 | This quest has a quick guide found here. It briefly summarises the steps needed to complete the quest.
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Details
| Start point |  Martin the Master Gardener in Draynor Village.
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| Official difficulty | Experienced |
| Description | Recently, farmers around RuneScape have been noticing some trouble with their farming patches. They just don't seem to have the same yields as before. What could be the source of this malady? |
| Length | Long |
| Requirements |
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| Items required |
Recommended:
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| Enemies to defeat | Tanglefoot (level 111) *Note that Tanglefoot can be defeated with level 1 farming* |
Walkthrough
Beginning the quest
Items required: None.
The start point.
Talk to Martin the Master Gardener.
- Warning: Pick-pocketing Martin will prevent the player from being able to continue the quest for 15 minutes.
He's walking around the pig pen north-west of the 
bank in Draynor Village. He'll mention that his roses haven't been doing as well as they used to, and he suspects something's wrong. He wants you to ask the other members of G.A.G. (Group of Advanced Gardeners) if they're having the same problems he's having.
Gathering information
Items required: 5 coins (if you don't have secateurs already), Falador, Lumbridge and Varrock teleports (optional but recommended), dramen staff. (If you plan on using a canoe, bring an axe.)
The locations for the nearest 5 G.A.G. members.
You can choose any of the gardeners near the farming patches (allotments, hops, trees or fruit trees, anywhere you could pay a farmer to watch your crops) around RuneScape. You need to talk to five of them. Ask if they are a member of the Group of Advanced Gardeners. The easiest ones to reach are:
(If you use 
Heskel, 
Elstan, or 
Frizzy, you can pick up the 
spade in the 
Estate Agent's home behind the door when you pass it if you use the 
Falador teleport.)
Heskel, at the tree patch in Falador Park
- Elstan, at the allotment patch just south-east of Falador (You can purchase farming related items, such as secateurs for 5 coins, from Sarah in the large house south-west of Elstan.)
- Frizzy Skernip, next to the bar in Port Sarim, just south of the Falador cabbage patch
- Dreven, at the bush patch near the Champions' Guild (Teleport with the Chronicle or use a canoe, or teleport there with a combat bracelet.)
- Fayeth, just west of the Lumbridge Castle
- Note: Ayesha, the G.A.G. member that tends to cacti in Al Kharid, does not count toward your five person count during this quest.
All of them say the same thing. They've been having trouble with poor crops. They all have different explanations of what's wrong, though. However, the last person you ask will have a more interesting explanation. He or she will suggest maybe the fairies have something to do with it. While it does seem to be a bit fantastical, that would only be if it weren't for the fact that you know a few of them.
Go back to Draynor, and talk to Martin again. After telling him about the different ideas, get your 
Dramen staff and head south-east to Zanaris.
- Note: If you have not gotten a spade yet, do not wield your dramen staff, and take one from inside the shed before teleporting into Zanaris.
Trouble in Zanaris
Items required: A Dramen staff or Lunar staff.
Fairy Nuff's room just north of the bank.
Head to the 
Fairy Queen's chamber. It's just south of where you enter the city, in the room with the 
Slayer master, 
Chaeldar. However, something's wrong. The queen herself is missing. Instead, someone called the "Fairy Godfather" is here. He'll tell you that the queen has fallen to some sort of illness. She's under the care of 
Fairy Nuff.
To find the queen, head west and go to the room to the north of the bank. Talk to Fairy Nuff, and she'll tell you the details of the queen's illness and give you a list to take to a wizard named 
Zandar Horfyre.
Investigating the illness
Items required: Symptoms list, a spade (can be found inside Draynor Manor), Falador teleport, and a charged amulet of glory (both optional but recommended).
Zandar's location.
Malignius's location.
To save time, it is recommended to go to Draynor Manor, and get the 
skull first by digging the grave behind the manor, if you're walking from Zanaris.
Go to Falador, or use a Skills Necklace to teleport to the Crafting Guild to save time, and from there, travel west to the Dark Wizards' Tower. Be aware that you will need to walk past several level 11-23 dark wizards that can be aggressive. Head up to the top floor and talk to Zandar. He'll take the symptom list and then suggest you talk to 
Malignius Mortifer.
