I have two preferred patterns that I use to speed my pikmin to maturity. They’re similar, and can even work in succession.

#The Five Feeding

• Each nectar you feed to a pikmin causes it to level slightly.
• If they are fed five nectar within a few hours, the fifth nectar provides an important bonus toward maturation.
• Every 2 hours the pikmin reset their counter, and you can repeat this process again.
• If you want to be sure they’re ready for the next round, double click them and they’ll tell you their count (e.g. 0 of 6, 1 of 6… 5 of 6)

Be careful not to feed them to 6, at six successive feedings in a few hours, they will become tired and remain that way, except…

#The Six Feeding

• If you’re setting out on a walk where you’ll be taking thousands of steps, you can consider the below advice.
• If you feed your pikmin 6 nectar and walk a few thousand steps, they will regain their leaf and be ready to be fed again.
• Since a few thousand steps can take as little as twenty minutes, this can be used to feed your pikmin repeatedly and force level them.
• Remember, as you feed to 6, they’ll gain that fifth feeding bonus.
• In this way, it’s possible to take a pikmin from new, to 4 hearts within a day (easily) and to full 8 heart maturity within 5 easy days.

Those who walk well over 10k steps per day, can likely improve upon those stats.

#Additional comments
##My morning routine (an example):

• Walk for a few thousand steps, until the pikmin have buds on their heads
• Feed them the most scarce, valued nectar for one feeding
• Harvest those flower petals
• Feed them five more times with less valuable nectar, or petals that I need
• They are now “tired”
• Walk a few thousand steps more, and leaves are on their heads
• Begin the five feeding routine and play that out through the day
• If I set out for another longer walk, I consider using the six feeding.

##Avoiding Waste
There’s a balancing act that’s always a local consideration. If you’re in a bud-rich area and frequently get nectar, one playstyle maywork for you. If you’re in a more rural setting, other strategies may need to be used. Either way, I attempt to avoid waste at all times.