and Twiggy Trees, even characters that were added to the game after the initial Beta period.

“I can see the disease creeping into your soul.”

–Wortox, examining a Diseased Grass Gekko.

“It looks sick. More so than usual.”

–Wilson, examining a Diseased Twiggy Tree.

There are unused sprites for Diseased Logs, Juicy Berries, and the dug version of each plant in the game's files.
Disease could be toggled on and off in World Customization before creating a world.
Disease was removed after the Reap What You Sow update on December 15th, 2020.

Gallery

Diseased Berry Bush as seen in the poster for the East or West, Base is Best update.
Spritesheet for Diseased Saplings.
Spritesheet for the Diseased Sapling on the Lunar Island.
Spritesheet for the leafy variant of Diseased Berry Bushes.
Spritesheet for the Diseased Stone Fruit Bushes.
The unimplemented Diseased Grass Gekko.
A Diseased Grass Gekko running from Webber.
The unimplemented Diseased Twiggy Tree.
Unused sprites for Diseased resources after being dug up.
Unused Diseased Log.
Unused Diseased Juicy Berries.