The grave where you will find the skull
He can be found east of the Crafting Guild and directly south of Falador, along with a few elemental wizards. Talk to him, and he'll tell you he could probably help, but he wants something from you first. He wants a Draynor skull from a grave near Draynor Manor. Go to the manor and around to the back (north side, inside the fencing). Dig up the grave there. If you need a spade, there is one that respawns in the manor.
Blessed secateurs
Items required: 3 assigned items (possible items listed below), secateurs, an amulet of ghostspeak and the Ectophial (optional, but saves a lot of time).
Once you have the skull, go back to Malignius, and give it to him. He'll tell you that the queen's problem has to do with a creature called a 
Tanglefoot. In order to kill it, you need to enchant a pair of 
secateurs. To do this, Malignius will tell you to get three of the following items (he can ask for any combination of these):
- Note: Be sure to read your quest description to ensure you pick the correct combination before leaving.
- A clean avantoe
- Baby dragon bones (kill a baby dragon)
- Blue dragon scale (see Herblore)
- Supercompost (See Farming; easiest way to obtain supercompost for Ironmen who have not started Farming is to purchase 15 pineapples from the cocktail bar in the Grand Tree)
- Grapes (respawn in Cooking Guild)
- Charcoal (buy in Tai Bwo Wannai Village or Shilo Village)
- Crushed gemstone (from failing to cut an opal, jade, or red topaz)
- Edible seaweed (from Fishing Trawler, Fossil Island, or from killing rock crabs or rock lobsters, make sure to bring more than one edible seaweed as the ghasts will make it rotten)
- Fat snail (from the level 20 bruise blamish or blood blamish snails in Mort Myre) (raw)
- Irit leaf, cleaned (see Herblore)
- Jangerberries (You can grow them with Farming or find them west of Yanille.)
- Jogre bones
- King worms (from the swamp near the Grand Tree in the Gnome Stronghold, make sure to bring more than one king worm as the ghasts will make it rotten)
- Lime (buy from Heckel Funch in the Grand Tree)
- Mort myre fungus (use your Silver sickle (b) near the logs in Mort Myre)
- Mort myre pear (use your Silver sickle (b) near the bushes in Mort Myre)
- Mort myre stem (use your Silver sickle (b) near the downed branches in Mort Myre)
- Nature talisman (kill Abyssal leeches until you get one)
- Potato cactus (see Herblore)
- Proboscis (see Tai Bwo Wannai Cleanup)
- Raw cave eel (see Fishing)
- Red spiders' eggs (see Herblore, or pick up in the Wilderness section of Edgeville Dungeon)
- Red vine worms (dug up in McGrubor's Wood west of Seers' Village)
- Raw slimy eel (see Fishing)
- Snapdragon (See Herblore; easiest way to get one for Ironmen is the Brimhaven Agility Arena. Must be clean)
- Snape grass (see Herblore)
- Uncut diamond (from gem rocks in Shilo Village)
- Uncut ruby (from gem rocks in Shilo Village)
- Unopened oyster (see Fishing)
- Volencia moss (near the mining site in Karamja, requires completion of Jungle Potion)
- White berries (2 spawn within the south-eastern area of the Lava Dragon Isle in the Wilderness; or cave crawlers (10 Slayer) drop them uncommonly)
The Nature Spirit enchants the secateurs using the spell Phasma Phasmatis Natura.
When you finally have the items you need, grab your 
Amulet of Ghostspeak and secateurs and go to the Mort Myre Swamp (you can use the Kharyrll Teleport, your 
Ectophial and then go west, the 
Salve graveyard teleport, or the Shades of Mort'ton minigame teleport), and talk to the 
Nature Spirit. He'll bless your secateurs, at which point they'll take on a green glow.
- Note: The ghasts in the Mort Myre Swamp might turn the food you carry (including anything that you can eat - Jangerberries, etc.) into rotten food, so having a druid pouch AND a blessed sickle with you is basically a must if some, or all, of your required items are food items. If a Mort Myre Pear or Stem was one of the 3 items you needed to collect, remember not to Fill your druid pouch with them in your inventory or they will be consumed into the pouch and you'll have to gather more. Use the sickle to bloom, fill the pouch with mort myre fungus (3), then grab your items from the bank and head down the western side of the swamp.
