Withereed is a Tier 8 crop in IndustrialCraft 2 Experimental — the highest tier in the IC2 agriculture system, grown on crop sticks rather than crafted or mined. Six breeding attributes (Fire, Undead, Reed, Coal, Rotten, Wither) define the genetic fingerprint, and four growth stages pass at a slow 1,600 ticks per stage. No crafting recipe and no wild spawn produces the seed bag: cross-breeding parent crops on adjacent crop sticks is the only mutation path that yields Withereed. Coal Ore or a Block of Coal placed directly underneath the farm block is mandatory for full maturity, and without that substrate growth stalls before the harvest stage. At full maturity Withereed drops Coal Dust and Coal, making the harvest a renewable supply for coal-fed machines such as the Macerator, the Generator, and the Iron Furnace. The IC2 crop tier ladder reserves Tier 8 for late-game breeders, so reaching Withereed usually means stockpiling mid-tier parent seeds and a working Cropnalyzer to scan results. Weed-EX on neighbouring empty crop sticks and a Weeding Trowel on hand prevent weeds, because a single Growth 24+ weed can destroy a Tier 8 breeding line that took hours to produce.