Killing the Tanglefoot
Attacking the Tanglefoot.
Items required: Dramen staff, magic secateurs, food, and armour.
WARNING: If you die during the fight, all your items will be lost!
Head back to Zanaris. Grab your armour and food, and make sure to bring your 
magic secateurs. From the fairy ring, travel south-west, below the Puro-Puro field, to the mysterious ruins of the Cosmic altar. (You can take one of two shortcuts if your 
Agility is 66 or 46.) At one side of the room is a gap through the wall you can climb through. The "Gatekeeper" there should let you through.
Inside the tunnel are a couple of 
Baby tanglefoots, and at the end of the tunnel will be a level-111 Tanglefoot - wield your magic secateurs to kill it. If you have the Protect from Melee prayer, it is recommended to use it.
- Note: The Tanglefoot can be a tough fight due to the restriction of using only magic secateurs; however, by employing a hit-and-run strategy, you can avoid getting hit, as the enemy seems to avoid certain parts of the cave. A ring of recoil can be used to speed up the fight, however the killing blow must come from the secateurs. The Tanglefoot has a maximum hit of 11. With full rune, 50 Attack and 50 Strength, this boss can be easily defeated with a full inventory of decent food, no prayer, and 1 Farming. If you have Protect from Melee, you won't need any food. However, if you do die during the fight, the area is instanced, so you will lose your items! Once you have defeated the Tanglefoot, make sure to grab the Queen's secateurs before leaving the tunnel.
- Note: The second row of tiles north after the big mushroom in the big room where Tanglefoot is situated, is the row that resets its aggro, which you use for the Hit and run strategy.
- Important note for low level players: Even with magic secateurs equipped due to the formula that calculates the damage you deal against Tanglefoot, if your combined Strength level, Farming level and equipment strength is too low, you will not be able to damage the Tanglefoot and will keep hitting 0s (this is not you missing; this is your damage dealt being less than 0.5 and as a result rounded down to 0). It is recommended that your Strength and Farming levels add up to at least 30+ and to use easy to obtain Strength-boosting equipment such as an Amulet of strength, Climbing boots, etc.
- Important note for low level players: Even with magic secateurs equipped due to the formula that calculates the damage you deal against Tanglefoot, if your combined Strength level, Farming level and equipment strength is too low, you will not be able to damage the Tanglefoot and will keep hitting 0s (this is not you missing; this is your damage dealt being less than 0.5 and as a result rounded down to 0). It is recommended that your Strength and Farming levels add up to at least 30+ and to use easy to obtain Strength-boosting equipment such as an
Once you have defeated the Tanglefoot, and have the Queen's secateurs in your inventory, head back to the Fairy Godfather, and speak with him once again.
Congratulations! Quest completed!
Rewards
- 2 Quest points
- Magic secateurs (increases crop harvests by 10% when Farming)
- 3,500 Farming experience
- 2,000 Attack experience
- 1,000 Magic experience
Required for completing
Completion of Fairytale I - Growing Pains is required for the following:
Trivia
- Upon clicking "Examine" on the Draynor skull, the pun "I shouldn't joke, this is a grave matter." appears in the chatbox.
- If completing this quest at level 1 Farming, the experience reward is enough to get you to level 17.
- "Fairy Nuff", when read out loud, can be heard as "Fair enough".
- You cannot kill Tanglefoot with rings of recoil.
- You must have a Strength level greater than 6 to kill Tanglefoot, no matter your Farming level.
- Fairy Nuff put the Queen in the "Tempus fugit" state, which will make the time slow down for the Queen. "Tempus fugit" is latin, and can be translated to "Time flies".
- The "Fairy Godfather" speaks in an Italian accent, as a reference to "The Godfather".
- The Fairy Godfather's bodyguard is called Fat Rocco which is most likely a crossed reference to Peter 'Fat Pete' Clemenza and Rocco Lampone – caporegimes from "The Godfather".
- Before handing the Symptoms List to Zandar Horfyre, he gets mad at the player for attacking his fellow Dark Wizards, even while having never done so or set foot into his tower beforehand.
